The 1910 “Frankenstein” is the first film to be based on Mary Shelley’s book. Many people regard the 1931 version starring Boris Karloff to be the original but this is the true original. The 1931 certainly remains the most iconic and arguably the best version of the story to date. However, this 1910 movie was actually made by the studio run by Thomas Edison. It’s an interesting film to look at for its historical significance.

Frankenstein (Augustus Phillips “The Gates Of Eden”) is a young medical student that tries to create a perfect human being. However, he creates a horrifying creature (Charles Ogle “Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm”). The Monster relentlessly torments his creator.

Being such an old film, this is of course a silent movie. There are very few characters in here. The Monster really does not look all that impressive. I do think the scene where the Monster is created looks really good though. For the time, I’m sure the special effects and make-up were incredible but now the creature looks so lousy. The Karloff version created quite possibly the most visually memorable monster in cinema history. The Frankenstein character is okay but I don’t have much to say about him.

It’s a film that lasts less than a quarter of an hour so you hardly feel like you’re wasting any of your time by checking it out. However, it’s hard to really recommend this movie. There have been so many “Frankenstein” films from the Universal ones of the 30s and 40s to the Hammer ones of 50s,60s and 70s to the 1994 version with Robert De Niro and countless others. This is a film for those interested in film history and especially those that love the old horror movies but for the general public, there is no real need to search for this one.