Frankenstein (J. Searle Dawley, 1910): USA

Reviewed by William Conlin. Viewed Online.

By the year 1910, cinema was making leaps and bounds. D.W. Griffith was discovering new methods of storytelling for Biograph Films and Thomas Edison’s dominance over cinema was reaching its pinnacle. In March of that year, J. Searle Dawley, an apprentice of Edwin S. Porter (The Great Train Robbery) made America’s first horror film, an adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel Frankenstein.

Running around 15 minutes in length (depending on what speed it’s shown in), the film tells the story of Frankenstein (Augustus Phillips), a gifted student who unlocks the secrets of life. Although his initial intentions are to create a “perfect human”, Frankenstein’s obsession soon takes over and the evil in him creates a monster (Charles Ogle). Terrified and alone, Frankenstein returns home to marry his fiancé (Mary Fuller), but the monster follows him. Now, with his new bride in danger, Frankenstein must face his demons, both physical and emotional, before someone gets hurt.

Although this camera remains completely static for the whole film, one can instantly see an innovative cinematic mind at work. This film features shockingly good cinematography. During a scene after Frankenstein returns home, he sits in a chair on one side of the frame, while on the other side of the frame, the viewer can see what is happening behind him in a mirror. This scene is later revisited with an unexpected twist. Using superimposition to accentuate the symbolism of the film, when Frankenstein looks at himself in the mirror, he sees the monster staring back at him.

I must say, all three performances in this film are extremely melodramatic, but I actually found Charles Ogle’s performance as the monster to be quite scary. There are three distinct times where I can imagine the screams when this was first shown to audiences. Also, in this film’s case, I find that the lack of image quality helps get the viewer more entangled in the plot. Because there aren’t any close-ups, you want to get a better view of the monster, which leads you to look closer at the screen, thus sending you deeper into the film.

Like so many others, this film was long considered “lost forever” but a few years ago a private collector discovered a print in his archives and took the necessary steps to have it restored. It is now considered a public domain film, and can easily be found on the Internet at no download cost.

Although I’ve seen many classic silent films in my life, I’ve spent a large part of last month (and so far, this month as well) just watching early cinema and I have found it to be a deeply enjoyable experience. These films allowed us to learn and grow the filmmaking process into the epic industry it is today. I look forward to studying and reviewing many more films like Frankenstein in the future.