Scrooge *** (1935, Seymour Hicks, Donald Calthrop, Athene Seyler, Oscar Asche, Barbara Everest, Maurice Evans, Robert Cochran, Mary Glynne, Garry Marsh, Marie Ney, C V France) – Classic Movie Review 4809

British actor-manager Seymour Hicks co-writes the screenplay and plays the old Victorian grouch Ebenezer Scrooge, who has visions of the past, present and future and is terrified enough finally to stop being a miser.

Director Henry Edwards’s adequate 1935 British version of Charles Dickens’s beloved novel A Christmas Carol is not a patch on the Alastair Sim 1951 version of Scrooge. But it is still enjoyable, as it tells the old tale with vigour and a certain stagey charm.

Hicks is excellent in a serious-minded portrait as a mean and nasty Ebenezer Scrooge, and the rest of the cast are fine too, but again not up to Sim and the 1951 crew. Also in the cast are Donald Calthrop as Scrooge’s impoverished clerk Bob Cratchit, Athene Seyler as Scrooge’s charwoman, Oscar Asche as Spirit of Christmas Present, Marie Ney as Spirit of Christmas Past, C V France as Spirit of Christmas Future, Barbara Everest as Mrs Cratchit, Maurice Evans, Robert Cochran as Fred, Mary Glynne, Garry Marsh, Mary Lawson, Eve Grey as Fred’s wife, Maurice Harvey, Philip Frost as Tiny Tim, D J Williams, Margaret Yarde, Hugh E Wright, Charles Carson and Hubert Harben, plus Claude Rains uncredited as Marley and Robert Morley uncredited as a rich man.

H Fowler Mear co-scripts, it is shot in black and white by Sydney Blythe and William Luff, it is scored by W L Trytel and Walter Meyrowitz, designed by James A Carter and produced by Julius Hagen and John Brahm. Adolph Zukor was the presenter for the US release only. The charmingly primitive visual effects are by matte painter W Percy Day.

It was made the year after Hicks was knighted and he is billed as Sir Seymour Hicks (1871–1949). Hicks is best remembered for his portrayal of Scrooge, particularly in this film. But Hicks had played Scrooge regularly on stage since 1901, playing him thousands of times, and previously made a 1913 British black and white silent film version of Dickens’s 1843 novel A Christmas Carol also called Scrooge.

You can watch it free on the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/Scrooge_855

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4809

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