In this 1910 silent film, it is the first known movie about Dr. Frakenstein and his monster. 

Storyline

Frankenstein, a young medical student, trying to create the perfect human being, instead creates a misshapen monster. Made ill by what he has done, Frankenstein is comforted by his fiancée but on his wedding night he is visited by the monster. A fight ensues but the monster, seeing himself in a mirror, is horrified and runs away. He later returns, entering the new bride’s room, and finds her alone

Our Thoughts on Frankenstein (1910)

This short film version of Mary Shelley’s FRANKENSTEIN, made in 1910 always appeared in monster magazines, especially with the picture of actor Charles Ogle as the monster. He appears like a court jester. I became lucky enough to get a copy of the film on videotape. This is like most films made before World War I, resembling filmed stage performances, with an unmoving camera. First we see the monster’s creation, which takes palce in a vat, where his flesh fuses onto his bones like cotton candy on a paper cone. Next we see the monster claw at his creator, and frighten the creator’s bride. No, it won’t scare you (If it does frighten you, please seek therapy) but this is a unique chance to catch the actual birth of the horror film.

6 out of 10 Stars

Trivia 

Since its original release, the film had been listed as missing. No copies of it were known to exist. An original nitrate print finally turned up in Wisconsin in the mid-1970s.

This is one of the only Frankenstein films where the monster is truly created. All Frankenstein films that followed assembled body parts from various corpses to make the monster. In this film, Frankenstein uses chemicals and “potions” to create the monster. The “creation” scene was made by filming a monster-dummy burning, and then playing the footage backwards.

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.

Produced and released 92 years after the original Mary Shelley novel was published, and 59 years after Shelley’s death.

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