{"id":3679,"date":"2019-10-06T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2019-10-06T10:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/?p=3679"},"modified":"2019-10-18T17:15:27","modified_gmt":"2019-10-18T21:15:27","slug":"dhff-2019-sunday-classics-with-edison-studios-frankenstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nickzaino.com\/departmentoftangents\/2019\/10\/06\/dhff-2019-sunday-classics-with-edison-studios-frankenstein\/","title":{"rendered":"DHFF 2019: Classic Sundays with Edison Studios’ \u201cFrankenstein\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every day through October, the Department of Tangents brings you the Daily Horror Film Fest \u2013 one short horror film for every day of the month. It might be terrifying, it might be funny. It could be an homage classic monsters or something entirely new. Check back every morning for a new scare as we celebrate horror shorts! <\/em><\/p>\n

Every Sunday during the DHFF, I\u2019ll be presenting a classic film short, and it doesn\u2019t get much more classic than the 1910 silent adaptation of Mary Shelley\u2019s Frankenstein, written and directed by J. Searle Dawley, from Thomas Edison\u2019s Edison Studios. It is accepted as the first cinematic representation of Frankenstein, filmed twenty-one years before James Whale defined the character for pop culture with his 1931 feature for Universal Pictures.<\/p>\n

There are a lot of different versions of this posted around the Web in various states of restoration and set to different music. This one was restored by the Library of Congress in 2018. Donald Sosin composed the piano music, which feels appropriate to the action, although I don\u2019t believe it follows the cue sheet that was handed out to theaters to guide the live accompanist. Find out more about this restoration on the Library of Congress siteFind out more about this restoration on the Library of Congress site<\/a>Find out more about this restoration on the Library of Congress site.<\/p>\n

The title card describes this as \u201ca liberal adaption from Mrs. Shelley\u2019s famous story, which is accurate. Clocking in under thirteen minutes, it could only begin to scratch the surface of the novel. In Dawley\u2019s script, we see the doctor head off to college, discover the secret of life two years later, and then creating his famous monster. Frankenstein is afraid of it, and tries to hide it, and the monster leaves when it sees its own reflection in the mirror. On the evening of Frankenstein\u2019s wedding, his creation returns to haunt him.<\/p>\n

What impressed me re-watching this were how well the special effects worked. The creation scene is striking, especially with the red filter. Apparently, Dawley filmed a dummy being burned and then reversed the film to make it look like it was coming to life. Watch full screen to get the best effect. There is also some clever staging involving the mirror in Frankenstein\u2019s study. Since the camera is stationary, it helps to reflect action in another part of the room, but it\u2019s also used to comment on the nature of Frankenstein\u2019s ambitions in relation to his monster toward the end.<\/p>\n

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Rory Kinnear in Penny Dreadful, Boris Karloff in Frankenstein<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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I am not sure how prominent the filter effect was in the original, but the different filters do have the effect of changing the mood of a scene \u2013 sepia for family gatherings, red for danger, blue when the monster is sneaking into the house where Frankenstein has just been wed. Watch this and then compare the monster to Whale\u2019s version. The Edison Studios version might be closer to Shelley\u2019s vision, but when we think of Frankenstein now, it\u2019s the Boris Karloff version we picture. Although modern versions, like the vision of the monster in Showtime\u2019s Penny Dreadful, may be shifting back to Edison.<\/p>\n