This week will mark the hundredth anniversary of the first ever Frankenstein movie made by Hollywood. Frankenstein movies have been made and remade numerous times and with the hundredth anniversary we can expect to see yet another incarnation of the monster as Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein series is being brought to life.
The very first movie was made by Thomas Edison’s studio back in 1910. Incidentally, a book titled “Edison’s Frankenstein” by Frederick C. Wiebel, Jr. was released recently and it chronicles the filming of that 1910 monster epic. Wiebel says that he first heard of the movie around 40 years ago and then was reminded of it when 20 years ago when he was visiting his in-laws and saw a clip of that movie on TV. This had prompted him to want to write an article which eventually grew into a book as the research material kept mounting up. Wiebel has also managed to locate the only surviving print of the 10 year old movie and has arranged for a DVD release after it is restored.
Although Frankenstein had been part of popular culture and stage plays for years, Mary Shelly’s book was only written in 1909. Three months later Edison shot the movie on one reel and took a grand total of four days to complete shooting. According to Wiebel, the cast would rehearse the whole movie and try and get it in one take. The actors at that time also worked in secrecy as movies were looked down on by stage actors.