Young Frankenstein
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [Reading from his grandfathers' notebook]
"As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hinderance to my speed, I resolved therefore to make a being of a gigantic stature."
[pause]
Of course. That would simplify everything.
Inga: In other vords: his veins, his feet, his hands, his organs vould all have to be increased in size.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Exactly.
Inga: He vould have an enormous schwanzstucker.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: That goes without saying.
Inga: Voof.
I
gor: He's going to be very popular.
I find it ideal to have these two films of Mel Brooks that showcase the strong differences of the two individuals who co-wrote these films: Richard Pryor in
Blazing Saddles and Gene Wilder in this,
Young Frankenstein. It's also kind of amusing that Pryor and Wilder would later pair up to play several films together. To further examine this we would have to bring in something like
History of World Part I to show Mel all on his own. And with it being in '81, who knows, perhaps the next HoF may have it slated.
With
Blazing Saddles, the comedy is of a courser nature that is quite blunt in its presentation, and with
Young Frankenstein, the wit is done with reverence to older screwball comedies with a little more preparation in the delivery of said comedy.
An excellent example of this is after stealing the corpse, "Fronkensteen" and I-gor is stopped by a night patrolman and Wilder uses the Creature's extended hand as his own.
A clever bit of comedy that Wilder would re-use and expand upon with a different set of limbs in
Haunted Honeymoon.
I love both films and, in the end, it will be tricky to decide which gets the placement over the other.
Brooks is extremely good at bringing out the comedic cleverness of his actors and it is showcased in this one, with, on the ladies side of things,
the beutiful Terri Garr,
as always, bringing a delicious creepiness to her role, Cloris Leachman
and my favorite of the three, Madeline Kahn
All of which do amazing jobs, and are equaled by the gentlemen here,
Peter Boyle bringing comedic life to The Creature,
the show-stealing Marty Feldman,
the calm collective that grows frantic, Gene Wilder,
and yet ANOTHER incredibly bizarre character played brilliantly over the top by Kenneth Mars.
Finally, my favorite cameo by Gene Hackman
All of which making a very memorable, very funny, easily quotable, and very entertaining parody to the old Frankenstein and Bride of Frankentsein films.