Young Frankenstein

They just don’t make comedies like Young Frankenstein anymore. Mel Brooks directs this hilarious film with a steady hand and the script by Gene Wilder and Brooks does something that we don’t see in current comedies: It takes time to build up jokes.

Modern comedies go for the quick laughs. They fire off jokes at machine gun pace and hope that joke density will be enough to keep the audience’s attention. Young Frankenstein is great not because of joke density, but because of how it patiently builds up jokes throughout the film and rewards the audience with some good laughs. I have two examples. One is the hump on Igor’s back and it’s position. The other is the slow build up between Frankenstein and Inga that starts with “a roll in the hay”. I wish modern comedies would trust in their writing and allow jokes to build over time because the laughs that are generated this way have been earned.

The story for the film follows the grandson of Victor Frankenstein, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder). When a will for Victor turns up, the grandson is taken to his castle and the hijinks ensue. Frankenstein has two assistants, Inga (Teri Garr) and Igor (Marty Feldman). There is a creepy house keeper (Cloris Leachman) and there is also his fiancee, Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn). And then there’s the Monster (Peter Boyle).

I really enjoyed the film and was glad to have seen it. The film was a recommendation from my bro Josh and it was a good recommendation. Keep in mind, the Blu-ray sleeve shows pictures from the film in color – I am not sure why – but the film is black and white.