Frankenstein (1910 film)

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Frankenstein

Cover of The Edison Kinetogram film catalog.
Directed by J. Searle Dawley
Written by Novel:
Mary Shelley
Screenplay:
J. Searle Dawley
Starring Augustus Phillips
Charles Ogle
Mary Fuller
Studio Edison Manufacturing Company
Distributed by Edison Manufacturing Company
Release dates March 18, 1910 (1910-03-18)
Running time 16 minutes
Country United States
Language Silent
(video) A minute selection from the movie's climax.

Frankenstein is a 1910 film made by Edison Studios that was written and directed by J. Searle Dawley.[1]

This 16-minute short film was the first motion picture adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The unbilled cast included Augustus Phillips as Dr. Frankenstein, Charles Ogle as the Monster, and Mary Fuller as the doctor's fiancée.

Plot

Frankenstein, a young student, is seen bidding his sweetheart and father goodbye, as he is leaving home to enter a college in order to study the sciences. Shortly after his arrival at college he becomes absorbed in the mysteries of life and death to the extent of forgetting practically everything else.
The Monster
His great ambition is to create a human being, and finally one night his dream is realized. He is convinced that he has found a way to create a most perfect human being that the world has ever seen. We see his experiment commence and the development of it in a vat of chemicals from a skeletal being. To Frankenstein's horror, instead of creating a marvel of physical beauty and grace, there is unfolded before his eyes and before the audience an awful, ghastly, abhorrent monster. As he realizes what he has done Frankenstein rushes from the room as the monster moves through the doors Frankenstein has placed before the vat. The misshapen monster peers at Frankenstein through the curtains of his bed. He falls fainting to the floor, where he is found by his servant, who revives him.
Charles Stanton Ogle played the Monster.

After a few weeks' illness, he returns home, a broken, weary man, but under the loving care of father and sweetheart he regains his health and strength and begins to take a less morbid view of life. The film's story emphasizes that the creation of the monster was possible only because Frankenstein had allowed his normal mind to be overcome by evil and unnatural thoughts. His marriage is soon to take place. But one evening, while sitting in his library, he chances to glance in the mirror before him and sees the reflection of the monster which has just opened the door of his room. All the terror of the past comes over him and, fearing lest his sweetheart should learn the truth, he bids the monster conceal himself behind the curtain while he hurriedly induces his sweetheart, who then comes in, to stay only a moment. The monster, who is following his creator with the devotion of a dog, is insanely jealous of anyone else. He snatches from Frankenstein's coat the rose which his sweetheart has given him, and in the struggle throws Frankenstein to the floor, here the monster looks up and for the first time confronts his own reflection in the mirror. Appalled and horrified at his own image he flees in terror from the room. Not being able, however to live apart from his creator, he again comes to the house on the wedding night and, searching for the cause of his jealousy, goes into the bride's room. Frankenstein coming into the main room hears a shriek of terror, which is followed a moment after by his bride rushing in and falling in a faint at his feet. The monster then enters and after overpowering Frankenstein's feeble efforts by a slight exercise of his gigantic strength leaves the house.

The film's most well-known shot

When Frankenstein's love for his bride has attained full strength and freedom from impurity, it will have such an effect upon his mind that the monster will not exist. The monster, broken down by his unsuccessful attempts to be with his creator, enters the room, stands before a large mirror and holds out his arms entreatingly. Gradually, the real monster fades away, leaving only the image in the mirror. A moment later Frankenstein himself enters. As he stands directly before the mirror he sees the image of the monster reflected instead of his own. Gradually, however, under the effect of love and his better nature, the monster's image fades and Frankenstein sees himself in his young manhood in the mirror. His bride joins him, and the film ends with their embrace, Frankenstein's mind now being relieved of the awful horror and weight it has been laboring under for so long.

Production

Dawley, working for the Edison Company, shot the film in three days at the Edison Studios in the Bronx, New York City. Some sources credit Thomas Edison as the producer. The production was deliberately designed to de-emphasize the horrific aspects of the story and focus "...upon the mystic and psychological problems that are to be found in this weird tale."[2]

Copyright status

The film, as well as all other motion pictures released before 1922, is now in the public domain in the United States.

Rediscovery and preservation

For many years, this film was believed to be a lost film. In 1963, a plot description (reprinted above) and stills were discovered published in the March 15, 1910 issue of an old Edison film catalog, The Edison Kinetogram.[3]

In the early 1950s a print of this film was purchased by a Wisconsin film collector, Alois F. Dettlaff, from his mother-in-law, who also collected films.[4] He did not realize its rarity until many years later. Its existence was first revealed in the mid-1970s. Although somewhat deteriorated, the film was in viewable condition, complete with titles and tints as seen in 1910. Dettlaff had a 35 mm preservation copy made in the late 1970s. He also issued a DVD release of 1,000 copies.[5]

BearManor Media released the public domain film in a restored edition on March 18, 2010,[6] alongside the novel Edison's Frankenstein, which was written by Frederick C. Wiebel, Jr.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ New York Times
  2. ↑ Edison Kinetogram 2. Mar 15, 1910. pp. 3–4. 
  3. ↑ Famous Monsters of Filmland, #26, January 1964.
  4. ↑ Jackie Loohauis, "Step Aside, Boris", The Milwaukee Journal, March 18, 1985, Green Sheet, p. 1.
  5. ↑ Jackie Loohauis, "A Horror Pioneer on Video", Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 28, 1997.
  6. ↑ Restored Thomas Edison's Frankenstein on the Way!
  7. ↑ Thomas Edison's 1910 'Frankenstein' Restored on DVD!
  8. ↑ IMDB on "The Witch Girl"

Further reading

  • Edison's Frankenstein, by Frederick C. Wiebel, Jr. BearManor Media, 2010. ISBN 1-59393-515-3.

External links

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