"A Christmas Carol" (1923) - Part 3

Now that we've dissected the 1923 British silent version of "A Christmas Carol," a few words about the cast seem in order.

Russell Thorndike, who plays Scrooge, was around a long time and had a fairly distinguished career as an actor and writer.

Sybil and Russell in 1954 with... Ralph Richardson!

He was overshadowed in the acting department, however, by his older sister, Dame Sybil Thorndike, a legend of the British stage.

Russell was 48 years old when he played Scrooge, so he apparently needed the big, wacky, white wig to look the part.

He seems to do an OK job, but the surviving print quality and relative lack of closeups make it hard to tell of there were any subtleties in his performance.

Getting big billing here is Nina Vanna as Mrs. Fred. This may have been her first movie. She was 23 years old and had been born in Russia. She doesn’t get a lot to do, but she’s lovely.

This picture's from 1886!

The mystery to me is the billing of Forbes Dawson as Fred. There was a British actor with that name, but he was born in 1860. That would mean that he was 63 when this movie was produced, but the onscreen Fred seems young - certainly not 63. This movie has its issues, but they couldn’t have gotten the billing so wrong, could they? Is this his son, maybe? Forbes Dawson, Jr.?

The billing does not seem to have been mixed up with Jack Denton, credited as Marley’s Ghost, as he was 51 at the time, which seems about right. I can’t find a “regular” picture of Jack Denton. Plenty of pictures of James Denton, but if I wanted those, I would have asked!

It’s curious that the actor who plays Bob Cratchit is uncredited, as that’s a fairly large character in the movie and in the scheme of things. I think he looks and acts the part just fine.

Topper and his fiancée also do not get billing, so we’ll probably never know who they are.

So, a serviceable cast, if not given a lot to work with.

Next!