“A Christmas Carol” (1914)
Retro Review #5: Weird title cards, but a very good silent short adaptation of the classic Dickens novella.
“A Christmas Carol” (1914)
+ Silent short film, bw £ 23m
+ Based on literature (novella) A Christmas Carol. (1843)❗🔙🔜 ⭐ by Charles Dickens ⭐
A ^
Grade: A ^ (12.0) / HOF: 4
EQ 👍? | 📖? 👥? 📽️? 🎼? (Coming soon upon re-review)
DW 😎🕶️🚫?.? | 🌚? 🌝? (Coming soon upon re-review)
POPCAP 💯n/a 🍿n/a 🧢n/a
L-R 💻⬆️⬇️? 👀⬆️⬇️? 🛐⬆️⬇️? (Coming soon upon re-review)
Just because they’re called title cards doesn’t mean the title of the film should appear in large font at the bottom of each one. And acting credits belong at the beginning or end of the film, not on the first title card after a new actor appears. Both issues are slightly distracting and make it take a bit longer for a modern viewer to get immersed in this adaptation, but you get used to it soon enough.
There’s nothing else to complain about here. This is the best silent short adaptation I’ve seen yet of the Dickens classic. It has the best acting I’ve seen so far, with the characters visually “showing their words” and minimizing the need for excessive use of those pesky title cards, only needing them to highlight the best lines.
The sets, costumes and special effects are also the best I’ve seen up until now.
Considering when this short film was made, and the quality compared to other films of that era, it almost merits an A+. But 23 minutes just isn’t enough to do full justice to this classic story, so I will stick with a high A and a strong recommendation.
I’ve watched all of these shorts via YouTube on my 84-inch TV and this was the first one with a high definition transfer available to watch, so that was an added pleasure! Check it out yourself below, and I think you’ll agree it looks great!
Onwards!
+ viewed 2024-12-02, HDI7, 1.33, 0D
+ ⏳👻🎈⛄🎄🎅🦄🧙😥
+ ✅❌? NR (Coming soon upon re-review)
+ 😡? 😵💫+? 🤬+? 🤭+? 🫣+? (Coming soon upon re-review)
+ 👀 (Coming soon upon re-review)
+ ✝️ (Coming soon upon re-review)
+ ✡️ (Coming soon upon re-review)
+ 🗽 (Coming soon upon re-review)
Originally posted to text group 2024-12-03
Last updated 2025-04-04
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