Young Frankenstein was a 1974 comedy directed by Mel Brooks. Mel Brooks known for comedies like Blazing Saddles and The Producers this film, Young Frankenstein was one of his best. The movie starred Gene Wilder. The film idea was pitched to Mel Brooks, but he had hesitations about the idea. He thought they had too many Frankenstein movies and wanted the movie to be in color but eventually went along with the idea. Despite the movie opening the same week as Godfather 2 it grossed 86 million domestically and won multiple awards. Young Frankenstein was filmed in black and white and was a spoof on 1930’s Frankenstein. The star cast, and the film being shot in black and white turned out to be a unique comedy. I think this film was geared towards mainstream but was very unconventional brand of comedy.
The film Young Frankenstein is about a well-known doctor (Dr. Fronken-steen) as he refers to himself at the beginning of the movie. He is confronted by a student at the beginning of the movie about his grandfather digging up dead bodies to bring them back to life. Fronken-steen calls him a crazy old man and wants nothing to do with the name Frankenstein. He finds out his grandfather is dead and has inherited his grandfather’s mansion.
Dr. Fronkenstreen arrives in Transylvania and is greeted by Egor his hunchbacked assistant who calls himself Igor because of Fronkensteen. He finds his grandfathers personal library and discovers his life work of bringing back the dead. He digs up a body finds a brain and has a successful re-birth of the Frankenstein monster. Now proud of his work calls himself Dr. Frankenstein. The town is against him and thinks he is crazy like his grandfather. Dr. Frankenstein eventually persuades the town that his monster is not a monster. The ending Frankenstein monster is saved by the doctor and becomes an intelligent man who marries his bride and lives happily ever after.
This review for Young Frankenstein was done January 1974 by Roger Ebert and was well liked. He opens the review with The moment, when it comes, has the inevitability of comic genius. He talks about Mel Brooks other movies being his best but this being his most disciplined and visually inventive film.
The second link was a interview done by the Los Angeles Times in 2010. They interview 85-year-old Mel Brooks. He comments on the first-time hearing that there could be another Frankenstein movie. He said there can’t be another there is already a cousin, a brother in law we don’t need another Frankenstein. What if a grandson of Dr. Frankenstein wants nothing to do with his wkacko family, now that’s funny he says.
Published March 9 1975 by the Charlston Gazzette. This article talks about the movie and how well it was made. It states, “Young Frankenstein,” meticulously recreating the sight, sound and feel of the original ’30s “Frankenstein” while, at the same time, satirizing the hell out of it.
Hey Melisa,
I thought that your post was really well organized, the way that you opened with an overview of the movie and what you thought it was and then you dove into the summary of the movie was easy to follow and I liked that, I’m definitely going to work on doing this more in my future blog posts. It’s cool how this movie came out the same weekend as Godfather II- and it still was very successful. We both talked about how the movies we watched were unconventional but reached and appealed to wide audiences!
Hi Melisa,
Your coverage of Young Frankenstein was both entertaining and very thorough. The historical context provided for the trials and tribulations endured by individuals hoping to see the film’s production helps to enhance the reader’s appreciation of the final product. For example, I had always assumed that the decision to shoot in black and white stemmed from financial woes and an attempt to save money. The fact that Brooks and Wilder had to fight for the film to be shot this way only adds a new layer of refined comedy to the film’s already successful recipe. In the future I will try to include more fun production information such as this.