Note: In this review, I am assuming everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carol. So there will be spoilers, but since nearly everyone knows this story that should be no problem.
With the sheer amount of film adaptations of Charles Dickens', A Christmas Carol there have been over the years, it should come as no surprise that this 1935 adaption should be so overlooked. However this is unfair as it is a delightful movie in its own right.
So much of what makes this movie worth watching (even with the sheer amount of Christmas Carol films) is Seymour Hicks as Scrooge. He is simply perfect as the character and definitely one of the most underrated movie Scrooges. There is a real heart to his performance that shines from start to finish. From the very start, he makes this character feel real to us. Even at the very start we can tell that this is a man who has been torn down by life until he becomes a cynical person who believes in little but looking out for himself. Yet from his performance, we can see the very humanness that resides buried deep within him. This can even be seen in before the ghosts visit, in a dinner scene, where we can see the emotional pain within him. As the film goes on, we see more and more of his hidden humanity come out. Because of Hicks' layered performance, this always feels like the same character. The acting in the Ghost of Christmas future scenes is incredible and emotional. Seymour Hicks captures the sheer emotion of these scenes as well as any other Scrooge actor ever has. Yet this film does not just simply rest on a great performance. There is a lot more to enjoy here. This is especially true with the wonderfully atmospheric lighting and uses of shadow and fog. The visual filmmaking here is simply wonderful. The scene with Scrooge's possessions being sold after his death is incredibly well shot and features a wonderful dark sense of atmosphere. This makes it probably the best cinematic depiction of this famous scene. Director Henry Edwards gives this movie a real expressionist feeling to it that honestly works perfect with the story. He also keeps a lot of Dickens' social commentary. There is a truly incredible scene early on in which the Queen and Lord Mayor of London are having an elaborate Christmas dinner, while hungry poor children stand up against the window looking at all the food. A little food is thrown out at them the same way, someone might throw leftovers to a dog. This scene has never appeared in any other Christmas Carol adaption but is one of the most powerful and effective scenes in this film.
This movie's largest flaw is that at only 1 hour and 17 minutes it can feel too short. The whole Ghost of Christmas Past sequence feel very rushed and leaves a lot out. Even the characters of Fezziwig and Fan are completely absent here. As this part of the story has always been one of the most important parts of the story and it is a shame that so much of it is left out here. This is really the only thing though that keeps this otherwise wonderful movie from being one of the absolute best Christmas Carol adaptions.
Seymour Hicks, though little talked about today, was one of the most respected British stage actors of the time. He first acted professionally at only in the age of 16 when he performed in In the Ranks at the Grand Theatre in Islington. By the age of 18 he was touring America with Dame Madge Kendal and her husband W.H. Kendal's popular acting troupe. In 1898, he became a successful playwright as well with the play The Runaway Girl, which was followed by a series of light comedies he co-authored with Charles Frohman. However, the most famous role for this respected actor was Ebeneezer Scrooge. He had first played this character on stage in 1901 at only the age of 30. The great actor later recounted that he must have played this character in over 2,000 performances. As well as playing the character on stage, the actor also played him in a 1913 silent film version. By the time he made this 1935 movie, he was well seasoned when it came to playing this role and at the age of 64, he had grown into being the age of the character he is playing. With this it is no wonder that he gives such a magnificent performance here.
Resources Used
https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/19190/scrooge#articles-reviews?articleId=719040
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