Frankenstein, starring Boris Karloff and directed by James Whale in 1931, is usually referred to as the ‘original’ movie version of Mary Shelly’s 1818 novel, but, as any real horror movie buff knows, the Karloff/Whale version of Frankenstein was not the first time Shelly’s story was filmed. Inventor Thomas Edison filmed his own 14-minute take 21 years earlier.

The story behind the first Frankenstein is a fascinating one. Thomas Edison had been the leading pioneer of the first kinetoscopes, an early motion picture viewing device, and then projected motion pictures. His Frankenstein was filmed in 1910 at Edison Motion Picture Studios located in the Bronx, New York, one of several dozen movies the studio produced that year. The studio was built between 1906 and 1907 in response to the growing demand for films.

Here’s how the March 15, 1910 edition of The Edison Kinetogram, the catalog that the Edison Company would send to distributors to hype their new films,...