The First Frankenstein

Here's a trivia question for you....what do Frankenstein and Thomas Edison have in common? I would not have known the answer to that question if I had not stumbled upon this little piece of history while web surfing for something completely unrelated. It appears that before there was 'Frankenstein' the movie, there was....well, 'Frankenstein' the movie! Who knew?

Apparently, way before the classic version of Frankenstein that we all know and love came out, there was an original Frankenstein film made in 1910 by Edison Studios. Yep, THAT Edison...Sir Thomas Edison of light bulb fame. This is one of those old 'Silent' films, before the "Talkies" became all the rage. And it was the first motion picture adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The film was shot in 3 days at the Edison Studios in the Bronx, New York City. And although Thomas Edison is sometimes credited with producing the movie, he actually was not directly involved with the activities of the motion picture company that bore his name.

As always, there were moral crusaders in that time who were not at all thrilled with the dangerous new medium of motion pictures that they felt encouraged immorality. Some communities even went so far as to ban theatres all together. To appease these objections, Edison responded in kind by improving the moral tone and production quality of his company's films. Eeegads....if those folks thought the first silent 'Frankenstein' was bad, they'd be rolling in their graves at what you can see at the movies today! On an ending note, I have posted the 12 minute film below for your viewing pleasure. (The quality in the beginning is somewhat poor, but it gets better quickly.) However, this super old version of 'Frankenstein' is now in the Public Domain and can be downloaded here: http://www.archive.org/details/Frankenstein