Useless but essential pop culture tidbits and trivia from the worlds of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror that will not find their way into the next time capsule buried.
The Frankenstein story has captured the imagination of Science Fiction and Horror fans going on two centuries now and has had numerous big screen adaptations including the iconic 1930’s version that starred Boris Karloff as the monster. But did you know that over twenty years prior to that film hitting the big screen another movie adaptation brought the Frankenstein story to life with the name of a well-known inventor attached to it.
Back in 1910, Thomas Edison Productions tackled Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein as a project for the nascent film industry (Edison himself took no part in the filming, though). A silent movie running only 12 minutes, it is inspired by the classic book but diverges considerably from the original story, but it did definitely left an impression. The later, and better known, 1931 Universal movie with Boris Karloff obviously drew more heavily from this movie than the original book (though it added much more to the story including the “abnormal” brain). In the 1910 movie, Victor Frankenstein goes off to study and in the process creates a living being. However, he is appalled by the creature and flees from it. He returns home to marry his bride and the monster follows which leads to a final confrontation on the wedding night. This short film from the early days of film-making was thought lost for many years before a copy was discovered in the possession of a film collector in the 1970′s. The Edison movie will get a full DVD treatment later this year, but you can watch it online now at this link. Note that this is a very early example of the cinema with crude effects that the current generation spoiled by the visuals from such blockbusters as Avatar and Alice in Wonderland may not take a shining to. We enjoyed it, though, and suggest you give it a look.
Watch the 1910 Version of Frankenstein on You Tube Now
Buy the Frankenstein Movies on DVD from Amazon.com:
