Young Frankenstein is the story of Dr. Frankenstein’s grandson as he lives down his surname and revisits his grandfather’s experiments.
Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) leaves his fiance, Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn) and travels back to the estate in Transylvania owned by his family. There he meets his new assistants, Igor (Marty Feldman) and Inga (Teri Garr), and housekeeper Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman). Frederick becomes interested in his grandfather’s experiments and decides to re-animate the dead and creates his own Monster (Peter Boyle). As the townspeople grow uneasy of Frederick’s experiments, the Monster goes out on his own before being captured again. Frederick transfers part of his personality to the Monster and then in an effort to calm people, the two put on a show.
The plot synopsis of Young Frankenstein makes this seem like a continuation of the original Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein films from the 30s, but it’s a typical Mel Brooks spoof that is securely rooted in the original Frankenstein lore. It’s even shot in black and white and uses some of the original set pieces and props from the ’31 Karloff film. This lends Young Frankenstein an edge of seriousness that almost makes the dry wit of Wilder and Brooks strike like a bell at times or go completely unnoticed if you aren’t looking for it.
To fully understand Young Frankenstein, you almost need a firm grasp of Mel Brooks’ humor and how it works more than you need strong knowledge of the Frankenstein films. Young Frankenstein is one of the finest comedies ever in that it has an actual plot that is taken fairly seriously but is punctuated by lots of great gags to keep things interesting. This isn’t a spoof film like they make today, this was a funny take on a film where the source is clearly loved. The original films aren’t necessarily the butt of the joke, but comedic situations can be made from the source material.
Young Frankenstein is one of the finer comedies ever produced, for my money. It’s a fantastic blend of humor and the original Universal films in a way that only Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder could do. While I thought it took a while to really get going, once all the plot points are setup the film got more than a few “belly laughs” from me. Young Frankenstein is a film that I hadn’t seen since I was a kid, so most of the humor went right over my head. As an adult I can really appreciate the film for what it is, especially after having just seen Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, but Young Frankenstein is just as timeless.
I give it 5 Puttin’ On the Ritz out of 5.
Links:
This is a terrific comedy. I’m surprised you didn’t catch it before Halloween as it really fits the holiday. Great review, glad to see it get 5 out of 5.
I saw it ON Halloween…Yes, I’m that far behind in my writing
And good God, you post it 5 min ago and already have 12 comments… I hate you, Andy. I hate you.
I blame WordPress. You should have stuck with WordPress, my friend
I’m hoping for the changeover this January.
Wooooo!
5 out of 5 is correct 🙂
Right on
Still my all-time favorite Mel Brooks film. Well done, Andy.
I’ve got a soft spot for Men In Tights but this may have surpassed that now.
Nice write up, Andy. I love this film to no end. I practically know it word for word – verbatim. Thanks for the review!
Haha awesome! One of my wife’s friends, who we went to see this with, also knew most of it by heart so she would start laughing before the joke even happened. I love movies like that.
Ha! So do I! 😀
5 out of 5 ALL THE WAY!!!
FRAU BLUCHER!!!!
*neigh*
Nice grouping!
Mel Is Responsible For THREE Of The Funniest Flicks (In My Opinion) Of ALL-TIME… “YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN”, “BLAZING SADDLES”, and (Because It’s My Nephew’s Favorite Flick Ever) “SPACEBALLS” hahaha
And I’d Rank Them In That Order.
“YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN” Is Mel’s Masterpiece.
It’s Like Stanley Kubrick’s “DR. STRANGELOVE”.
It’s Simply PERFECT. 🙂
Excellent Review, Dude.
Excellent, Indeed 😉
-B.
Yeah, it could easily be argued that it’s his finest work, if not the funniest as well. Thanks!
This is my second favorite Brooks film after The Producers. Glad you loved it too. It’s one of the best comedies ever.
I need to watch The Producers again, I didn’t give it a fair shake when I first watched it.
Pingback: My October Movies Round-Up | Andy Watches Movies
This is my all-time favourite Mel Brooks film! I can still remember rushing out to see this in the cinema over and over and over. We all memorised the lines and could repeat the entire film verbatim including the sound effects. Great review and excellent score (5 out of 5) I may have to watch this tonight… 😀 As a final note, one of us actually saw the film 17 times on it’s first run.
Wow, 17 times! Impressive
If you do watch it I hope you write about it. I found it difficult to put into words without assuming the reader had seen it
You’ve got a deal. Although it will be hard for me to look at it with “fresh” eyes. 😀
Watching this and Blazing Saddles back to back and you’ve got your daily dose of laughter for an entire year. But it also makes me miss Madeline Kahn tremendously. What a talented, funny and beautiful woman.
Indeed, it also made me miss Teri Garr when Teri Garr looked smoking hot
We terminators LOVE this movie! After all, it’s about a human creating a new creature! Very similar to our birth process!
Quite possibly Mel Brooks’s finest movie. Nice review, Andy.
I agree, thanks!
“Roll, roll, roll”. That’s right, there’s nothing like a literal roll in the hay! 😉
lol