Checking out the 1928 Scrooge with Bransby Williams

If you are looking for a big Christmas movie with ghosts and special effects, you should probably skip this one.

But if you like seeing how people used to act 100 years ago, it is worth the ten minutes it takes to watch. It is mostly for history nerds or people who really, really love Charles Dickens.

I found this while looking for something else, and it’s basically just Bransby Williams standing there and being *extremely* dramatic. He was famous for this back in the day, and you can tell he knows exactly how to make a mean face.

The whole thing feels very stagey. Like he is waiting for an audience to clap after every sentence, even though there is nobody there.

His voice has this weird, gravelly quality to it. It sounds like he’s been eating dry toast and yelling at birds all morning.

He does this thing with his hands where he claws at the air. It’s supposed to show he is greedy, I guess, but it looks like he is trying to catch an invisible fly. It’s kind of funny if you look at it too long.

The makeup is pretty heavy too. He has these dark lines drawn on his face to make him look old and miserable.

It reminded me a little bit of the vibe in Nachtgestalten, just because everything is so dark and shadows are everywhere. Everything back then looked a bit spooky even when it wasn't trying to be.

There aren't really any sets to speak of. It’s just him and the darkness.

I actually liked how he says the word "Humbug." He doesn't just say it; he spits it out like it tastes bad. You can tell he has practiced that specific word about a million times.

It is definitely more of a performance than a film. If you’ve seen the 1910s or 20s versions of Little Women, you know how they used to just point the camera and let the actors do their thing. This is the same deal.

The sound quality is pretty rough, which is expected for 1928. There is a lot of hissing in the background, like a radiator is leaking somewhere in the room.

One thing that caught me off guard was how fast he talks. Usually, these old timey actors move slow, but he flies through the lines.

I think he was trying to fit the whole character into a very short runtime. It makes Scrooge seem less like a sad old man and more like a guy who had too much coffee.

There is no Tiny Tim here. No Bob Cratchit either. It’s just pure Scrooge.

It’s weirdly lonely to watch. Just a man in a dark room talking to himself about money and ghosts that we can't see.

I don't think I’d watch it again, but I’m glad I saw it once. It’s like a little fossil of how people used to think Scrooge should act before the movies made him more "human."

Anyway, if you have ten minutes and want to see a guy be really grumpy in black and white, give it a look. Scrooge 1928 is a weird little trip. 🎄