J. Searle Dawley shot it at Edison’s Bronx studios two years after they opened, and it was sold as “a liberal adaptation from Mrs. Shelley’s famous story.” The detail that makes it: Edison’s own release notice promised the film had cut the “repulsive situations” to protect its moral tone — a studio apologising for its monster in advance, then shooting a creation scene in rags and a fright wig anyway. Free to watch.