Rating: B+
Dir: Mel Brooks.
Star: Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr.
I’m just glad I watched this after reviewing many of the classic Universal movies for 31 Days of Vintage Horror. Because this deconstructs the myth of Frankenstein, in much the same way Monty Python and the Holy Grail does Arthurian legend. Not quite as relentlessly, mind you. Indeed, there are a number of points where Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Wilder) could be appearing in a perfectly straight entry in the franchise. I mean, speeches such as: “Tonight, we shall hurl the gauntlet of science into the frightful face of death itself. Tonight, we shall ascend into the heavens. We shall mock the earthquake. We shall command the thunders, and penetrate into the very womb of impervious nature herself.” Close enough to Shelley.
There’s no question Brooks loves the films which this is a parodying, and does so with a huge amount of affection, including using the same lab equipment as James Whale’s Frankenstein. There are points where this may actually be better. Igor (Feldman) is a more-rounded character than any of the genuine movies: “It’s pronounced EYE-gor”. The monster (Boyle), too, is arguably more sympathetic. Witness his breaking the fourth wall and staring at the audience for help, when the little girl by the well asks him, “Nothing left. What shall we throw in now?” Notably, he does not go there, unlike his predecessor. So, while this is comedy, often of the most riotous kind, it’s not so far from being perfectly serviceable when taken seriously. Probably should remove the Putting on the Ritz number, admittedly.
But there are any number of good reasons why this is the director’s highest-rated movie on the IMDb, and among the top comedies of the seventies. I’d say, it trails only Grail there, and both are similarly quotable. Just ask Aerosmith, who came up with the title of their best-known song, Walk This Way, after seeing this film in Times Square. What impressed me most, is its balance between visual and verbal gags, sometimes combining both in the same scene. Though I did feel like it lost a little pace after the glorious scene, lifted directly from Bride of Frankenstein, where the monster visits the blind woodsman, played surprisingly by Gene Hackman.
While Wilder is front and centre, the supporting cast are uniformly excellent. Feldman is a real standout, and it makes you wonder what he might have done, save his untimely early death. But the women – not just Garr and her knockers, Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman as well – are almost as impeccable. Though, for whatever reason, I think I laughed hardest at Inspector Kemp, with his false arm of 1,001 uses. This is the second time Kenneth Mars has stolen the show in a Brooks movie, after his turn as Nazi playwright Franz Liebkind in The Producers. It’s all almost entirely glorious, and will certainly ensure you won’t be able to watch the classics in quite the same way again. Or sing Putting On The Ritz either.