The 1910 FRANKENSTEIN, Produced By Thomas Alva Edison, Can Now Be Watched in the Library of Congress
Jonathan Barkan
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The Library of Congress is one of the most important institutions in the United States. A symbol (and actual entity) that is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution, it is a place where the government’s collection of “…more than 167 million items” [Source] includes titles across mediums such as comics, books, movies, songs, and more. Recently, the LoC added J. Searle Dawley’s 12-minute short film adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein to its public screening library, just in time for Halloween.
Produced by Thomas Alva Edison (yes, THAT Thomas Edison), the 1910 adaptation is the first time one of cinema’s most famous creatures appeared on the silver screen. Charles Stanton Ogle played Frankenstein’s Monster, one of his many roles across a two-decade span, including a performance in Treasure Island opposite horror icon Lon Chaney. Frankenstein’s wife was played by Mary Fuller, who went on to write several short films that were adapted between 1913 and 1915, including The Golden Spider, When The Right Man Comes Along, and The Viking Queen. As for the good doctor himself, he was played by Augustus Phillips, who starred in over 150 shorts and features.
“While he is in college, Frankenstein decides he must attempt to make a perfect human being. The being he creates is given life in a vat of burning chemicals. On the day Frankenstein weds his sweetheart, who has been living patiently at home, he sees the monster he created reflected in a mirror. Having disappeared, the monster returns to his creator to gain acceptance. However, when the creature is in front of the mirror he disappears again, with only his slowly vanishing reflection left. When Frankenstein arrives and stands in front of the same mirror he witnesses the fading image, signifying the monster’s destruction in the face of Frankenstein’s increased love for his wife and life.”
If you want to learn how the film was acquired, remastered, and preserved, there’s a wonderful blog post over on the Library of Congress’s website.
