This version of A Christmas Carol is not as well known as the MGM version with Reginald Owen in 1938 nor the later British version from 1951 with Alastair Sim, but in seeing this one we get a rare treat to see one of the great men of the English Theater doing his most famous part. Sir Seymour Hicks had been playing the part of Scrooge from the last century when he was in his twenties and criticized by some critics for being too young for the role.
Hicks did a silent version of Scrooge in 1913, it was his screen debut. What we are seeing here is not Charles Dickens per se, but an adaption of the play Hicks did by writer H. Fowler Mear. Still the spirit of Dickens message of universal brotherhood is not affected in any way by the screenplay.
I have to say that I marveled at Hicks even without dialog being able to create through force of personality and maybe some makeup, the soul of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and then after his encounter with the three spirits, a reformed, contrite and merry Scrooge. It's like watching two different people in the same role.
Hopefully more of the public on this side of the big pond will get to see Sir Seymour Hicks essay the role of the greatest reformed miser in history. They will be blessed, everyone.
Hicks did a silent version of Scrooge in 1913, it was his screen debut. What we are seeing here is not Charles Dickens per se, but an adaption of the play Hicks did by writer H. Fowler Mear. Still the spirit of Dickens message of universal brotherhood is not affected in any way by the screenplay.
I have to say that I marveled at Hicks even without dialog being able to create through force of personality and maybe some makeup, the soul of the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge and then after his encounter with the three spirits, a reformed, contrite and merry Scrooge. It's like watching two different people in the same role.
Hopefully more of the public on this side of the big pond will get to see Sir Seymour Hicks essay the role of the greatest reformed miser in history. They will be blessed, everyone.