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Wicked funny
by CarlosC (movies profile)
Aug 11, 2006
6
of
8 people found this review helpful
INGA: Verr - voolf!
DR. FRANKENSTEIN: Verr - voolf?
IGOR: Zerr! Zerr, voolf.
Spoof comedy is elevated to a fine art in Mel Brooks' hilarious send-up of thirties horror, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974). The grandson of the world's most famous mad scientist, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced "Fronckensteen," you see -- Gene Wilder), gets the monster itch in this parody of the first three Frankenstein movies, which starred Boris Karloff (the first two were also directed by James Whale).
The movie, which is funny no matter how you slice it, is even funnier in light of the fact that its satire is so well-informed. Those who actually saw the Karloff films will immediately recognize in Inspector Kemp (Kenneth Mars), the wooden-armed burgomaster played by Lionel Atwill in SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939). Brooks' spoof is so faithful to the original films that he took the trouble to locate much of the original laboratory set used in BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1935) -- re-used again in GODS AND MONSTERS (1998).
Since YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN has become a certified cult-classic, many of its lines are well-known, even to people who never saw the movie. My favorite one-liner is when Igor, played to comic perfection by the late Marty Feldman, tells Dr. Frankenstein (Wilder) to "walk this way." Igor then begins to hobble and wobble along, and Frankenstein starts following him. Then, Igor turns around and corrects Frankenstein, "No -- THIS way," and makes Wilder hunch over and limp in the same manner that Igor was doing.
In another famous sequence, which mocks a scene from BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN in which Karloff's Monster takes up residence with a blind Hermit, the Monster here (Peter Boyle) encounters Gene Hackman, who pours hot soup in the Monster's lap; breaks his wine glass with an over-eager toast; sets his thumb on fire thinking it's a cigar, and generally assaults him at every turn (the Hermit is BLIND). Thus, the melodramatic pathos of the earlier film is effectively mocked with irreverent physical comedy, here.
The laughs keep coming throughout, and although they are funniest when the jokes draw sharp satirical fire at the subject matter, they also work when their focus is less defined (as when Wilder and Teri Garr approach a massive castle door and Wilder blurts-out, "What knockers!," to which the chesty Garr retorts, "Oh, thank you, Doctor"). In some respects, Brooks' style of spoof humor was the precursor of the guerrilla-styled satire of AIRPLANE! (1980) and the NAKED GUN (1991) movies. Except that, while the plot and characters are massacred in these later films by the constant barrage of out-of-character one-liners, in Brooks' movie, the plot and characters are actually enhanced.
Ironically, YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN joins some of the movies it spoofs, becoming one of the great 'Frankenstein' flicks, itself.
(Carlos Colorado) |
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