Watch Thomas Edison’s FRANKENSTEIN – A look Back at 1910

FRANKENSTEIN, starring Boris Karloff and directed by James Whale in 1931, is usually referred to as the ‘original’ movie version of Mary Shelly’s 1818 novel, but, as any real horror movie buff knows, the Karloff/Whale version of FRANKENSTEIN was not the first time Shelly’s story was filmed. Inventor Thomas Edison filmed his own 14-minute take 21 years earlier.

The story behind the first FRANKENSTEIN is a fascinating one. Thomas Edison had been the leading pioneer of the first kinetoscopes, an early motion picture viewing device, and then projected motion pictures. His FRANKENSTEIN was filmed in 1910 at Edison Motion Picture Studios located in the Bronx, New York, one of several dozen movies the studio produced that year. The studio was built between 1906 and 1907 in response to the growing demand for films.

Here’s how the March 15, 1910 edition of The Edison Kinetogram, the catalog that the Edison Company would send to distributors to hype their new films, described FRANKENSTEIN:

“To those familiar with Mrs. Shelly’s story it will be evident that we have carefully omitted anything which might be any possibility shock any portion of the audience. In making the film the Edison Co. has carefully tried to eliminate all actual repulsive situations and to concentrate its endeavors upon the mystic and psychological problems that are to be found in this weird tale. Wherever, therefore, the film differs from the original story it is purely with the idea of eliminating what would be repulsive to a moving picture audience. To those familiar with Mrs. Shelly’s story it will be evident that we have carefully omitted anything which might be any possibility shock any portion of the audience. In making the film the Edison Co. has carefully tried to eliminate all actual repulsive situations and to concentrate its endeavors upon the mystic and psychological problems that are to be found in this weird tale. Wherever, therefore, the film differs from the original story it is purely with the idea of eliminating what would be repulsive to a moving picture audience.”

The part of the monster in the 1910 FRANKENSTEIN was played by actor Charles Ogle. He joined the Edison Stock Company Players in 1909 and had portrayed Scrooge in a 1910 Edison production of A CHRISTMAS CAROL and George Washington in a series of films on the history of the United States. Since actors at the time were responsible for their own wardrobe and makeup, it was likely Ogle one who developed the monster’s wild-eyed, nightmarish appearance, with its shrieking grimace, straw-like hair and clawed hands. FRANKENSTEIN premiered on Friday, March 18, 1910, a mere two months after it had finished shooting (such a quick turnaround was not uncommon at the time). The film was well-received by critics.

The New York Dramatic Mirror wrote:

“This deeply impressive story makes a powerful film subject, and the Edison players have handled it with effective expression and skill.”

However, FRANKENSTEIN did not find an audience in 1910. There are several possible reasons that may have contributed to its box-office failure. FRANKENSTEIN was the first horror movie and audiences unaccustomed to such a weird story may not have known what to make of it. Also, movies were already becoming more sophisticated. Directors were using close-ups and editing within scenes so it’s possible that audiences found director James Dawley’s stagey wide shots to be old fashioned. Or perhaps audiences were offended by the blasphemous content of the film with its theme of man creating man, especially during the creation scene, one where Dr. Frankenstein’s success is more through alchemy than science. Whatever the reason, FRANKENSTEIN quickly faded from the public’s minds. In those days, Edison Studios would only strike a few dozen prints of each of their films, which would then be sent out for distribution. After the films had circulated for a few months, they were returned where they were stripped for their silver content. It’s hard to comprehend today but films in the early silent days were considered a quickly disposable medium and no thought was given to preserving them after their initial money making run. Film then was made with a chemically unstable silver nitrate that deteriorated and even spontaneously combusted if not stored correctly. It is for these reasons that it is estimated between eighty and ninety percent of all silent films are irretrievably lost.

Film preservationist Robert A. Harris has said: “Most of the early films did not survive because of wholesale junking by the studios. There was no thought of ever saving these films. They simply needed vault space and the materials were expensive to house.”

Edison’s 1910 FRANKENSTEIN was for many decades though lost with not as much as a single still of its production surviving. In1963 a film historian discovered the March 15, 1910 edition of the aforementioned The Edison Kinetogram with its picture of Charles Ogle in full Frankenstein make up on its cover in the Edison archives in New Jersey. That photo was published in numerous books and magazines, including Famous Monsters of Filmland, sparking a renewed interest among horror film buffs. In 1980, the American Film Institute declared the 1910 production of FRANKENSTEIN to be one of the top ten most “Culturally and historically significant lost films.”

Enter Wisconsin-based film collector Alois Dettlaff. When Detlaff heard the of the film’s placement on the AFI’s list, he announced, to the shock of the film world, that he indeed was in possession of a print of the 1910 FRANKENSTEIN. The sole surviving print had originally belonged to his wife’s grandmother who used to screen the film and other silent shorts as part of a stage show. The film was passed down and eventually landed in the hands of Detlaff. However, Detlaff was originally stingy with his treasure. In the early ‘80s he had allowed a few minutes to be shown as part of a BBC documentary, later released to home video. These snippets would later wind up in various silent cinema video compilations without attribution or payment made to Dettlaff. Feeling slighted, Dettlaff became guarded in allowing the film to be screened. In 1986, he donated a “copyright protected” version of the film, with a copyright notice that scrolled across the center of the film making viewing difficult, to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Dettlaff died in 2005 and finally, in 2010, exactly 100 years after its production, BearManor Media released the film on DVD without the scrolling copyright.

So what can one expect when finally seeing Edison’s FRANKENSTEIN? Detlaff ‘s print was in somewhat deteriorated condition, especially the first few minutes. But it is viewable and complete with intertitles and the color tints as seen in 1910. The film is accompanied by a decent synthesized music score. With a running-time of only fourteen minutes, FRANKENSTEIN is necessarily a much abbreviated version of Mary Shelley’s story, yet what remains is a lively and efficient condensation of the novel’s plot.There are some fascinating elements in the film. The special effects of the monster gradually forming before our eyes are extremely primitive by today’s standards but were unprecedented for 1910. The monster is created through chemicals in a large cauldron in a long sequence that employs puppetry and reverse motion and it is both eerie and effective.The use of mirrors is also interesting, with the monster visible in several scenes through the door-sized looking glass in Frankenstein’s bedroom, implying that the creature may be simply a reflection of its own creator.

Watch the 1910 FRANKENSTEIN in it’s entirety Here: