Skip to Main Content

Is It Available?

Reviewer Luci Seem

Luci Seem is a Library Specialist at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Title

Young Frankenstein

Review

If it is possible to view any of Mel Brooks' comedies as refined, Young Frankenstein could be that film. The opening pulls you in with the stirrings of a violin as credits run across a black and white shot that gradually comes in to focus, revealing a castle fortress. The chiming of a clock adds elegance to a fire side as the camera pans out to show a casket with the name Baron Von Frankenstein on the lid. The coffin opens and a box is abruptly pried from skeletal hands.

Dr. Frankenstein, played by Gene Wilder is the grandson and heir of Baron Frankenstein. He is assisted in his lab by Inga, played by Tere Garr. Marty Feldman plays Igor, pronounced Eyegore, and delivers his lines with Marx Brothers' timing. Playing Frankenstein' "financier" Elizabeth, Madelyne Kahn brings her own touch of class, as does a scene with the monster and the Doctor doing a soft shoe to Putting on the Ritz. Peter Boyle does a great portrayal of a monster with empathy as well as other unusual attributes. More than a remake or spoof of Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein, Young Frankenstein is a story that, like the monster, stands alone.

Review Date

Reviewed October 2010