It’s one of those rare films that, if anyone quotes just about any line, everyone knows exactly where it’s from. And yet, although it’s one of the great movie comedies, beneath the schtick and excruciating wordplay, the torment and isolation of Mary Shelley’s “monster” endures. The laughter is leavened with sentiment, so that there’s still a beating heart at the center of “Young Frankenstein” (1974).
Roy Bjellquist and I will be joined by our special guests, Michael Rizzo and Marybeth Ritkouski of SciFi Distilled, as we wrap up our month-long celebration of Halloween with an exhaustive discussion of this Gene Wilder-Mel Brooks creation and its pitch-perfect cast: Wilder, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, Kenneth Mars, Madeline Kahn, and Gene Hackman as the Hermit, in a comic highlight lifted almost directly from “The Bride of Frankenstein.”
Brooks’ impulse toward freewheeling parody is tempered by genuine affection for the great Universal Studio horror classics, extending even to the use of authentic lab equipment from the 1930s originals. And there is nothing but respect in John Morris’ soulful, evocative score.
Following our conversation, as an added bonus, there will also be a virtual costume contest, for anyone interested in joining us on Zoom. Personally, my make-up test yesterday was a failure, so I’m on to Plan B.
Share some laughs and leave your comments, on the next Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner. We’ll be in stitches for “Young Frankenstein.” Our costumed discourse will begin, live-streamed on Facebook, this Friday evening at 7:00 EDT!
https://www.facebook.com/roystiedyescificorner/
“And now, ladies and gentlemen, from what was only an inarticulate mass of lifeless tissue, I give you a cultured… sophisticated… man about town.”
