DVD Brief: Young Frankenstein |
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Description: Mel Brooks was at the peak of his directing powers (coming off "The Producers," "Twelve Chairs" and the great "Blazing Saddles") when he mounted "Young Frankenstein" (though it was star Gene Wilder who brought the idea to Fox and Brooks). Considered to be one of his most successful outings, this parody/homage of the great horror films of Hollywood's Golden Era still holds up today -- but you definitely have to be a fan of Brooks' at-times scatological and sexual-innuendo humor. The film is shot in black and white to heighten the effect and contains some of the best performances ever by Teri Garr, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman and Madeline Kahn. What an ensemble! Mel Brooks' audio commentary is one of the director's stuttering gems -- it's difficult to keep him on track as his brilliant mind wanders from topic to topic (It's kind of the "2000 Year Old Man" meets DVD). The 36-minute documentary "Making Frankensense of Young Frankenstein" is a excellent background to the film, with behind-the-scenes information (how Wilder fought for the penultimate Dr. Frankenstein/Frankenstein monster dance number), profiles of the cast, information on the creation of the sets and lighting (the original Universal lab set from "Frankenstein" was used; cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld was asked by Brooks to replicate the black and white look of "Frankenstein" and "Bride of Frankenstein" but to "do it more to satirize" the originals: Brooks wanted it dark for mood but also bright for comedy); an interview with Brooks, a sequence called "Tricks of the Trade and another sequence called "Fine Tuning a Classic." There's also a scene selection ability to jump from the documentary to the film.
In addition to theatrical trailers and TV spots, there's deleted scenes (justly
so) and on-set bloopers, as well as interviews by a Mexican correspondent with
Feldman, Wilder and Leachman, and production photos.
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