YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
Young Frankenstein is a 1974 American comedy film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder as a descendent of the infamous Baron von Frankenstein.
The film draws inspiration from the Mary Shelley’s original tale and the various film adaptations of the book, such as the James Whale’s Frankenstein (USA 1931), Bride of Frankenstein (USA 1935) and Son of Frankenstein (USA 1939).
At the beginning, the script was written by Gene Wilder, with the intent of making a parody of the famous Universal saga.
Mel Brooks liked it, so decided to direct the movie and thanks to his success and his contacts, the cast could be composed of big names: Marty Feldman as Igor, Peter Boyle as the Monster, Teri Garr with her German accent as the assistant, Madeline Kahn as the fiancé of the main character, Cloris Leachman as Frau Blücher, and Gene Wilder starring the Doctor Frederick Frankenstein.
Each one gave his enormous contribute during the creation of the characters and it has been one of the keys of the huge success of the film.
Mel Brooks decided to shoot it entirely in black and white in order to recall the previous Frankenstein versions and create an atmosphere similar to the old horror movies. A very dare choice because the audience was accustomed to Technicolor movies.
The movie was a success and was the highest-grossing film of 1975 in the USA with more than $ 86 million. It was nominate for two Academy Awards and it still ranks 13th in the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 funniest American movies.
CHARACTERS
The real strengths of the film are the characters, so emphasized in their aspect that they represent the beating heart of the movie, thanks to the skills of the interpreters.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder): he is the main character and maybe also the most normal, pure and ingenuous. Famous medical doctor in an American University, he insists on his surname is Fronk-on-steen trying to deny the relationship with his grandfather. However, helped by Igor and Inga, he discovers the real value of his grandfather’s studies and he admits being the descendant of the mad scientist.
Igor (Marty Feldman): he is the soul of the movie. Loyal servant of the Professor, ugly and funny at the same time, he “paints” each scene with his insanity. He is the Jolly of the project, the one who sticks into the mind of the audience.
Inga: (Teri Garr): she is the beautiful and voluptuous blonde assistant of the Doctor. She is one of the most important figure of the movie; her German accent is the main characterization, (with) which Mel Brooks plays for her word plays.
Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn): she is engaged to the Doctor. An unpleasant character, a stereotyped middle-up class woman who does not yield to anyone neither to his future husband. She turns to be quite funny though, when she wears the wig to seduce the Monster. The actress exaggerates her movements in order to look like a diva.
Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman): she is the housekeeper of the castle and girlfriend of Baron Viktor von Frankenstein. It is a mysterious character whose surname frights the horses every time it is pronounced.
The Creature (Peter Boyle): Playing this role the actor does not need to speak that much. Everything is expressed by his mime and gestural movements. Being perfect in this role, he shows emotions, fear, happiness and gentleness depending on the situation. The interpretation in Puttin’ on the Ritz is amazing.
PLOT
The main character, Dr Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder), is a lecturer of an American medical school, who wants to forget his relationship with his grandfather, infamous mad-scientist whose experiments were aimed at giving life to dead people. For this reason he pronounces his surname differently, Fronk-on-steen. However, he decides to go to Transylvania after knowing that, as the only descendant of the Baron Victor von Frankenstein, he has inherited everything owned by his grandfather in that remote region.(because the only descendant of the Baron Victor von Frankenstein)
At the end of the travel, he meets Igor (Marty Feldman) the hunchbacked, bulging-eyed servant, a lovely young woman named Inga (Teri Garr) and the forbidding housekeeper Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman), her grandfather’s girlfriend. She helps Frederick to find the room where all the studies were kept. As a result, Dr. Frankenstein is fascinated by what he finds out in that place and decides to keep working on what his grandfather started.
Due to the thoughtlessness of Igor, the Doctor puts in a dead body (Peter Boyle) an abnormal brain instead of the one required by Frederick, provoking the escape of the Monster, dangerously out of control.
During its escape, the walking dead first meets a little girl and then a blind hermit (Gene Hackman). Both scenes are a direct parody of the original Frankenstein movies.
After a while, the Professor captures the Creature and calms it down, convincing it to be a good boy. So he decides to show to population and scientists that the Monster is not evil and how it can even respond to simple command, performing Puttin’ on the Ritz; However the routine goes disastrously because a little fire frights the Monster that charges the audience, where it is captured again, this time by the policemen. He gets away and kidnaps Elizabeth, future bride of Frankenstein, who had just arrived at the castle.
Elizabeth falls in love with the creature due to his inhuman stamina and his enormous penis (referred to as Schwanstuker a Yiddish word play, from Schwanz, “tail”, which also is German slang for ” penis”, and Stück, “piece”).
Meanwhile, the Inspector Kemp (Kenneth Mars) leads the Monster hunting followed by the townspeople while the Creature had came back to the castle, following the music played by the Doctor. Here Frederick involves the Creature in a new experiment trying to transfer into its brain a piece of his intellect and as a result he is able to placate the mob arrived at the castle.
The movie has a happy ending with the marriages of the Monster with Elizabeth, and Frederick with Inga who joyfully learns that the Doctor had got in return the Schwanstuker from the last experiment
ANALYSIS OF THE FEATURES
As we said, the plot recalls a lot of movies: all the scenes such as the body exhumation, the Creature resurrection by lightening, the Monster scared by fire, the scene of the sedative, the meeting with the child, the kidnapping of the scientist’s wife and the expedition of the citizens, are all referred to Frankenstein.
The use of kites to store the energy and the meeting with the hermit scenes come from the movie Bride of Frankenstein. The Inspector Kemp is taken from Son of Frankenstein.
Igor is a mix of characters inspired by the hunched servant of Frankenstein and he is named after the criminal who gave life to the Monster in Son of Frankenstein. The Baron is named Viktor as in the book and not Heinrich like in the other movies.
If we compare the movie to Blazing Saddles by Mel Brooks, we can notice the difference in the accuracy of these details, due to Wilder’s meticulousness more than Brooks himself.
How odd: the story is set in Transylvania, the land of Dracula. A strange Transylvania, where people speak with a German accent and dress like Tyrolean (as we know the story in the book is set in Ingolstadt). This new and independent movie is based on a horror atmosphere without coping the ones which it is inspired by. Could we possibly think of a better place than Transylvania as a setting for this film, since everyone reconnects it to nightmares and evil creatures?
Young Frankenstein is neither a parody because it does not ridicule the past works nor a satire, even though is commonly considered to be that, due to the good behaviour of the Monster contrasting with his evil nature. Actually, we have to consider that the Monster has ever been good.
In the first movies of Frankenstein, the Monster is represented as misunderstood and suffering due to the people who escape scared of its horrible aspect, reason why he was supposed to be bad. No wonder if in Bride of Frankenstein, it is in a good relationship with the hermit, who cannot see its aspect. Therefore, it is not necessary to watch the original Frankenstein films because Young Frankenstein is funny anyway. Even if we extrapolated the fantastic gags from the movie, they would maintain their amusing aspect.
The movie is a perfect mix of character and slapstick comedy. As we can see: the zip on the neck of Creature makes it funnier than the one played by Boris Karloff, although they are very similar, and it is full of expressiveness. The scene where the hermit breaks the cup and the Monster looks up through the camera, looks like a Laurel & Hardy sketch.
The character of Elizabeth is unpleasant however she acquires a touch of style when she wears the wig used in Bride of Frankenstein in order to seduce the monster.
The character of the professor is very simple, not so funny, he can be considered Igor’s right-hand man. Actually, he is the jack of all trades of the film, the hunched-back servant who transforms every movement to a chance to laugh. He is the real representation of slapstick comedy.
If we talk about deformity we have to cite the example of the Inspector Kemp who with his monocle and his multiuse fake arm, perfectly plays his role showing the typical mime gesture of a clown: he is the opposite to the Monster, so kind and patient, while he is evil and dogmatic. He is the umpteenth bad characterisation that Brooks makes of a German. His stiffness in movements is due to the Prussian education, meanwhile his disability is due to some fights against criminals or due to university Mensur.
The film runs fluidly. Funny scene(s) alternate with those showing a certain precision while the acting paces are meticulously measured. Moreover there are various examples of different comedy strategies: from the anticlimax (“my accidental relationship to a famous…kook!”), to the slow-burn (the scene where Frederick asks Igor about the brain, talking normally at first and then getting angry and attacking him), through comedy gags as the scene of the Monster playing with the young girl.
Young Frankenstein 