Frankenstein (1910)

This is somewhat of an impromptu post. I recently was taking a look at some early examples of photography and it naturally progressed into early motion pictures. I really remembered why I had become so enthralled with early film in the first place.

The link here will bring you to the very first adaptation of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein. The film was released in 1910 and produced by Edison (as in Thomas) Studios. It’s primitive and difficult to follow but it is just a short. It’s beautiful, and I really just got this overwhelming calm watching a film that is over a hundred years old. What we have here is a bunch of early pioneers that helped shape our world. I urge you to watch it and consider that the people who saw this hadn’t seen anything quite like it before. In a short twenty years Universal would create one of the best horror movies ever made but before that there were a handful of people shooting what amounts to twelve minutes of footage over three days.

I can’t help but wonder what life was like when this film was made. What kinds of things did the actors do after the fact.  Did the audiences freak out at the creation scene? So many questions but I am just glad this important piece of history isn’t lost like so many others. I had always heard of this movie before but never took the time to watch it until today. I’m really glad I did. I hope you will too.