Young Frankenstein (1974) ***½

Being the third Mel Brooks film I have seen, Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men in Tights being the first two, Young Frankenstein was certainly a change of pace as instead of parodying a contemporary franchise or adaptation respectively, Brooks sets out instead to parody the horror genre, with specific attention to James Whale's Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. In fact looking back over the film I actually see it as less of a parody but rather a continuation of the stories of the previous films with a more humorous twist. There are parallels to famous scenes in both Universal films, however the plot serves as its own sequel of sorts to the source material. With an impressive body of actors, all who seem to be enjoying themselves immensely in their roles, Young Frankenstein takes a bold leap from simple parody, of which there are an ever increasing amount of diminishing quality today, to an affectionate tribute to the films which revolutionized the horror genre and a film that can stand on its own merits and not that of poking fun at things past.

Gene Wilder plays Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced Fronkensteen according to him), the grandson of the famous doctor who brought a man back from the dead who went on to plague a local village and cause a few deaths. Wilder plays the mad scientist role well without ever going over the top. He can be calm and collected and suffer from bouts of hysteria during his own experiment in the reanimation of life or general frustration such as when he stabs himself in the leg with a scalpel while adamantly stating he has no interest in pursuing his grandfather's work. Frankenstein teams up with Igor (Marty Feldman), who constantly breaks the fourth wall with his quips and winks to the audience regarding the current set of circumstances and the sensual Inga (Teri Garr) who mirrors the seduction of his grandfather's work as he is also tempted to be unfaithful to Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn) who is seen all too briefly at the beginning and end of the film. And of course there is the Monster (Peter Boyle) who much like Karloff in the Frankenstein films, is capable of communicating so much to the audience with facial expressions and differing emotive grunts.

Young Frankenstein may not be chock full of side-splitting laughs but it is always humorous with numerous quotable lines from the superb cast Brooks has assembled. Certainly the experience is heightened if one has seen the Frankenstein films, with memorable parodies of the young girl scene in the first film and the blind man sequence from the sequel. Both scenes contain winks regarding their originators but are still as enjoyable if you had never seen those scenes. The entire film is shot in black and white to evoke the same atmosphere and feel of the Universal horror films and Brooks even utilizes similar editing techniques such as ending scenes with an iris out or fading to black which aren't as common in today's fast paced editing or even in the mid-seventies when the film was made. Brooks has gone to extreme lengths in order to duplicate the look, sound and feel of the films which obviously made quite an impression on him. The best indicator of this would be Frankenstein's lab which looks like it has been directly lifted from the thirties' films even including much of the same equipment that had been used in those productions.

While I was not too impressed with Young Frankenstein immediately after viewing it having expected something slightly different, on reflection I think the more subtle and character based humor makes some of the gags in this film a lot more memorable. Thinking back on the film now, I cannot imagine why I didn't laugh as much on first sight of some of the bits. It's certainly an amusing film and an excellent cast all around with special recognition going to Wilder who will probably forever overshadow Colin Clive from the original films with his slightly manic, always entertaining performance. Young Frankenstein is probably one of those rare films that actually benefits from repeat viewings which ensures its place in the minds of the audience who will not only laugh as hard as the first time around, but probably harder with each new trip to the well.

Favorite moment: Once the Monster has awoken and Frankenstein is trying to get him to walk on him own, a match from Igor sends him into a fury as he begins to strangle the good doctor. Unable to speak, he resorts to charades to try and communicate to Inga and Igor what should be done to help him before it's too late. Of course Igor comes up with "sedagive" but Inga is able to understand and subdue the Monster. Parodying its own scene, once Frankenstein finds out that rather than using the brain of the scientist and saint he had intended to use, Igor substituted in Abby Normal's brain. While being throttled by Frankenstein, Igor is forced to use charades to get Inga to understand him. I think this was the turning point in the film where I really started to enjoy the proceedings and had a better understanding of the intent of the film, in addition to it being one of many very amusing scenes.