Description:
Restored at last to its full length, this striking adaptation of Charles Dickens' holiday classic is notable not only for its beautiful story but also for superb performances, a vigorous script, excellent pacing, persuasive settings, costumes which utterly capture 1843 London, and impressive moving-camera photography with atmospheric lighting reminiscent of German expressionist cinema. Sir Seymour Hicks, an age-appropriate Scrooge, first played the role on screen in 1913 and delivers a first-class performance; he also co-authored the screenplay and inhabits Scrooge thoroughly, subtly and radiantly. The other characters are secon
Restored at last to its full length, this striking adaptation of Charles Dickens' holiday classic is notable not only for its beautiful story but also for superb performances, a vigorous script, excellent pacing, persuasive settings, costumes which utterly capture 1843 London, and impressive moving-camera photography with atmospheric lighting reminiscent of German expressionist cinema. Sir Seymour Hicks, an age-appropriate Scrooge, first played the role on screen in 1913 and delivers a first-class performance; he also co-authored the screenplay and inhabits Scrooge thoroughly, subtly and radiantly. The other characters are secondary but all impeccable, including Donald Calthrop (familiar from his roles in several of Alfred Hitchcock's British films), Maurice Evans, and rotund Oscar Asche as the unforgettably fruity Ghost of Christmas Present. Director Henry Edwards was honored for his work with a prize at the 1935 Venice Film Festival; also note the gifted hand of production supervisor John Brahm, a veteran of German theater and cinema and later director of other fine films including the similarly atmospheric "The Lodger." A wonderful film that would have made Charles Dickens proud!
This British production of Dickens's Christmas Carol has been eclipsed by subsequent versions, but it stands on its own as a darkly atmospheric (if sometimes regrettably brisk) telling of the beloved tale. Even with the rough quality of existing prints, this Scrooge has a visual intensity that approaches the bold compositions of German expressionism. And in its central role it has a mostly forgotten star: Sir Seymour Hicks, one of the era's celebrated English stage actors. With his gnarled face and flyaway hair, Hicks looks every inch the mean old misanthrope, and his cruelty has a realistic quality missing in some of the more stylized interpreters of the role. Hicks had played Scrooge many times on stage (and before in silent film), and he gets the tenor of every "Humbug!" just right. As a bandy-legged Bob Cratchit, Donald Calthorp is a perfect Victorian illustration come to grinning life. --Robert Horton
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Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
Release date: 29 October 2002
Number of discs: 1
EAN: 0014381184624 UPC: 014381184624
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