As mentioned in my review for Silent Movie it is a formidable task reviewing all nine (yes, nine!) movies in the Mel Brooks Collection box set, so again I beg for the reader’s patience as I soldier through the movies. For my second review, I continued to focus on the Mel Brooks movies I had missed.
Second up for review was 1974’s Young Frankenstein, a film from which I had seen various scenes, but never sat through the whole film. Of all the Mel Brooks movies, this one appears to have the most loyal following, and I was intrigued again by Mr. Brooks making an atypical movie (a horror movie throwback in black and white) in the 1970’s.
Film 
This film has a very loyal and dedicated audience who can likely fire off lines at will from various points in the movie. I am not one of these, and I find it highly unlikely that I will ever become one of them. After watching the movie, I admired Mr. Brooks’ skill with the camera, and loved Gene Wilder’s lunatic acting as the Young Frankenstein (Frawnk-en-steen!), but found the movie generally uninspiring.
The plot is straightforward enough – the young Dr. Frankenstein is a respected medical teacher and doctor, who has attempted to distance himself from his nefarious ancestor who brought the dead to life. However, a reading of his dead grandfather’s will (I think it was his Grandfather’s – the geneaology in the film is a bit confusing) ends up with Dr. Frankenstein moving to Transylvania (which has nothing to do with Frankenstein) and discovering the lab where the original monster was made.
Although originally opposed to reanimating the dead, he comes across the original Dr. Frankenstein’s journal, and decides that it may work, and that he too, can bring back the dead. Of course, problems are caused when Igor (Eye-gor, effectively played by Marty Feldman) has an accident, and destroys the brain that Dr. Frankenstein wanted, replacing it with an abnormal (Abby Normal) brain.
So, the poor monster goes off on his adventures (mimicking those from Universal’s iconic “Frankenstein”), followed by an attempt to prove to the townsfolk that the monster is really not a monster (via a musical number). Will Dr. Frankenstein be able to save his monster from the townsfolk? How will he resolve his relationship with the luscious Inga (Terri Garr) and his tightly wound fiancé (Madeline Kahn)?
On the plus side, this is a beautifully shot movie, and shows Mel Brooks’ love of the old Universal horror films. Superimposing images over people’s faces, using different styles of screen wipe, the well-timed thunder and lightning, and use of lighting and shadows is truly a love letter to these classic movies. A special mention also goes to Cloris Leachman, who as Frau Blücher steals every scene she is in. She has an ability to make hot milk and Ovaltine sound like a nasty and naughty thing.
However, the humor in this movie fell flat for me. Whereas in Silent Movie, slapstick and over-expression was needed due to a lack of dialog, it fails to elicit much laughs here. Kneeing an old man in the groin? Not really funny. Using a corpse’s hand as yours? Not really funny. Getting spun in and stuck in a revolving bookcase. Still not funny.
Some scenes were bit more humorous, and the “Puttin’ on the Ritz” number was one of the best parts of the film. However, these laughs were too few for me to consider this a comedic masterpiece. Double entendre, juvenile humor, and penis jokes can only carry a movie so far.
Video 
This is a difficult movie to score, as it was deliberately made to look like an old Universal horror film. Shot in black and white, there was plenty of grain and noise throughout the movie; overall, it had a very natural “old and soft” look to it.
Favorably, the film did not appear to have much digital noise or artifacting, which suggests that its restoration was done carefully and neutrally. However, it is difficult to score it higher than I have, and I am left to ponder if the picture on Blu-ray is substantially better than that of an upscaled DVD.
Audio 
Although the soundtrack is advertised in being in DTS-HD MA, there appears to have been a deliberate attempt to make the film sound as close to mono as you can through 5.1 speakers. The dynamic range resembles that of an AM radio station, and I could not discern any real sounds coming from the surrounds or LFE. Even the thunder had no rumble.
Again, this lack of dynamic range appears to be a deliberate attempt to make the movie sound like an old Universal horror film. And although this has a true sheen of authenticity, this isn’t the reason I have a Blu-ray player and a surround sound system.
Special Features 
Where Silent Movie fell short on special features, Young Frankenstein has an excellent mix of both older material (from previous DVD releases), and newer material for the Blu-ray. This is not surprising, as Young Frankenstein has also received a solo Blu-ray release as well as its inclusion in this package.
Although I am not a big commentary fan, Mr. Brooks’ commentary on this disc is very good, and in many cases, funnier than the movie.
Also included are a very good trivia track, deleted scenes (both SD and HD ones included), comments on specific scenes in the making of the movie (Inside the Lab), two HD featurettes (It’s Alive, Transylvanian Lullaby), and a number of recycled SD features (Making FrankenSense, Production Photos, Interviews, Trailers, TV Spots, and Outtakes). The quality of these is mixed, but the volume is good, and should have lasting appeal to fans of the film.
Final Thoughts
It is rare that I am as disappointed by a movie as I was with Young Frankenstein. After hearing for years about it’s legendary status, I was truly underwhelmed by this film. And although the visual and audio presentations were consistent with Mr. Brooks’ vision for a comedic version of a Universal horror film, laughs were simply in too short a supply.
For real fans, this Blu-ray is available as part of this package, as well as a standalone Blu-ray.
