Young Frankenstein (1974)

United States of America

Comedy

Crossbow Productions, Gruskoff/Venture Films, Jouer Limited, 20th Century Fox

Gene Wilder, Teri Garr, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn

Mel Brooks

Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks

Taglines: The scariest comedy of all time!

monster, experiment, assistant, castle, bride, parody, mad scientist, laboratory, spoof, horror spoof, black and white, scientist, frankenstein

A young neurosurgeon inherits the castle of his grandfather, the famous Dr. Victor von Frankenstein. In the castle he finds a funny hunchback, a pretty lab assistant and the elderly housekeeper. Young Frankenstein believes that the work of his grandfather was delusional, but when he discovers the book where the mad doctor described his reanimation experiment, he suddenly changes his mind.

Reviews:

Author: narrator56
When I had the opportunity Ro watch this film again after decades, due to a Cloris Leachman tribute, I couldn’t resist, despite feeling there was a risk of a familiar problem: that of me not liking a program or movie as a mature adult as much as I had as a young man. I needn’t have worried. This is not Mensa material here, but it is a good example of what Mel Brooks did best, spoof movie genres or other cinematic cliches. Everyone seems to have great fun making this movie, and it shows. Some of the bits have become catch phrases: the horse neighing when a certain name is mentioned, the hilarious sight gag of the secret door (“Put the candle back!), and other classic lines. This doesn’t make any of my Favorites list, but it was well worth revisiting it for the laughs and a glimpse at what my younger self thought was funny, and older self agrees with him.