I bought this dirt cheap in a double pack with Cyrano de Bergerac. I like the A Christmas Carol story, and expected this to be good.
There is little to recommend this version. The major characters seem miscast. Seymour Hicks's Ebenezer Scrooge lacks the confident air of a successful business man; he's more Baldrick than Blackadder. Cratchit is older than in most versions, and the Ghost of Christmas Present seems wooden and disinterested.
The special effects are practically non-existent, sub-par even for 1935. The Marley is a disembodied voice. No chains, money boxes, and ledgers. Even the 1908 and 1910 versions had double exposure ghosts.
The visual and audio quality were lacking. Not sure if this is due to bad transposition to DVD, deteriorated film, or if it was done poorly in the first place. Lines seem indistinct and muddled, enunciation is often unclear. The film could use some computer enhancement. (I have the Mill Creek Entertainment 78 minute DVD)
One of the more annoying aspects of the film is a cultural artifact. This film was made a few years after talkies were becoming ubiquitous. A continuous musical background plays that tends to overwhelm the already muddy dialog. My impression is that the director could not envision a movie without a piano player providing sound, and tried to make up for it.
On the plus side, this version is true to the dickens story. It includes the hearse, which most do not. (The hearse is the most elaborate special effect in the movie.) The scene of the charwomen fencing Scrooge's goods is particularly good.
If the story itself were not so classic and compelling, I wouldn't even give this a four.
MadKaugh
There is little to recommend this version. The major characters seem miscast. Seymour Hicks's Ebenezer Scrooge lacks the confident air of a successful business man; he's more Baldrick than Blackadder. Cratchit is older than in most versions, and the Ghost of Christmas Present seems wooden and disinterested.
The special effects are practically non-existent, sub-par even for 1935. The Marley is a disembodied voice. No chains, money boxes, and ledgers. Even the 1908 and 1910 versions had double exposure ghosts.
The visual and audio quality were lacking. Not sure if this is due to bad transposition to DVD, deteriorated film, or if it was done poorly in the first place. Lines seem indistinct and muddled, enunciation is often unclear. The film could use some computer enhancement. (I have the Mill Creek Entertainment 78 minute DVD)
One of the more annoying aspects of the film is a cultural artifact. This film was made a few years after talkies were becoming ubiquitous. A continuous musical background plays that tends to overwhelm the already muddy dialog. My impression is that the director could not envision a movie without a piano player providing sound, and tried to make up for it.
On the plus side, this version is true to the dickens story. It includes the hearse, which most do not. (The hearse is the most elaborate special effect in the movie.) The scene of the charwomen fencing Scrooge's goods is particularly good.
If the story itself were not so classic and compelling, I wouldn't even give this a four.
MadKaugh