ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - December 15th
"YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN" released today in 1974
"YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN" released today in 1974
Don't miss out on future blogs, trailers, and clips IHdb has coming up
by Following IHdb's Facebook page above
by Following IHdb's Facebook page above
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) is a lecturing physician at an American medical school and engaged to the tightly wound socialite Elizabeth (Madeline Kahn). He becomes exasperated when anyone brings up the subject of his grandfather, the infamous mad scientist. To dissociate himself from his forebear, Frederick insists that his surname is pronounced "Fronkensteen." When a solicitor informs him that he has inherited his family's estate in Transylvania after the death of his great-grandfather, the Baron Beaufort von Frankenstein, Frederick travels to Europe to inspect the property. At the Transylvania train station, he is met by a hunchbacked, bug-eyed servant named Igor (Marty Feldman) who, irritated by Frederick's pronunciation of Frankenstein, insists that his own name is pronounced "Eye-gor", and a lovely young personal assistant named Inga (Teri Garr).
Upon arrival at the estate, Frederick meets the forbidding housekeeper Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman), whose name, whenever spoken, causes horses to rear up and neigh madly in fright. Though his family legacy has brought shame and ridicule, Frederick becomes increasingly intrigued about his grandfather's work after discovering the secret entrance to his grandfather's laboratory. Upon reading his grandfather's private journals, Frederick is so captivated that he decides to resume his grandfather's experiments in re-animating the dead. He and Igor steal the corpse of a recently executed criminal, and Frederick sets to work experimenting on the large corpse. Matters go awry when Igor is sent to steal the brain of a deceased revered historian, Hans Delbrück; startled by lightning, he drops and ruins Delbrück's brain. Taking a second brain, Igor returns with a brain labeled "Do Not Use This Brain! Abnormal", which Frederick unknowingly transplants into the corpse. Soon, Frederick is ready to re-animate his creature (Peter Boyle), who is elevated on a platform to the roof of the laboratory during a lightning storm. Eventually, electrical charges bring the creature to life. The creature makes its first halting steps, but, frightened by Igor lighting a match, he attacks Frederick and must be sedated. Upon being asked whose brain was obtained, Igor confesses that the brain he supplied belonged to "Abby Normal" ("Abnormal"), angering Frederick and he chokes him.
The townspeople are uneasy at the possibility of Frederick continuing his grandfather's work. Most concerned is Inspector Kemp (Kenneth Mars), a one-eyed police official with a prosthetic arm and a thick German accent. Kemp visits the doctor and subsequently demands assurance that he will not create another monster. Upon returning to the lab, Frederick discovers that Frau Blücher is setting the creature free. After she reveals the monster's love of violin music and her own romantic relationship with Frederick's grandfather, the creature is enraged by sparks from a thrown switch and escapes from the Frankenstein castle. While roaming the countryside, the Monster has frustrating encounters with a young girl and a blind hermit (Gene Hackman). Frederick recaptures the monster and locks the two of them in a room, where he calms the monster's homicidal tendencies with flattery and fully acknowledges his own heritage, shouting out emphatically, "My name is Frankenstein!". Frederick offers the sight of "The Creature" following simple commands to a theater full of illustrious guests. The demonstration continues with Frederick and the monster launching into the musical number "Puttin' On the Ritz," complete with top hats and tails. The routine ends disastrously when a stage light explodes and frightens the monster, who becomes enraged and charges into the audience. To now save his beloved creature, Frederick lures the Monster back to the castle using the violin and attempts a radical, and dangerous, experiment that will either calm the raging Monster, or destroy them both!
Upon arrival at the estate, Frederick meets the forbidding housekeeper Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman), whose name, whenever spoken, causes horses to rear up and neigh madly in fright. Though his family legacy has brought shame and ridicule, Frederick becomes increasingly intrigued about his grandfather's work after discovering the secret entrance to his grandfather's laboratory. Upon reading his grandfather's private journals, Frederick is so captivated that he decides to resume his grandfather's experiments in re-animating the dead. He and Igor steal the corpse of a recently executed criminal, and Frederick sets to work experimenting on the large corpse. Matters go awry when Igor is sent to steal the brain of a deceased revered historian, Hans Delbrück; startled by lightning, he drops and ruins Delbrück's brain. Taking a second brain, Igor returns with a brain labeled "Do Not Use This Brain! Abnormal", which Frederick unknowingly transplants into the corpse. Soon, Frederick is ready to re-animate his creature (Peter Boyle), who is elevated on a platform to the roof of the laboratory during a lightning storm. Eventually, electrical charges bring the creature to life. The creature makes its first halting steps, but, frightened by Igor lighting a match, he attacks Frederick and must be sedated. Upon being asked whose brain was obtained, Igor confesses that the brain he supplied belonged to "Abby Normal" ("Abnormal"), angering Frederick and he chokes him.
The townspeople are uneasy at the possibility of Frederick continuing his grandfather's work. Most concerned is Inspector Kemp (Kenneth Mars), a one-eyed police official with a prosthetic arm and a thick German accent. Kemp visits the doctor and subsequently demands assurance that he will not create another monster. Upon returning to the lab, Frederick discovers that Frau Blücher is setting the creature free. After she reveals the monster's love of violin music and her own romantic relationship with Frederick's grandfather, the creature is enraged by sparks from a thrown switch and escapes from the Frankenstein castle. While roaming the countryside, the Monster has frustrating encounters with a young girl and a blind hermit (Gene Hackman). Frederick recaptures the monster and locks the two of them in a room, where he calms the monster's homicidal tendencies with flattery and fully acknowledges his own heritage, shouting out emphatically, "My name is Frankenstein!". Frederick offers the sight of "The Creature" following simple commands to a theater full of illustrious guests. The demonstration continues with Frederick and the monster launching into the musical number "Puttin' On the Ritz," complete with top hats and tails. The routine ends disastrously when a stage light explodes and frightens the monster, who becomes enraged and charges into the audience. To now save his beloved creature, Frederick lures the Monster back to the castle using the violin and attempts a radical, and dangerous, experiment that will either calm the raging Monster, or destroy them both!
[addressing his class]
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: My grandfather's work was doodoo! I am not interested in death! The only thing that concerns me is the preservation of life!
[jams the scalpel into his leg, lets go of the scalpel and it sticks upright out of his leg, grasps it again, then slowly crosses his legs to block the scalpel from view]
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Class... is... dismissed.
Top: Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) continues his mad grandfathers experiments, with the aid of Inga (Teri Garr) and Igor (Marty Feldman);
Above: The forbidding housekeeper Frau Blücher (Cloris Leachman)
Gene Wilder had played around with screenwriting earlier in his career, writing a few unmade screenplays that were, by his own admission, not very good (the story idea of one of those early screenplays would form the basis of his 2007 novel My French Whore.), and began toying around with an idea for an original story involving the grandson of Victor Frankenstein inheriting his grandfather's mansion and his research. While writing his story, he was approached by his agent (and future film mogul) Mike Medavoy who suggested he make a film with Medavoy's two new clients, actor Peter Boyle and comedian Marty Feldman. Wilder mentioned his Frankenstein idea, and within a few days, sent Medavoy four pages of his idea. Impressed with the pages, Medavoy encouraged Wilder approach Mel Brooks about directing. Wilder, who had already talked to Brooks about the idea early on, called Brooks, who told him that it seemed like a "cute" idea but showed little interest. Though Wilder believed that Brooks would not direct a film that he did not write himself, he again approached Brooks a few months later, when the two of them were shooting Blazing Saddles. Brooks later recalled in 2010 interview with the Los Angeles Times that,
Agreeing to write the screenplay together, Wilder and Brooks met nightly at Wilder's bungalow at the Bel Air Hotel. During the writing process, both men got into an terrific fight, with Brooks' throwing a huge temper tantrum, yelling and raging and eventually storming out of Wilder's apartment. Roughly ten minutes later, Wilder's phone rang - the caller was Brooks, who had this to say: "WHO WAS THAT MADMAN YOU HAD IN YOUR HOUSE? I COULD HEAR THE YELLING ALL THE WAY OVER HERE. YOU SHOULD NEVER LET CRAZY PEOPLE INTO YOUR HOUSE - DON'T YOU KNOW THAT? THEY COULD BE DANGEROUS." That, as Wilder later put it, was "Mel's way of apologizing".
"I was in the middle of shooting the last few weeks of Blazing Saddles somewhere in the Antelope Valley, and Gene Wilder and I were having a cup of coffee and he said, I have this idea that there could be another Frankenstein. I said not another — we've had the son of, the cousin of, the brother-in-law, we don't need another Frankenstein. His idea was very simple: What if the grandson of Dr. Frankenstein wanted nothing to do with the family whatsoever. He was ashamed of those wackos. I said, "That's funny.""
Agreeing to write the screenplay together, Wilder and Brooks met nightly at Wilder's bungalow at the Bel Air Hotel. During the writing process, both men got into an terrific fight, with Brooks' throwing a huge temper tantrum, yelling and raging and eventually storming out of Wilder's apartment. Roughly ten minutes later, Wilder's phone rang - the caller was Brooks, who had this to say: "WHO WAS THAT MADMAN YOU HAD IN YOUR HOUSE? I COULD HEAR THE YELLING ALL THE WAY OVER HERE. YOU SHOULD NEVER LET CRAZY PEOPLE INTO YOUR HOUSE - DON'T YOU KNOW THAT? THEY COULD BE DANGEROUS." That, as Wilder later put it, was "Mel's way of apologizing".
TRIVIA: The shifting hump on Igor's back was an ad-libbed gag of Marty Feldman's. He had surreptitiously been shifting the hump back and forth for several days when cast members finally noticed. It was then added to the script.
Top: Frederick's selfish fiancee, Elizabeth Benning (Madeline Kahn):
Above: The towns constable, Inspector Kemp (Kenneth Mars)
With a firm intention to satirize the classic Universal monster movies of the 50's, Brooks planned to shot the entire film in black and white, which the Columbia Pictures (the original studio producing the film) objected to. Then, according to Brooks, the studio tried tricking him into shooting the film in color. "They said 'Okay, we'll make it in black and white, but on color stock so that we can show it in Peru, which just got color. And I said 'No. No because you'll screw me. You will say this and then, in order to save the company, you will risk a lawsuit and you will print everything in color. It's gotta be on... black & white thick film." In addition, Columbia were only willing to spend $1.7 million on the films budget, not the $2.3 million Brooks had wanted. Brooks would eventually take Young Frankenstein to 20th Century Fox for financing and distribution, where then-studio chair Alan Ladd Jr. was far more accommodating. Not only did he grant the movie a higher budget ($2.8 million), Ladd Jr. later signed both Wilder and Brooks to five year contracts at the studio!
With Wilder set to play the young Frederick "Fronkensteen" Frankenstein, co-stars Peter Boyle (playing the Monster) and Marty Feldman (as Frederick's hunchback lab assistant, Igor) were cast initially due to their mutual agent - Medavoy - having a deal with the movie studio. Gene Hackman (who would have a cameo as the Blind Man) learned of the film through Wilder - the pair were frequent tennis partners - and requested a role, because he had wanted to try comedy. A future frequent collaborator of Brooks, Cloris Leachman, was soon cast as the forbidding housekeeper Frau Blücher. According to Leachman, Brooks once joked that Blücher was the German word for "glue", thus the mere mention of her name caused the horses to rear in fright!
Teri Garr originally auditioned for the role of Elizabeth, the fiancée, while Madeline Kahn, was the front-runner for Inga, the assistant. But Kahn ultimately decided she'd rather play Elizabeth, leaving Brooks with the task of recasting the Inga role. Undaunted, he called Garr in and told her that if she could come back the next day with a German accent, he'd like her for the part. She looked at Mel and said, "Vell, yes, I could do zee German ackzent tomorrow - I could come back zis afternoon" and the part was hers. It was at this time that Kahn started having a scheduling conflict with another movie she was filming and had to bow out. So Cindy Williams, who had also auditioned for Elizabeth, stepped in and took over the role for awhile. However, when Kahn's schedule cleared up, Brooks fired Williams and replaced her with Kahn. For his part, Brooks, who usually appeared in his own films, did not appear in Young Frankenstein, at the insistence of Wilder. He felt that Brooks' appearance would ruin the illusion and would only make the film if Brooks promised not to appear in it. Brooks didn't mind in the least, but did however make off-camera appearances as the howling wolf, Frederick's grandfather and the shrieking cat (hit off screen by Frederick's wayward dart while speaking with Inspector Kemp - played brilliantly by Kenneth Mars).
With Wilder set to play the young Frederick "Fronkensteen" Frankenstein, co-stars Peter Boyle (playing the Monster) and Marty Feldman (as Frederick's hunchback lab assistant, Igor) were cast initially due to their mutual agent - Medavoy - having a deal with the movie studio. Gene Hackman (who would have a cameo as the Blind Man) learned of the film through Wilder - the pair were frequent tennis partners - and requested a role, because he had wanted to try comedy. A future frequent collaborator of Brooks, Cloris Leachman, was soon cast as the forbidding housekeeper Frau Blücher. According to Leachman, Brooks once joked that Blücher was the German word for "glue", thus the mere mention of her name caused the horses to rear in fright!
Teri Garr originally auditioned for the role of Elizabeth, the fiancée, while Madeline Kahn, was the front-runner for Inga, the assistant. But Kahn ultimately decided she'd rather play Elizabeth, leaving Brooks with the task of recasting the Inga role. Undaunted, he called Garr in and told her that if she could come back the next day with a German accent, he'd like her for the part. She looked at Mel and said, "Vell, yes, I could do zee German ackzent tomorrow - I could come back zis afternoon" and the part was hers. It was at this time that Kahn started having a scheduling conflict with another movie she was filming and had to bow out. So Cindy Williams, who had also auditioned for Elizabeth, stepped in and took over the role for awhile. However, when Kahn's schedule cleared up, Brooks fired Williams and replaced her with Kahn. For his part, Brooks, who usually appeared in his own films, did not appear in Young Frankenstein, at the insistence of Wilder. He felt that Brooks' appearance would ruin the illusion and would only make the film if Brooks promised not to appear in it. Brooks didn't mind in the least, but did however make off-camera appearances as the howling wolf, Frederick's grandfather and the shrieking cat (hit off screen by Frederick's wayward dart while speaking with Inspector Kemp - played brilliantly by Kenneth Mars).
Above: Frederick and the Monster are "Puttin' on the Ritz"!
When Brooks was preparing this film, he found that Ken Strickfaden, who had made the elaborate electrical machinery for the lab sequences in the Universal Frankenstein films, was still alive and in the Los Angeles area. Brooks visited Strickfaden and found that he had saved all the equipment and stored it in his garage. Brooks made a deal to rent the equipment for his film and gave Strickfaden the screen credit he'd deserved, but hadn't gotten, for the original films. With filming beginning on 19 February 1974, Brooks was initially displeased with the first set of dailies, saying that the film should satirize the look of the old Universal horror films. Wilder came to the defense of director of photography Gerald Hirschfeld, saying, "Mel, we never told him that that's what we wanted. He's replicating it but we want to poke fun at it." Hirschfeld made some changes and the next set of dailies was more successful.
By all accounts, the cast - and especially Brooks - had so much fun during shooting, that they were so upset when principal photography was almost completed, that Mel added scenes to continue shooting! Wilder in particular constantly cracked up during takes. According to Leachman, "He killed every take with his laughter and nothing was done about it!" Shots would frequently have to be repeated as many as fifteen times before Wilder could finally summon a straight face. But the scene which required the most takes to be filmed was the one in which Igor bites Elizabeth's animal wrap. The reason was because each time he did it he was left with a piece of fur in his mouth which caused the other actors to laugh hysterically.
Wilder had originally conceived the "Puttin' on the Ritz" scene, while Brooks was resistant to it as a mere "conceit" and felt it would detract from the fidelity to Universal horror films in the rest of the film. Wilder recalls being "close to rage and tears" and argued for the scene before Brooks stopped him and said, "It's in!". When Wilder asked why he had changed his mind, Brooks said that since Wilder had fought for it then it would be the right thing to do. When they started to film the "Puttin' on the Ritz" scene, no one was sure what the creature should say. The first time out of the gate, however, Peter Boyle came up with a strangled version of "Puiinin on da reeez!". While still unconvinced, Brooks was finally swayed when he soon saw the musical number along with a howling audience that Brooks was finally confident about the sequence.
By all accounts, the cast - and especially Brooks - had so much fun during shooting, that they were so upset when principal photography was almost completed, that Mel added scenes to continue shooting! Wilder in particular constantly cracked up during takes. According to Leachman, "He killed every take with his laughter and nothing was done about it!" Shots would frequently have to be repeated as many as fifteen times before Wilder could finally summon a straight face. But the scene which required the most takes to be filmed was the one in which Igor bites Elizabeth's animal wrap. The reason was because each time he did it he was left with a piece of fur in his mouth which caused the other actors to laugh hysterically.
Wilder had originally conceived the "Puttin' on the Ritz" scene, while Brooks was resistant to it as a mere "conceit" and felt it would detract from the fidelity to Universal horror films in the rest of the film. Wilder recalls being "close to rage and tears" and argued for the scene before Brooks stopped him and said, "It's in!". When Wilder asked why he had changed his mind, Brooks said that since Wilder had fought for it then it would be the right thing to do. When they started to film the "Puttin' on the Ritz" scene, no one was sure what the creature should say. The first time out of the gate, however, Peter Boyle came up with a strangled version of "Puiinin on da reeez!". While still unconvinced, Brooks was finally swayed when he soon saw the musical number along with a howling audience that Brooks was finally confident about the sequence.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: [Reading from his grandfathers' notebook] "As the minuteness of the parts formed a great hinderance to my speed, I resolved therefore to make a being of a gigantic stature."
[pause]
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Of course. That would simplify everything.
Inga: In other vords: his veins, his feet, his hands, his organs vould all have to be increased in size.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: Exactly.
Inga: He vould have an enormous schwanzstucker.
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: That goes without saying.
Inga: "Voof".
Igor: He's going to be very popular.
Top: Director Mel Brooks on set;
Above: Brooks (centre) with the cast of Young Frankenstein
The original cut of Young Frankenstein was almost twice as long as the final cut, and it was considered by all involved to be an abysmal failure. It was only after a marathon cutting session that they produced the final cut of the film, which both Wilder and Brooks considered to be far superior to the original product. At one point they noted that for every joke that worked, there were three that fell flat. So they went in and trimmed all the jokes that didn't work.
When released in 1974, Young Frankenstein was a hit for the studio, eventually grossing over $80 million at the box office. Critics were also unanimous in their praise for the film, with Rpger Ebert writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, "In his two best comedies, before this, “The Producers” and “Blazing Saddles,” Brooks revealed a rare comic anarchy. His movies weren’t just funny, they were aggressive and subversive, making us laugh even when we really should have been offended. (Explaining this process, Brooks once loftily declared, “My movies rise below vulgarity.”) “Young Frankenstein” is as funny as we expect a Mel Brooks comedy to be, but it’s more than that: It shows artistic growth and a more sure-handed control of the material by a director who once seemed willing to do literally anything for a laugh. It’s more confident and less breathless." Pauline Kael of the New Yorker reviewed Young Frankenstein as, "The movie works because it has the Mary Shelley story to lean on: we know that the monster will be created and will get loose... the details are reassuring: there’s a little more Transylvanian ground fog than you’ve ever seen before, the laboratory machines give off enough sparks to let us know that’s their only function, and the ingénue (Teri Garr, as Frankenstein’s laboratory assistant) is the essence of washed-out B-movie starlet. The style of the picture is controlled excess, and the whole thing is remarkably consistent in tone, considering that it ranges from unfunny hamming (the medical student at the beginning) to a masterly bit contributed by Gene Hackman as a bearded blind man."
In 2006, after the success of his 2001 musical, The Producers, based on Brooks' earlier film of the same name, Brooks decided to create a musical based on Young Frankenstein. An October 2006 reading of the first draft of the script directed by Susan Stroman (who had directed the earlier musical) featured Brian d'Arcy James as Dr. Frankenstein, Kristin Chenoweth as Elizabeth, Sutton Foster as Inga, Roger Bart as Igor, Marc Kudisch as Inspector Kemp, and Shuler Hensley as the Monster (Hensley had previously played a different version of the character in the 2004 film Van Helsing). The musical opened on Broadway at the Foxwoods Theatre (then the Hilton Theatre) on November 8, 2007 and closed on January 4, 2009. It was nominated for three Tony Awards, and starred Tony winner Roger Bart (as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein), two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster (as Inga), Tony & Olivier winner Shuler Hensley, two-time Emmy winner Megan Mullally (as Elizabeth Benning), three-time Tony nominee Christopher Fitzgerald (playing Igor), and two-time Tony & Emmy winner Andrea Martin (as Frau Blücher).
When released in 1974, Young Frankenstein was a hit for the studio, eventually grossing over $80 million at the box office. Critics were also unanimous in their praise for the film, with Rpger Ebert writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, "In his two best comedies, before this, “The Producers” and “Blazing Saddles,” Brooks revealed a rare comic anarchy. His movies weren’t just funny, they were aggressive and subversive, making us laugh even when we really should have been offended. (Explaining this process, Brooks once loftily declared, “My movies rise below vulgarity.”) “Young Frankenstein” is as funny as we expect a Mel Brooks comedy to be, but it’s more than that: It shows artistic growth and a more sure-handed control of the material by a director who once seemed willing to do literally anything for a laugh. It’s more confident and less breathless." Pauline Kael of the New Yorker reviewed Young Frankenstein as, "The movie works because it has the Mary Shelley story to lean on: we know that the monster will be created and will get loose... the details are reassuring: there’s a little more Transylvanian ground fog than you’ve ever seen before, the laboratory machines give off enough sparks to let us know that’s their only function, and the ingénue (Teri Garr, as Frankenstein’s laboratory assistant) is the essence of washed-out B-movie starlet. The style of the picture is controlled excess, and the whole thing is remarkably consistent in tone, considering that it ranges from unfunny hamming (the medical student at the beginning) to a masterly bit contributed by Gene Hackman as a bearded blind man."
In 2006, after the success of his 2001 musical, The Producers, based on Brooks' earlier film of the same name, Brooks decided to create a musical based on Young Frankenstein. An October 2006 reading of the first draft of the script directed by Susan Stroman (who had directed the earlier musical) featured Brian d'Arcy James as Dr. Frankenstein, Kristin Chenoweth as Elizabeth, Sutton Foster as Inga, Roger Bart as Igor, Marc Kudisch as Inspector Kemp, and Shuler Hensley as the Monster (Hensley had previously played a different version of the character in the 2004 film Van Helsing). The musical opened on Broadway at the Foxwoods Theatre (then the Hilton Theatre) on November 8, 2007 and closed on January 4, 2009. It was nominated for three Tony Awards, and starred Tony winner Roger Bart (as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein), two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster (as Inga), Tony & Olivier winner Shuler Hensley, two-time Emmy winner Megan Mullally (as Elizabeth Benning), three-time Tony nominee Christopher Fitzgerald (playing Igor), and two-time Tony & Emmy winner Andrea Martin (as Frau Blücher).
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 93%
_________________________________
No comments:
Post a Comment