Robert Paul is a largely forgotten name today, but he was a major pioneer of British
cinema, and was quick to grasp the commercial potential of cinema in ways that better
known pioneers such as William Friese-Greene were not. He was more of a mechanic
than a filmmaker making, with Birt Acres, his own camera on which to shoot films
in 1895, and also Britain's first projector, the Animatograph, with which to screen
them in 1896. Early in the 20th century he had a custom-made studio built in Muswell
Hill.
It's quite surprising how this five minute adaptation of Charles Dicken's perennial
Christmas tale manages to remain faithful to the book. You get the impression – not
just because of the long running time (for 1901) – that this was something of a prestige
production from Paul thanks to the quite elaborate painted sets; it's just a shame
that the final scene is missing – and that the guy playing Scrooge felt it necessary
to overact so badly. Film features possibly the first ever use of an upward wipe
for a scene change.
