Director: J. Searle Dawley
Writers: J. Searle Dawley,
Mary Shelley (novel)
Starring: Augustus Phillips,
Charles Ogle, Mary Fuller
The first ever film
production of Mary Shelley’s classic horror novel “Frankenstein” may very well
be the first horror movie ever made. To modern audiences, it probably plays
more like a comic interpretation of the story. Even the title card that
explains that this is a “liberal” adaptation of the book has an air of comedy
about it. But in 1910, a film like this was amazing.
This movie is one of the few
versions of the story in which the monster is actually created from scratch,
instead of being made up of parts from corpses. This sequence is a little
repetitive, but presents a much more horrific ‘birth’ for Frankenstein’s
monster. The way the monster forms first into a skeleton and progresses to
flesh forming over the bones reflects a less humane act than what the misguided
doctor performs in most other versions. This supports the notion that his
desire to create life is an evil act. The resolution, where the monster
disappears into the mirror and then becomes the reflection of Frankenstein
himself, suggests some intriguing implications about the role of creator as
well.
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