Young Frankenstein

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 132.170.160.163 (talk) at 14:48, 16 February 2007. The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Young Frankenstein
Young Frankenstein film poster
Directed byMel Brooks
Written byMel Brooks
Gene Wilder
Produced byMichael Gruskoff
StarringGene Wilder
Teri Garr
Cloris Leachman
Marty Feldman
Peter Boyle
Madeline Kahn
Kenneth Mars
Gene Hackman
CinematographyGerald Hirschfeld
Music byJohn Morris
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
December 15, 1974
Running time
106 min.
CountryUS
LanguageEnglish
Budget$2,800,000 (est.)

Young Frankenstein is a 1974 comedy film directed by Mel Brooks, starring Gene Wilder as the title character. Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman also star. The screenplay was written by Brooks and Wilder.

The film is a parody of the horror film genre, in particular the various film adaptations of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein, mainly those made by Universal in the 1930s, to which the film is best seen as an affectionate homage. This is reflected by the fact that most of the pieces of lab equipment were the very ones used in the 1931 film Frankenstein, designed by Ken Strickfaden. To further reflect the atmosphere of the earlier films, Brooks shot the picture entirely in black-and-white, a rare choice at the time.

Young Frankenstein is number 28 on Total Film Magazine's List of the 50 Greatest Comedy Films of All Time, number 56 on Bravo television network's list of the "100 Funniest Movies", and number 13 on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 funniest American movies of all time. [1] In 2003, it was deemed "culturally significant" by the United States National Film Preservation Board, and selected for preservation in the Library of Congress National Film Registry.

Cast

Plot

Template:Spoiler Frederick Frankenstein, full name Doctor Baron Frederick von Frankenstein, is a respected lecturer at an American medical school and is more or less happily (though blandly) engaged to the tightly-wound Elizabeth. Frederick becomes exasperated when anyone brings up the subject of his grandfather, the famous mad scientist, to the point of insisting that his name is pronounced "Fronkensteen".

A solicitor approaches the doctor after a lecture and informs Frederick that he has inherited his family's estate. Travelling to said estate in Transylvania, Frankenstein meets his comely new lab assistant Inga, along with the household servants Frau Blücher and Igor (who, after hearing Frederick claim his name is pronounced "Fronkensteen" counter-claims that his is pronounced "Eye-gor"). The three of them help Frederick discover his grandfather's private journals and, inspired by their contents, the doctor finally acknowledges his heritage ("My name... is... Frankenstein!") and resumes his grandfather's experiments in re-animating the dead. He and Igor successfully exhume and spirit away the enormous corpse of a recently-executed criminal, but Igor's attempt to steal the brain of a revered scientist from the local "brain depository" goes awry ("Abby someone... Abby... Normal!"). (The brain canister in which the desired brain reposed was marked "Hans/Max Delbrück, scientist and saint." Hans Delbrück was a nineteenth-century military historian; his son Max Delbrück was a twentieth-century biochemist and Nobel laureate.) This mistake is revealed when the reassembled and revived monster goes on a rampage and eventually escapes from the Frankenstein castle. While roaming the countryside, the monster has encounters with a young girl and a blind hermit which directly parody scenes from the original Frankenstein movies. He also kidnaps and ravishes the not-unwilling Elizabeth, who has arrived unexpectedly for a visit.

Meanwhile, the local townspeople are uneasy and prepare to riot because of Frederick's continuation of his grandfather's work. Most concerned is Chief Inspector Hans Wilhelm Frederick Kemp, who sports an accent so thick even his own countrymen cannot understand him and, thanks to his run-in with a previous Frankenstein's monster, a jointed and extremely creaky wooden arm.[3] Just as the Kemp-led mob storms the castle, Dr. Frankenstein transfers some of his stabilizing intellect to the re-captured monster. As a result, the monster is able to reason with and placate the mob. The film ends happily, with Elizabeth married to the (ex-)monster, and Inga joyfully learning what her new husband Frederick got in return from the monster during the transfer procedure.

Broadway musical adaptation

In early April 2006, Brooks began composing the score to a Broadway musical adaptation of Young Frankenstein, which he described as possibly his best film.[4] In November 2006, Brooks and Thomas Meehan, collaborators on The Producers, finished the first draft of the script and in October a reading directed by Susan Stroman was held with Brian D'Arcy James as Dr. Frankenstein, Kristin Chenoweth as Elizabeth, Roger Bart as Igor, Marc Kudisch as Inspector Kemp and Shuler Hensley as the Monster. Cloris Leachman also attended the table read, reprising her role as Frau Blucher and it was widely reported she would be offered the role of Frau for the stage show.[5][6] However, gossip maven Liz Smith reported in her New York Post column on January 12, 2007 that Leachman was sent a letter informing her she would not be considered for the Broadway production because the producers wanted to keep the film and stage properties separate.

On January 24, 2007, it was announced that the musical would premiere in late 2007, with music and lyrics by Brooks, book by Brooks and Thomas Meehan, and Susan Stroman directing and choreographing.

Cultural influence

  • When the film was in theaters, Aerosmith were working on their third studio album, Toys in the Attic. They had written the music for a song but couldn't come up with any lyrics to go with it. After a while, they decided to take a break and see Young Frankenstein, where the "Walk This Way" gag provided the basis (or phrase) for the Aerosmith hit "Walk This Way".[citation needed]
  • The scene with Frankenstein and Inga trying to get through the revolving bookcase is shown in the film Big Daddy.
  • Peter Boyle reprised his role (after a fashion) in the TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, when he costumed himself as the monster for Halloween.
  • The success of Young Frankenstein led to another horror spoof, 1974's Vampira starring David Niven and Teresa Graves. It was renamed Old Dracula for North American release in order to cash in on the name recognition of Young Frankenstein. In many locations, the two films were shown back-to-back as a double bill.
  • Eppu Normaali, one of Finland's most successful bands, was named after a translation in the Finnish subtitles of Young Frankenstein (character Abby Normal [abnormal] was translated to Eppu Normaali [epänormaali]).
  • In StarCraft: Brood War, the valkyrie unit, which is piloted by a woman with a strong German accent, says, after being poked enough times, "Blucher!", to be answered by the whinny of a horse.

Awards

Nominated
Won

References

  1. ^ "AFI's 100 YEARS...100 LAUGHS". AFI Announces The 100 Funniest American Movies Of All Time. June 14, 2000. Retrieved 2006-09-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ According to Leonard Maltin's annual directory of movies, Gene Hackman was uncredited in the original theatrical run.
  3. ^ Kemp's full name and the origin of his arm are revealed in a scene deleted from the film but included as an "extra" on the DVD release.
  4. ^ "Mel Brooks thinks it time for Frankenstein to dance". REUTERS. April 10, 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ "LEACHMAN TO RETURN FOR YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN MUSICAL". Contact Music. August 11, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Chenoweth, Hensley, Kudisch to Star in October Workshop of Young Frankenstein". Playbill News. September 6, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to Young Frankenstein.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Young_Frankenstein&oldid=108609212"