Young Frankenstein [Blu-ray]

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Lending his burlesque touch to 1970s genre revision, Mel Brooks followed his hit "western" Blazing Saddles with this parody of 1930s Universal horror movies. Determined to live down his family's reputation, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (co-screenwriter Gene Wilder) insists on pronouncing his name "Fronckensteen" and denies interest in replicating his grandfather's experiments. But when he is lured by Frau Blucher (Cloris Leachman) to discover the tantalizingly titled journal "How I Did It" in his grandfather's castle, he cannot resist. With the help of voluptuous Inga (Teri Garr), wall-eyed assistant Igor (Marty Feldman), and a purloined brain, Frankenstein creates his monster (Peter Boyle). Igor, however, stole the wrong brain, and the monster tears off into the countryside, encountering a little girl and a blind hermit (Gene Hackman). Frankenstein finds the monster and trains him to do a little "Puttin' On the Ritz" soft-shoe, but the monster escapes again, this time seducing Frankenstein's uptight fiancee Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn) with his, ahem, sweet mystery. His love life and experiment in shambles, Frankenstein finally finds a way to create the being he had planned. Shooting in gleaming black-and-white, with sets and props from the 1930s and appropriate fright music by John Morris, Brooks' cheeky attitude towards the Hollywood past attracted a large audience, turning it into one of the most popular 1974 releases after (what else?) Blazing Saddles. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: A
• Number of Discs: 1
• Subtitle: Eng/Spa/Cantonese/Mandarin
• Audio: Dolby Digital Mono
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 (Theatre Wide Screen)
• Features:
  • cc
  • Commentary by Mel Brooks
  • Inside the Lab: Secret formulas in the making of Young Frankenstein
  • The Franken-Track: A monstrous conglomeration of trivia
  • Blucher button
  • Its' Alive! Creating a Monster Classic featurette
  • Transylvanian Lullaby: The music of John Morris
  • Making FrankenSense of Young Franksteing featurette
  • Outtakes
  • Isolated score track
  • Interviews with Marty Feldman, Gene Wilder and Cloris Leachman
  • Deleted scenes
  • Production photo galleries

AWARDS

• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

•     Nominated Best Adapted Screenplay - 1974 (Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks)
•     Nominated Best Sound - 1974 (Richard Portman, Gene S. Cantamessa)

• Hollywood Foreign Press Association

•     Nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Com - 1974 (Cloris Leachman)
•     Nominated Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Pic - 1974 (Madeline Kahn)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Gene Wilder - Dr. Frederick Frankenstein
       Peter Boyle - Monster
       Marty Feldman - Igor
       Madeline Kahn - Elizabeth
       Cloris Leachman - Frau Bluecher
       Gene Hackman - Blind Hermit
       Arthur Malet - Village Elder

• Director:

  Mel Brooks

• Producer:

  Michael Gruskoff

• Screen Story:

  Mel Brooks

• Screenwriter:

  Mel Brooks

• Screen Story:

  Gene Wilder

• Screenwriter:

  Gene Wilder

• Cinematographer:

  Gerald Hirschfeld

• Composer (Music Score):

  John Morris

• Musical Direction/Supervision:

  John Morris

• Editor:

  John C. Howard

• Production Designer:

  Dale Hennesy

• Set Designer:

  Robert de Vestel

• Costume Designer:

  Dorothy Jeakins

• Sound/Sound Designer:

  Gene S. Cantamessa, Richard Portman

• Makeup:

  William J. Tuttle, Ed Butterworth

• Special Effects:

  Henry Millar, Jr.

• First Assistant Director:

  Marvin Miller

• Stunts:

  Jesse Wayne

• Casting:

  Mike Fenton, Jane Feinberg

• Publicist:

  Howard Brandy

REVIEW:

• Few movies have offered up such satisfying parody and un-self-conscious wit as this Mel Brooks spoof, and all with the scatological flair that only Brooks can provide. When he's in top form, Brooks can make audiences feel as if they're simultaneously going to burst into tears, bust a gut, and pee in their pants with laughter. The great thing about Young Frankenstein, aside from this ability to make people lose all motor functions, is the reverence it pays to the films it parodies. Silly but always respectful, Brooks wants to honor the old Frankenstein films rather than skewer them, and as a result he serves up a film that is a cinematic achievement rather than a half-baked knock-off of better efforts. One of the funniest films of the 1970s, Young Frankenstein has lost none of its hilarity to the passing of time, serving as a reminder of how innovative parody can be. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, Rovi