As a fan of the Universal horror films from the 1930’s and 1940’s I have a deeper appreciation for Mel Brooks and his rather silly Young Frankenstein than most. If you watch the film without the references, I don’t think it holds up very well at all. The jokes are often repeated enough times that they lose any effectiveness they might have had. Just about all of the performances are over the top. From that quick look one might dismiss Young Frankenstein as a minor effort that was mildly amusing in its day, but without any real staying power. So, what is it that has made this not only the best film from the mind of Mel Brooks, but a perennial classic 30 years later? For the answer to that question you must return to that golden age of horror.
Universal was a struggling studio on the brink of extinction. Studio head Carl Laemmle Jr. decided to greenlight an experimental type of cinema. Talkies, films with integrated sound, were a new invention and had not yet gone mainstream. Laemmle teamed with director Tod Browning to produce the first horror film of the sound era, Dracula. His niece would make history by providing the very first spoken voice in a horror film. What started with Dracula and Bela Lugosi in 1931 would take a fledgling film studio and make it one of the most successful concerns in the industry. The golden age of horror had begun. In just 2 decades the cycle would create four of the biggest horror icons in Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Mummy, and, of course, Frankenstein. The films had a distinctive style that pushed the limits of the time, invading the dreams of the world and turning them into a shared nightmare, of sorts. When you look back at the Universal cycle you see there is a certain atmosphere that pervades each film, instilling within it a genre recognizable 80 years later. Mel Brooks was obviously a fan of these films. When he decided to turn his well earned reputation for the movie spoof to that genre, he did his homework. Mixed deep into the silliness and laughs is the very sense of atmosphere from the films he was poking fun at. Not since Abbott and Costello met Frankenstein has the genre been so precisely imitated in satire. Brooks acquired some of the original props from the Universal Frankenstein series and integrated them into his sets. The genius decision to film in black & white was fought by the studios, but Brooks knew it was an essential component to the film’s effectiveness. The sets looked like they came directly from the fire damaged Universal back lot. Once Brooks had established for himself the parameters of the original, he now had a wonderful funhouse, where he and his creative team and actors could play.
The story borrows mostly from the first three Frankenstein films. Here we have Dr. Frankenstein, a well known medical doctor and scientist who tries to distance himself from his infamous grandfather. He’s finally coaxed to visit the old estate where he discovers his grandfather’s lab notes in a volume entitled: “How I Did It”. Before long the good doctor finds himself obsessed with his family’s work and once again brings the creature back to life. A series of mishaps dooms this experiment to the infamous traditions of the previous horror. Many of the film series’ famous moments are here, including a sweet performance by Gene Hackman as the blind hermit who attempts to befriend the creature with some food, wine, cigars, and violin music. There is a nice moment that alludes to one of the original film’s most controversial and originally censored moments. “Frankie” is tossing flower petals down a well with a young girl when they run out of flowers. “What will we throw into the well, now?” the young girl asks. In the original film the creature tosses the girl into the lake, which was the setting instead of a well. Here the creature merely tucks the young tyke into bed.
Brooks relied on his stable of regular performers here for the most part. It was doubtful that anyone but Gene Wilder would have been called upon to essay the role of Dr. Frankenstein. The same is likely true for Marty Feldman, who plays his deformed assistant, Ygor. This character is obviously a conglomerate character based on the Fritz and Ygor characters from the Universal film series. The final piece of the important casting puzzle was the use of Peter Boyle as the creature. Like Karloff before him, Boyle was left with a part that had almost nothing to say. He had to bring the creature to life, so to speak, without the use of clever dialog. Even his facial expressions would be hidden beneath the Frank Pierce imitation makeup design. He managed the role quite well and actually was less effective in scenes where he had more freedom to be silly. The best of the female leads falls to Madeline Kahn who plays Elizabeth, but is also the fill in for Elsa Lancaster’s Bride from the second film. Terri Garr and Cloris Leachman do fine jobs in their limited roles, but it’s the trilogy of Wilder, Feldman, and Boyle that make this film work so well. Of course, Brooks has his usual cameo as the father of a little girl who has an encounter with “Frankie”. The only real complaint I have is that there are moments where the jokes are overdone, and the film appears to run about 20 minutes longer than it needs to.
Video
Young Frankenstein is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Understand that the film is 30 years old and filmed in black & white. It’s also important to note that there was an attempt to reproduce the picture of older films not always in the best of shape. You have to look at any softness and print defects as a stylistic intent. The picture does deliver a 1080p image using an AVC/MPEF-4 codec. You get a solid mid 20’s mbps through most of the film. Actually this film might not benefit, but struggle with an HD release. Boyle’s makeup doesn’t hold up very well at all. There is a washed out feel to the film I don’t recall experiencing in my previous releases of the film. I don’t know that you gain anything on Blu-ray here except for the best picture you could want. Any better and I think the atmosphere of the film falls apart.
Audio
The DTS-HD lossless 5.1 track delivers about everything you could want here. This is really a dialog driven film, so don’t expect an aggressive use of surrounds or a particularly large sound field. The film’s original track is mono, so I am glad they didn’t try and spread things around. It’s a center speaker dominated world that feels claustrophobic and rather flat, exactly as it should be.
Special Features
Inside The Lab: You can enable this as a pop up feature or watch the individual portions from the menu here. Unfortunately there is no play all ability to watch the whole half hour or so at one time. There doesn’t seem to be much continuity over these things, and so the subjects kind of ramble. There’s plenty of cast and crew participation. Brooks talks about the experience of bringing the film to Blu-ray.
Deleted Scenes: This is an absolute treasure trove. You get the original 17 minutes of scenes in standard definition from the previous DVD release. You also get an additional 25 minutes of new HD deleted scenes. There’s some golden moments here that any fan of the film will want to see for themselves.
It’s Alive! Creating A Monster Classic: This half hour feature is lifted from the original DVD release. You hear where the ideas came from and get a good timeline of events. Cast and crew all join to provide a ton of insight and behind the scenes stuff.
Making Frankensense Of Young Frankenstein: This 41 minute feature appears to focus on Gene Wilder. He provides a lot of insight into the film and how it was made. There’s plenty of good anecdote stuff here. It’s likely you heard a lot of it before, but it’s a good collection of reminiscences from Wilder all the same.
Interviews: In a couple of odd little extras are some Mexican television interviews, first with Marty Feldman then with Wilder and Leachman. They’re under 5 minutes each and not in great shape.
Trailers and TV Spots
Final Thoughts
I wish I could say that the HD release of Young Frankenstein brings it to new life and all of that, but I can’t. It’s still a good fun film to watch, but I don’t see the great leap forward in HD as I’ve seen with others. It’s not a knock at all on the release and is totally appropriate. If you’re looking to buy it for the first time, you might as well get it in Blu. If not, the HD deleted scenes are the only new things of note to pick it up for. Brooks is almost always going to be funny. After all, “You are talking about the nonsensical ravings of a lunatic mind!”
