Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost

Scrooge, or, Marley's Ghost is a 1901 British silent trick film directed by Walter R. Booth, featuring the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge (played by Daniel Smith) confronted by Jacob Marley's ghost and given visions of Christmas past, present, and future.

[1] It was also believed to be the earliest filmed adaptation of a Dickens work, until the 2012 discovery of the Bleak House-inspired The Death of Poor Joe.

[2][3] The film, "although somewhat flat and stage-bound to modern eyes," according to Ewan Davidson of British Film Institute's Screenonline, "was an ambitious undertaking at the time," as, "not only did it attempt to tell an 80 page story in five minutes, but it featured impressive trick effects, superimposing Marley's face over the door knocker and the scenes from his youth over a black curtain in Scrooge's bedroom.

[6] Evidence suggests that Paul's version of A Christmas Carol was based as much on J. C. Buckstone's popular stage adaptation Scrooge as on Dickens' original story.

The film featured impressive trick effects by 1901 standards, superimposing Marley's face over the door knocker, and displaying the scenes from his youth on a black curtain in Scrooge's bedroom.