Mel Brooks’ films are always funny and always clever but some of them really take the cake and Young Frankenstein is a stand out among his work. Not only is it the only film he directed in black and white, it is an adaptation/parody of a book, and it is one of the few movies Brooks didn’t make a cameo in himself. To me the most memorable scene has always been the “Putting on the Ritz” scene. There are many other stand out scenes and moments in the film including some hilarious cameos that Brooks’ films are famous for. Young Frankenstein displays the incredible comedic skills of Gene Wilder as Dr. Frankenstein, Pete Boyle as The Monster, & Marty Feldman as Igor but he also utilizes the comedic skills of comediennes; Madeline Kahn as Elizabeth, Tery Garr as lab assistant Inga and Cloris Leachman as the stoney-faced Frau Blücher (insert horse whinny here). Young Frankenstein is about the infamous Doctor Frankenstein’s grandson who is trying to separate himself from his family’s history. He returns to his family home in Transylvania and finds his grandfather’s notes only to successfully repeat his grandfather’s experiment and reanimate dead flesh creating a monster. Brooks uses Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein as an outline for the plot and also uses famous imagery from Boris Karloff’s Frankestein and other early adaptations for comedic effect and to anchor the story. Young Frankenstein is a “comedy-must” for any fan of Brooks, Wilder, or good comedy in general.
