In 1910, Thomas Edison and his studio, Edison Manufacturing Company, released a 16-minute short film that was a loose interpretation of Mary Shelley’s now infamous novel Frankenstein. Written and directed by J. Searle Dawley, the film is a seriously abridged and liberal take on Dr. Frankenstein in his laboratory, creating “The Monster” and the consquences that followed.
Thought lost for decades, the film was rediscovered in the early 50’s and has since been copied onto 35mm and released again on DVD. Additionally, since the film was released before 1922, it is part of the public domain and can be viewed for free.
Below is a copy of the short film that has been digitally remastered, “…with new sound design by Jeff Cooper [and] orchestral scores by Richard Band.”
It’s absolutely incredible to watch something like this. I mean, the creation of the monster scene is mind blowing considering when it was made. Plus, there’s actually a very unsettling quality about this kind of creation. It’s obvious how it was done now – they dissolved and tore away a puppet that had a skeleton inside – but back when it was released? I can’t imagine how audiences reacted. We often talk about seeing a movie with a great crowd. That was probably one of the ultimate experiences when it comes to seeing an audience react to the visuals on screen.
I highly recommend that you devote a little bit of your day and watch this. It’s amazing to see how far we’ve come but also just how important and powerful the originals truly are. Horror may have gotten a lot of new tricks up its sleeve but nothing beats a good story.