Young Frankenstein

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Young Frankenstein is a 1974 comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilder as the title character. Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman also star. The screenplay was written by Brooks and Wilder.

The film is a parody of the horror film genre, in particular the various film versions of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, mainly those made by Universal in the 1930s and 1940s, to which the film is best seen as an affectionate homage. Because of the reference to the earlier films, Brooks shot the film entirely in black-and-white, a rare choice for a comedy of that era. A large portion of the initial budget was spent by Brooks as he chose to hire the sets from the original Frankenstein movie.

As of early April 2006, Brooks had begun composing the score to a Broadway musical adaptation of Young Frankenstein, "which he says is perhaps the best movie he ever made." No deadline has been set for the work's completion, but after it is finished Brooks will begin fundraising and production. [link]

This film is number 56 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies.

Contents

1 Cast
2 Plot
3 Trivia
4 Awards
5 External links

Cast

Gene Wilder — Dr. Frankenstein
Peter Boyle — Monster
Marty Feldman — Igor
Madeline Kahn — Elizabeth
Cloris Leachman — Frau Blücher
Teri Garr — Inga
Kenneth Mars — Inspector Kemp
Richard Haydn — Herr Falkstein
Liam Dunn — Mr. Hilltop
Danny Goldman — Medical Student
Leon Askin — Herr Walman
Gene Hackman — The Blind Man

Plot

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Frederick Frankenstein, full name Doctor Baron Frederick von Frankenstein, is a respected lecturer at an American medical school and is more or less happily (though blandly) engaged to the tightly-wound Elizabeth. Frederick becomes exasperated when anyone brings up the subject of his grandfather, the famous mad scientist, to the point of insisting that his name is pronounced "Fronk-en-steen".

A solicitor approaches the doctor after a lecture and informs Frederick that he has inherited his family's estate. Travelling to said estate in Transylvania, Frankenstein meets his comely new lab assistant Inga, along with the household servants Frau Blücher and Igor (who, after hearing Frederick claim his name is pronounced "Fronk-en-steen," counter-claims that his is pronounced "EYE-gor"). The three of them help Frederick discover his grandfather's private journals and, inspired by their contents, the doctor finally acknowledges his heritage ("My name is Frank-en-shtein!") and resumes his grandfather's work of re-animating the dead using the body of an executed criminal. Unfortunately, Igor manages to steal the wrong brain from the local "brain depository". ("Abby someone... Abby... Normal!"). This mistake is revealed when the revived monster rampages and eventually escapes from the Frankenstein castle. While roaming the countryside, the monster has encounters with a young girl and a blind hermit (Hackman) which directly parody scenes from the original Frankenstein movies. He also ravishes the not unwilling Elizabeth, who has arrived unexpectedly for a visit.

Meanwhile, the local townspeople are concerned and are willing to riot because of Frederick's continuation of his grandfather's work. The most concerned is Chief Inspector Hans Wilhelm Frederick Kemp, whose accent is so thick even his own countrymen cannot understand him and whose right arm was pulled off by the monster Frederick's grandfather created, since replaced it with a jointed wooden replica (which creaks very loudly). Just as the Kemp-led mob storms the castle, Dr. Frankenstein is able to transfer some of his stabilizing intellect to the re-captured monster. The film ends happily, with Elizabeth married to the (ex-)monster, and Inga joyfully learning what her new husband Frederick got in return from the monster during the transfer experiment...

Trivia

A running gag in the film is whenever Frau Blücher's name is spoken, a team of horses whinnies (even when they aren't visible). Contrary to popular belief, her surname does not mean glue; the gag is a parody of the melodramatic use of thunder claps or ominous organ chords played upon the entrance of villains.

After repeatedly clicking on the Valkyrie unit in the computer game , they will say "Frau Blücher!". Clicking on them once more will make a whinnying sound.

Released the same year as Blazing Saddles and featuring some of the same stars, the humor is a little more sophisticated, but Brooks still manages to bring in some risque themes:
*Madeline Kahn's character continues to be obsessed with "large" men. In this case, when she finds out what she's "up against", she begins belting out, "Ah! Sweet Mystery Of Life" from Naughty Marietta.
*At the moment Frederick is helping Inga (Teri Garr) out of a carriage, Igor is banging on the door of the Frankenstein manor, using its huge and very loud door knockers. Wilder gasps, "What knockers!" and the blushing Inga says, "Oh! Thank you, Doctor!"
*Earlier, when Frederick meets Inga in the back of the hay wagon, she innocently asks, "Would you like a roll in the hay?" She then follows this up by literally rolling in the hay and playfully singing, "Roll, roll, roll in the hay..."

The scene in which Frankenstein's fiancée arrives in a carriage and is helped to the door by Igor is cut several times; unusual as the scene is relatively short and covers little physical and story grounds. Brooks has admitted that this scene was intended to be shot in one continuous flow, but the actors could not keep a straight face for the whole scene in any one take.

The equipment in Frankenstein's lab was the same equipment used in the 1931 movie Frankenstein.

The scene with Frankenstein and the monster performing "Puttin' on the Ritz" is shown in the film Big Daddy.

Some fans of the original Frankenstein do consider this a sequel to that film, although it is fully comedic.

When this film was in theatres, Aerosmith was working on their third studio album, Toys in the Attic. They had written the music for a song but couldn't come up with any lyrics to go with it. After a while, they decided to take a break and go see Young Frankenstein. When Marty Feldman said "walk this way", a classic of contemporary rock was born: "Walk This Way". ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Gene Hackman was uncredited in the original theatrical run.

Awards

Young Frankenstein received two Academy Award nominations for Best Sound (Richard Portman and Gene S. Cantamessa) and Best Adapted Screenplay (Wilder and Brooks). It was named the 13th funniest film in the American Film Institute list of 100 Laughs. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted it the 28th greatest comedy film of all time.

The success of Young Frankenstein led to another horror spoof, 1974's Vampira starring David Niven and Teresa Graves. It was renamed Old Dracula for North American release in order to cash in on the name recognition of Young Frankenstein. In many locations, the two films were shown back-to-back as a double bill.

External links

[Young Frankenstein] at Filmsite.org
[Sound clips] at [MovieSounds.com]

Films Directed by Mel Brooks

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