Frankenstein (1910)

Director:

J. Searle Dawley

Writers:

Mary Shelley (novel) and
J. Searle Dawley

Release Date:

18 March 1910 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Horror | Sci-Fi

Plot:

Frankenstein, a young medical student, trying to create the perfect human being, instead creates a misshapen monster...

Plot Keywords:

Frankenstein | Mirror | Alchemy | Frankenstein's Monster | Experiment Gone Wrong

Cast

Mary Fuller	...	Elizabeth (uncredited)
Charles Ogle	...	The Monster (uncredited)
Augustus Phillips	...	Frankenstein (uncredited)

Directed by
J. Searle Dawley

Writing credits
Mary Shelley		(novel "Frankenstein")
J. Searle Dawley

Makeup Department
Charles Ogle	....	creature makeup (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Edison Manufacturing Company

Distributors

• Edison Manufacturing Company (USA) (theatrical)
• A.D. Ventures International (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Incredibly Strange Filmworks (video)
• Spectropia Atelier (2010) (USA) (DVD)
• Video Cellar, The (2009) (worldwide) (all media)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

16 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White (tinted)

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

Edison Manufacturing Company

Trivia:

Prior to the film's rediscovery, only a few images of Charles Ogle as The Monster were known to exist. Interestingly, Ogle looks a lot younger in the film than he does in the photographs.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Rigoletto (1993) (V)

Whence "Frankenstein" (1910)?

The first time I had viewed excerpts from this film was a re-broadcast of the 1970s British anthology series "The Amazing Years Of Cinema," hosted by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. It had been produced before the AFI listed the Edison Company's "Frankenstein" on its Top-Ten "Most Wanted" list. I taped a number of episodes of this series in the mid-1980s from the Discovery Channel, on the Beta format (anybody got a Beta VCR they can spare?). Viewing the creation scene was beyond fascinating, and has imprinted itself upon my mind even to this day. I presumed that eventually the film would be archived, restored, and made available upon home video (the then-current, and future formats), but was dismayed in the early years of this century to find this was not so. Even the video/DVD "releases" of the late 90s were (from what I understand) of such horrible quality (the imposition of "time codes," for starters) because Aldois Detalff refused to make the print available to professional celluloid preservationists...he was paranoid about not being paid enough to have this important cinematic document claimed and preserved into perpetuity, so he hoarded the battered print, gave it only sparse public screenings, and refused any bid under $1-2 million to relinquish it into the hands of those better qualified to save this work.

Now, Alois Detlaff is dead (as of 2005). Which (at risk of sounding cold and disrespectful) begs this question....

What will become of the sole remaining "Frankenstein" print? If there are any silent film buffs or insiders that have knowledge to this question, I would very much appreciate an answer and/or updates. I really, really hate to say this, but sometimes (for human history's sake) the survival and fate of one very, very important physical artifact should place priority over "respecting" the misguided ego of the last person known to have shielded it from the rest of the world (especially if the concern was largely about money, collector ego, and a mild strain of blackmail/greed).

It would be tragic if the only source print of this film were kept under lock and key until it disintegrates beyond repair because of its final owner's rapacious whims.

Again, any feedback is more than welcome...