The first ever motion picture adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein, the 1910 film Frankenstein fails to impress, although that was not entirely unforeseen.
A film of just about 13 minutes, this silent movie attempts to condense a 200 page novel by selecting key events which are then presented in disjointed scenes woven together by the use of title cards. While this alone is not a cause for censure, it being a feature of silent movies in general, the selection of these key events itself is, as it shapes the overall tone of the movie.
For one who is unfamiliar with the circumstances that influenced the creation of that movie, Frankenstein could well be viewed as a distasteful parody of a great work of literature. Victor Frankenstein is portrayed as a self-centred, irresponsible creator of a monster and his vulgar celebration at the monster’s disappearance could raise more than a few eyebrows. The monster is a hulking beast with no intelligence to speak of. Readers of Shelley’s novel will know that this is not to be the case, as the novel inspires sympathy for both Frankenstein and his monster. The latter, moreover, is an intelligent being whose quest for revenge on his master is fuelled by ideas on justice and acceptance.
The movie also ends on a baffling note, with the monster disappearing into a mirror. The title card for that scene presents an equally puzzling announcement: “The creation of an evil mind is overcome by love and disappears.”
While this movie would be sure to go against present sensibilities on acceptance and diversity, it was in fact created as a moral tale to usher in a new era of film productions for the production house that helmed its filming, the Edison Company. Under pressure from moral crusaders who found motion pictures a source for promoting immorality, Edison Company chose to pacify them by improving both the production quality of its films and their moral tone.
The March 15, 1910 edition of The Edison Kinetogram said that “the Edison Co. has carefully tried to eliminate all actual repulsive situations and to concentrate its endeavours upon the mystic and psychological problems that are to be found in this weird tale.” As implied in this description, the film, instead of portraying the monster as flesh-and-blood, depicts it as an extension of Frankenstein himself, and the darker elements of his mind that were involved in interfering with Creation, resulting in the birth of the monster.
Although the mystifying final scene is put into perspective after understanding the film’s background, and the behaviours of Frankenstein and the monster can be put down to a desire to make a moral statement than to stay true to the original story, the fact still remains that the film was characterized by too much overacting by the lead, Augustus Phillips (as Frankenstein). Charles Ogle’s presentation of the monster, however, deserves praise, both in terms of costume and acting. The music from the film was too run-of-the-mill to deserve any special attention.
Reception of Frankenstein by audiences
This film was not a hit with its audiences. Apart from being the first horror movie to be produced ever, the wide-angle shots that were utilized in abundance were not in line with the trend of using close-ups. The movie also paled in comparison to other movies of that time in terms of editing.
The New York Dramatic Mirror, however, in a review published on March 26, 1910, stated: “This deeply impressive story makes a powerful film subject, and the Edison players have handled it with effective expression and skill.”
Further information on the film
The film premiered on Friday, March 18, 1910, two months after it had finished shooting. Thought to be a lost film for many years, it was only in the mid-1970s that its existence was revealed by a Cudahy film collector, Alois F. Dettlaff, who had purchased a print of the film from his mother-in-law, Marie Franklin, also a film collector, in the 1950s. The film in now in the public domain in the United States.
References
Drees, R. (n.d.) Edison’s Frankenstein. Flim Buff Online. Accessed on December 30, 2010.
Loohauls, J. (1985, March 18). Step aside, Boris. The Milwaukee Journal. Accessed on December 30, 2010.
