Thursday, March 18, 2010

Edison’s 1910 Frankenstein film


It's coming to DVD,
but you can see the
12-minute YouTube
version on the webpage
linked to the above title.

Gotta love those
Edwardian times ...

7 comments:

  1. I remember my brain went a-dancing when I first saw the image of the Edison Frankenstein in old Famous Monsters of Filmland.

    But bad resolution had my brain dancing into a perception of globbed on extra flesh ala Altered States with a mysterious halo of a gelatinous nature.

    Now better prints show padded clothing and wild frizzy hair. I need to do my Edison Frankenstein.

    Great link Beata

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  2. Um, can someone explain the ending to me? Did films of that period typically have such a half-ass ending?

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  3. The WHOLE THING was a hilarious morass of over-acting and over-the-top flailing. Apparently wild gesturing was the order of the day for performance artists of that time period. "I am feeling forlorn" required three back flips, two Big Bird flapping imitations, and a separated shoulder to get the point across.

    And Rick, many a debutante have been lost forever in similar fashion when they looked in the mirror on prom night and realized they were not as gorgeous as the leggy runway honey who modelled the same dress in the catalogue. To this day we can't find my other sister Sandra. Some good came out of it though. I got her room.

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  4. Frankenstein's monster was Frankenstein. Like the Green Goblin. That's a passable ending with that interpretation.

    The Honeymoon Suite fight scene was funny. It actually had a dance move from "Doing The Time Warp."

    I like the reverse film effect of burning off "flesh" to have an additive effect for the monster in the chamber.

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  5. I just realized. 1910. 100 years ago!

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  6. Yeah, I liked that effect as well. I also noticed that it is a century old.

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  7. Still less than two Ellis Goodson lifetimes ago.

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