a roll in the hay
by
Douglas Messerli
Gene
Wilder and Mel Brooks (screenplay), Mel Brooks (director) Young Frankenstein / 1974
The quick-witted parody toys with
everything from slapstick and vaudeville quips to bawdy innuendos and a loving
tribute to Whale’s and others’ directorial styles. Brooks even used Kenneth
Strickfaden’s original laboratory props from Frankenstein and dressed the hilarious Madeline Kahn in the same
kind of fright wig that Elsa Lanchester wore in Bride of Frankenstein.
The puns and language gaffs are certainly
corny, but they’re still funny, including Inga’s reaction to a howl: “Werewolf!”
and Igor’s answers “There wolf; there castle”; the adolescent joke as Frederick
reacts to the large door handles “What knockers,” and Inga’s answer, “Oh thank
you doctor.”; Igor’s spotting to light switches, the first of which, when
switched on, early
electrocutes
Frederick, who responds “Damn your eyes!” and to which the pop-eyed Igor
responds “Too late.”
The numerous sight gags are equally silly
but hilarious: Frau Blücher’s insistence that Frederick and Inga stand close to
her unlit candles because of treacherous staircase; the young girl whose
attempt to play seesaw with monster hurls her into her own bed and into the
safe arms of relieved parents; the
clumsy efforts of the blind hermit to serve soup, wine, and light up the
monster’s cigar, after he plea to the monster to stay, “I was going to make
espresso”; and Elizabeth’s transformation, after six and seven “quickies” with
the monster, into the “Bride”—all work every time I’ve seen this film, which is
now dozens of times.
The most brilliant scene, however, is
closer to the late New York “performance” of King Kong and his capturer than to
any event in the Frankenstein films. Like the public display of Kong, so does
Frederick attempt to show off his “monster” by ridiculously dancing with him in
a rendition of Irving Berlin’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”
In
the end all the slapstick and satire they demonstrate cannot hide the genuine
love and caring that Brooks and Wilder show to the original movies and their
importance to American filmmaking. If anything, the originals were far more
campy than are the puns and jokes of the 1974 reimagination.
To say anything more would truly be
“Abby Normal.”
Los Angeles,
Thanksgiving Day, 2016
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