Spooky Spoof
(originally posted on IMDb 24 August 2018)

"Young Frankenstein" feels like a bonus for having viewed the Universal Frankenstein series, from the 1931 film to the monster's meeting Abbott and Costello in 1948, all of which have some pleasurable aspects in themselves. In fact, I've seen near 50 Frankenstein films thus far since re-reading Mary Shelley's novel, but "Young Frankenstein" only parodies the 1930s-1940s classics and mostly just the first three entries. It's probably fun on its own, but I find it especially rewarding to spot which parts of it refer to which particular Frankenstein film and how Mel Brooks, Gene Wilder and company alter them for humorous effect.

Some may dismiss "Young Frankenstein" for a script and style that imitates and reworks prior films, but that's no easy task itself, as evidenced by so many parodies failing in those regards. Brooks's 1995 "Dracula: Dead and Loving It," for instance, suffers from a lackluster reiteration of the plot from the 1931 "Dracula," which itself was a rather stagy adaptation, and is almost devoid of any interesting style. "Young Frankenstein," on the other hand, may be the most concise narrative and best looking Brooks film, as it takes some of the best bits narratively and stylistically from, mainly, three Frankenstein entries that are each great films in themselves.

Filmed in black and white and beginning with a plot similar to "Son of Frankenstein" (1939), Wilder's Frederick Frankenstein (who insists on the pronunciation of "Fronkensteen") is a lecturer who inherits his ancestor's castle and, subsequently, his experiments in reanimating cadavers. He's assisted by the hunchbacked Igor (pronounced "eye-gore")--a conglomeration of the Ygor from "Son of Frankenstein" and the hunchback Fritz from the first film in the series--as well as by a promiscuous young female lab assistant and an old maid, who clearly had a sexual relationship with his late ancestor (come to think of it, this is the only part that may point to the Hammer series, in which Frankenstein had an affair with his maid). As in the 1931 "Frankenstein," the doctor and the hunchback rob graves, stitch a body together and give it life via electric gizmos and lightning. The little Maria scene is also lampooned, followed by the scene with the blind man adapted from Shelley's novel in "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935). Madeline Kahn's Elizabeth also references the original sequel when her hair gains the iconic streaks of white lightning and she sports a Nefertiti hairdo, whereas the final gag involving some sort of brain transference tweaks the plotlines of the more B-picture type Frankenstein films, including "The Ghost of Frankenstein" (1942) and "House of Frankenstein" (1944). And, of course, there's the monster's fear of fire, his attraction to violin playing and some angry mobs, as well as an over-the-top Inspector Kemp mocking the role played by Lionel Atwill in "Son of Frankenstein." In addition to these gags, there are unexpected moments of hilarity--most remarkably, Frankenstein and his monster performing "Puttin' on the Ritz."

Overall, this is a loving spoof of the Universal series. It's because those original films were so good that this parody works.

(Included on my list of 50--and counting--Frankenstein films.)