Dr. Frankenstein (Augustus Phillips)

Dr. Frankenstein, as portrayed by Augustus Phillips, is the earliest known film portrayal of the character. Phillips' Frankenstein appeared in Frankenstein 1910, a silent film created by the Edison Manufacturing Company, and the earliest Frankenstein film.

Frankenstein (1910)
Dr. Frankenstein begins the film as a young student, who after his arrival at college, becomes absorbed in the science of life and death. His goal is to create a living being, so we see him pour a mixture of chemicals into a vat, and, closing a door in front of it, his creation begin to form itself. When The Monster gains its final form, Frankenstein is horrified. Hoping to create a perfect being, he had created an awful, monsterous, creature. As his creation reached its hand through the door Frankenstein fled the room in fear. The encounter had an ill effect on his mind, but after a few weeks of sickness he returned home. One day, soon before Frankenstein's wedding is set to take place, he glances at a mirror in his library, and sees none other than The Monster step through his door. He hears his bride to be approach the room, so he tells it to hide behind a curtain while he askes her to make the visit a short one. She leaves Frankenstein a rose as she leaves. Overcome with jealousy, The Monster snatches the rose from him, and in the process, sees itself in the mirror for the first time. Terrified by its own appearances it flees the room, but, unable to live apart from its creator, it returns to the house on Frankenstein's wedding night. Still jealous of his wife it enters her room, and Frankenstein, hearing a shriek, sees her run from her room and fall at his feet. The Monster throws him to the side and walks out of the house. After Frankenstein's wedding The Monster is seen walking up to a mirror; it looks at the image, and then the real Monster disappears, but the image remains. Then Frankenstein walks to the mirror and sees his reflection as that of The Monster, which fades away entirely, thus implying that the condition of Frankenstein's mind was what had allowed the creature to exist, and when it regained its purity The Monster disappeared.

Character
Frankenstein's personality is very little delved into, but it seems to be similar to that of Victor Frankenstein from the novel, Frankenstein, or the modern Prometheus. He is shown to have the same drive to accomplish, and yet the same moral standing as the said Frankenstein.

Appearance
In this film, Dr. Frankenstein has a very general costume, mainly a suit. Unlike some of the later Frankenstein's, he is never shown to dress in a labcoat, but sticks to basically the same dress for the length of the film.