Frankenstein Hits the Silver Screen (1910)

100 years ago, J. Searle Dawley wrote and directed Frankenstein. It took him three days to shoot the short, 12-minute film (when most films were actually shot in just one day). It marked the first time that Mary Shelley’s literary creation was adapted to film. And, somewhat notably, Thomas Edison had a hand (albeit it an indirect one) in making the film. The first Frankenstein was shot at Edison Studios, the production company owned by the famous inventor.

You can download the movie at the Internet Archive, or find it permanently listed in our collection of Free Movies Online. (Also, you can find Mary Shelley’s novel  in our collection of Free Audio Books.) To get more information on Dawley’s short film, please visit The Frankenstein blog.

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