Life Without Soul

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Life Without Soul
Lobby card
Directed byJoseph W. Smiley
Written byJesse J. Goldburg
Produced byJohn I. Dudley
StarringPercy Standing
George De Carlton
Distributed byOcean Pictures
Release date
  • November 21, 1915 (1915-11-21)
[1]
Running time
70 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguagesSilent film
English intertitles

Life Without Soul (1915) is a lost horror film, directed by Joseph W. Smiley and written by Jesse J. Goldburg. This film is an adaptation of Mary Shelley's 1818 Gothic novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The film is about a doctor who creates a soulless man. In the end, it turns out that a young man has dreamed the events of the film after falling asleep reading Shelley's novel.

This version is considered a lost film and the second film version of Frankenstein.[2] The first version was the Edison Manufacturing Company's 12-minute short film Frankenstein (1910), written and directed by J. Searle Dawley.

Production[edit]

This full-length film (broken into five parts), was produced by the Ocean Film Corporation and featured English-born actor Percy Darrell Standing wearing little to no make-up as the 'Brute Man'. The story is about the Brute Man killing the sister of his creator (Dr. William Frawley) on her wedding night. Frawley pursues his creation across Europe finally killing him by shooting him. Frawley then dies of exhaustion. A framing device reveals that the story is being read from a book.[3] The film was reissued in 1916 by the Raver Film Corporation with added scientific documentary footage detailing the reproduction methods of fish.[4]

Cast[edit]

  • Percy Standing as The Creation (aka Brute Man)
  • George De Carlton as Frankenstein's Father
  • Lucy Cotton as Elizabeth Lavenza
  • Pauline Curley as Claudia Frawley
  • Jack Hopkins as Henry Claridge
  • David McCauley as Victor Frawley, as a child
  • Violet De Biccari as Elizabeth, as a child
  • William A. Cohill as Dr. William Frawley

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VRiNngH2MzA/T2lo261x3WI/AAAAAAAAIUM/YX-Rw_r8Z1A/s800/ocean.jpg [bare URL image file]
  2. ^ "British Film Institute database entry". Archived from the original on 2008-09-18. Retrieved 2007-09-30.
  3. ^ Life Without Soul at the American Film Institute Catalog
  4. ^ Stephen Jones. The Essential Monster Movie Guide. Billboard Books. 2000. Pg. 224

External links[edit]

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