Frankenstein (1910)

Frankenstein Review

Frankenstein is a 1910 silent short film directed by J. Searle Dawley. It is the first film adaptation of the titular novel.

Now, this film is very interesting for being a much closer adaptation of Mary Shelley’s work, much closer than the famous 1931 adaptation. I really enjoyed that as I found most of the novel’s major plot points present here and well utilized. I liked the creation of the monster, I really liked the monster’s realization of his true self in the mirror and I liked the bride plot point too. Also, that ending with the mirror is very ambiguous and so intriguing.

However, whereas it succeeds solidly as a faithful adaptation, it doesn’t succeed particularly well as a short film because, let’s face it, there is too much going in this story for it to be less than 15 minutes in length. The decision to film it in 15 instead of at least 25 minutes really hurt it as the pacing is rushed and the film moves too past and is even abrupt. But despite that, it mostly succeeds as an adaptation.

Frankenstein is a very solid and even stupendous first adaptation of this material with solid effects, intriguing ending and a faithful approach.

My Rating – 4