- Film Review
- Reviewed By Alan Jones
-
4 out of 5
This loopy send-up of classic chiller clichés from Universal's monster heyday is one of director Mel Brooks's best comedies, and it's also one of the genre's most thorough and successful fright film parodies. Gene Wilder plays the infamous baron's grandson, who copies his ancestor's experiments only to create the singularly inane Peter Boyle. Filmed in sumptuous black and white, and shot on sets used in the 1931 original Frankenstein, Brooks's ingenious tribute is often hysterically funny and always a scream. Madeleine Kahn's "bride", Gene Hackman's blind hermit, Marty Feldman's hunchbacked Igor and the marvellous "Putting on the Ritz" musical number add to the fun and give this loving homage real staying power.
Plot Summary
Frederick Frankenstein rejects his family heritage as a mad scientist, but when he finds a book revealing how his grandfather created a monster, he cannot resist building one of his own. Mel Brooks' spoof of James Whale's classic 1930s horror films, starring Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn, Teri Garr, Peter Boyle and Gene Hackman.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Doctor Frederick Frankenstein
- Gene Wilder
- Monster
- Peter Boyle
- Igor
- Marty Feldman
- Elizabeth
- Madeline Kahn
- Frau Blücher
- Cloris Leachman
- Inga
- Teri Garr
- Inspector Kemp
- Kenneth Mars
- Blindman
- Gene Hackman
- Herr Falkstein
- Richard Haydn
- Mr Hilltop
- Liam Dunn
- Medical student
- Danny Goldman
- Herr Waldman
- Leon Askin
- Sadistic jailer
- Oscar Beregi (2)
Crew
- Director
- Mel Brooks
- Share this episode
-