Frankenstein (1910)

Interesting facts

• Based on: Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus

Frankenstein is a 1910 American short silent horror film produced by Edison Studios. It was directed by J. Searle Dawley, who also wrote the one-reeler's screenplay, broadly basing his "scenario" on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. This short motion picture is generally recognized by film historians as the first screen adaptation of Shelley's work. The small cast, who are not credited in the surviving 1910 print of the film, includes Augustus Phillips as Dr. Frankenstein, Charles Ogle as Frankenstein's monster, and Mary Fuller as the doctor's fiancée.

Production

J. Searle Dawley, working in his third year for Edison Studios, shot the film in three days at the company's Bronx facilities in New York City on January 13, 15 and 17, 1910. Staff writers for the Edison Kinetogram assured theatergoers in 1910 that the company's film adaptation was deliberately designed to de-emphasize the horrific aspects of Shelley's story and to focus instead on the tale's "mystic and psychological" elements: In making the fil…

The creation of the monster scene involved the burning of a dummy while manipulating its arms and head, and then reversing the footage to show the creature taking shape from nothingness by bringing together ashes and fumes.

The film was reported in the Edison Kinetogram as having a length of 975 feet, giving it a runtime of approximately 16 minutes at silent film rates (16 FPS), or closer to eleven minutes at modern rates (24 FPS).

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