Feature Film | Horror-Comedy | USA | English | 1h46m
Dir: Mel Brooks | Scr: Gene Wilder & Mel Brooks | Ph: Gerald Hirschfeld | Prod: Michael Gruskoff | Mus: John Morris | Ed: John C. Howard | PD: Dale Hennesy | Cast: Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, Teri Garr, Kenneth Mars, Madeline Kahn
In Brooks’s formally elegant, yet deliciously silly, pastiche/homage to James Whale’s 1930s monster movies, Frederick Frankenstein, an American neurosurgeon, goes to live in Transylvania after inheriting his notorious grandfather’s estate, and soon finds himself – despite frequent protestations against having an interest in such things – carrying on with the family business, i.e. creating life from death. Unfortunately, he makes many of the same mistakes as his ill-remembered ancestor. Gently paced, beautifully shot, and containing a number of outstanding performances, this is a spoof quite unlike any other.
