Sunday, October 31, 2021

Young Frankenstein 1974

 


We seem to be on a roll today with another film that the Horror Honey counts as one of her favorites (I'm a big fan as well) and a Mel Brooks classic.  This one is no doubt a comedy however it pays great respect to the classic horror movie Frankenstein from 1931 as well as it's "sequels".  It's loaded with comedy legends like Gene Wilder (who co-wrote the screenplay with Brooks), Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr, and Madeline Kahn.  And this isn't counting the many small bit parts put in by other stars as well.

 

The film is remarkable in that the props used for the laboratory scenes in the original 1931 Frankenstein are also used in this film.  The film did not go unnoticed by the public or the critics.  It was a box office success as well as critically acclaimed; earning two Oscar nominations.  The film not only was filmed in black and white to give it an old time feeling, Brooks also used filming techniques originally used in the 1930's.  Even Mel Brooks himself considers the film his best work.     
 

Now, with everyone I've mentioned that is in this film there is still one other person I want to mention.  Gene Hackman is in this for all of about ten minutes as the blind hermit.  But what a ten minutes it is.  One scene and the guy nearly steals the damn film.  It's also one of Peter Boyle's strongest scenes as well.  It also reminds me of just how loyal to the original film it is while being a completely different film.  So, is this a perfect film?  Pretty damn close!  If there was no such thing as The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelley or the 1931 film this would get five out of five. It's not fully original so I take off only a half a star and I give this four and a half Abby Normal brains out of five.  If you have never seen this before you need to fix that immediately if not sooner.  You really are doing yourself an injustice.  

  
  

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