The First Film Adaptation of Frankenstein Has Been Restored, and You Can Watch It Right Here

The Library of Congress has restored the first film adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, an Edison production from 1910 directed by J. Searle Dawley. We tend to think of effects-driven spectacles as a product of the modern era, but decades before that checkerboard floor in Terminator 2: Judgement Day started moving, studios were selling films on the basis of single FX shots. Here's how the Edison company described their Frankenstein: To those who are not familiar with the story, we can only say that the film tells an intensely dramatic story by the aid of some of the most remarkable photographic effects that have yet been attempted. The formation of the hideous monster from the blazing chemicals of a huge caldron in Frankenstein's laboratory is probably the most weird, mystifying, and fascinating scene ever shown on a film. Frankenstein's creation is no longer the most weird, mystifying, and fascinating scene ever shown on film, but it's a fun trick-shot, using reversed footage of a dummy that has been set on fire to give the impression of a body knitting itself together from nothing.