Young Frankenstein

Front Row at the Movies by Shirrel Rhoades

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Back in 1816, 18-year-old Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly wrote the scary story “Frankenstein; Or, The Modern Prometheus” on a dare. Published two years later, it told of a scientist who creates a sentient life out of spare body parts.

While not the first film based on the novel, the 1931 Universal Pictures version directed by James Whale became the iconic horror classic. Boris Karloff achieved fame as the stitched-together Monster.

Then, in 1974, funnyman Mel Brooks put his stamp on the legend with “Young Frankenstein,” a parody starring Gene Wilder as a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein. Peter Boyle “put on the ritz” as the Monster.

Co-written by Brooks and Wilder, the director recalled how the horror spoof came about:

“I was in the middle of shooting the last few weeks of ‘Blazing Saddles’ somewhere in the Antelope Valley, and Gene Wilder and I were having a cup of coffee and he said, I have this idea that there could be another Frankenstein. I said, ‘Not another! We’ve had the son of, the cousin of, the brother-in-law. We don’t need another Frankenstein.’ His idea was very simple: What if the grandson of Dr. Frankenstein wanted nothing to do with the family whatsoever. He was ashamed of those wackos. I said, ‘That’s funny.’”

In this storyline, Dr. Fredrick Frankenstein (Wilder) travels to the family castle in Transylvania where he is greeted by intimidating housekeeper Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman), hunchbacked aide Igor (Marty Feldman), and beautiful assistant Inga (Teri Garr). Joined by his fiancé Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn), he sets about recreating his ancestor’s formula, bringing to life a singing-and-dancing Monster (Boyle). You know how the story goes, townsfolk with pitchforks and all.

As film critic Roger Ebert described it: Brooks’ “most disciplined and visually inventive film (it also happens to be very funny).”

“Young Frankenstein” is the perfect film to put you in the Halloween mood. Not too scary, but great spooky fun.

Email Shirrel: srhoades@aol.com