THOMAS ALVA EDISON'S FRANKENSTEIN
FRANKENSTEIN - 1910 USA Release: March 18, 1910 Edison Films Rated: N/A

Can I be frank?

It's only Thomas Edison's version of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's immortal classic, THE MODERN PROMETHEUS. Edison was the producer, J. Searle Dawley directed and "liberally" adapted it (his words).

That said, I've got the complete 13 minute short film up here at Feo Amante's Horror Thriller, and trust me, it's the kind of film that every Horror Thriller or Science Fiction fan is a-gonna wanna see!

The public domain film below is of Thomas Edison's FRANKENSTEIN, and is believed to be the very first Frankenstein movie ever made.

Enjoy!

Charles Ogle played The Creature and did his own make-up. Science Fiction Horror from 1910? With practical special effects both optical and make-up?

Woo Hoo! Roll camera!

Thomas Edison made among the first movies, seeing as how he invented some of the first motion picture cameras. Yet the very first talking picture version (ahh! Synchronized sound) of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's THE MODERN PROMETHEUS aka FRANKENSTEIN, didn't hit the silver screen until 30 years after the birth of moving pictures in 1910. That said, Edison's movie, FRANKENSTEIN, arrived over 20 years before the Universal Pictures adaptation we've all grown to know.

Like nearly all movies of this era, they were silent, in black and white, and quite short. The novelty of seeing moving pictures was enough to keep people entranced just by the very concept.

"My creator is displeased by my appearance, but what you do expect? Look at his design sense! His Queen Anne chair blocks both doors of an Essex cabinet! He calls this a *living* room? Would you? Because I don't. I'd rather be undead than live in a room like this! Why, there should be a six cushion sofa over here for guests, and... and... oh. This place is just a disaster!"

More information can be found at the following sites.

EDISON'S FRANKENSTEIN
By Rich Drees
One of the most sought after short films by fans of the silent era is the 1910 production of Frankenstein from Thomas Edison’s Edison Studios. For many years the only image thought to exist from the 15-minute feature was a single photo of wild haired, shambling monster grimacing at the camera. Fortunately, recent years have revealed that it’s not as lost as one would think.

Continued at FilmBuffOnline.com

Now archived, the U.S. Government's National Library of Medicine has an entire page dedicated to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein including some info on Edison's work. Real science from the very first Science Fiction novel!
THE CELLULOID MONSTER
The reshaping of Mary Shelley's story began almost from the moment it first appeared. The 1931 Universal Studios production of Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff as the monster, capped more than a century of variant tellings of the original story. Compared to Shelley's sensitive, articulate creature, Universal's was crude and unformed. But the sheer power of Hollywood image-making gave him an impact as great or greater than Shelley's, and made him into an icon of popular culture.

Continued at NLM.NIH.gov

Now archived -
And You Call Yourself A Scientist weighs in -
By Elizabeth A. Kingsley
But without question the most significant science fiction work of this era was the Edison Company’s 1910 production of Frankenstein. The discovery in 1963, not of the film itself, but a copy of the 15th March 1910 issue of "The Edison Kinetogram" advertising the release of this seminal production sent shockwaves through the cinematic world. Innumerable hunts for an existing print were instigated, but in vain. In 1980, the film was placed upon the American Film Institute’s list of "The Top 10 Culturally And Historically Significant Lost Films", a depressing honour to say the least. At the same time, the picture of actor Charles Ogle as "the monster", wild-eyed and threatening, continued to be widely reproduced, tantalising and tormenting movie lovers in equal measure, as Frankenstein began to be mourned right alongside London After Midnight.

Continued at AYCYAS.com

Page Copyright 2007 E.C.McMullen Jr.

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