Young Frankenstein

• Cert:
• Cat.no: 01103DVD
• Running time: 105 minutes
• Year: 1974
• Pressing: 2000
• Region(s): 2, PAL
• Chapters: 28 plus extras
• Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
• Languages: English
• Subtitles: English for the hearing impaired, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Hebrew,Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese and Swedish.
• Widescreen: 1.85:1
• 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
• Macrovision: Yes
• Disc Format: DVD 9
• Price: £19.99
• Extras: 4 trailers, 9 TV Spots, Audio Commentary by Mel Brooks, DeletedScenes, Outtakes, Making FrankenSense of Young Frankenstein, MexicanInterviews.

Director:

Mel Brooks

Producer:

Michael Gruskoff

Screenplay:

Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks

Music:

John Morris

Cast:

Frederick Frankenstein: Gene Wilder
Igor: Marty Feldman
Inga: Teri Garr
Elisabeth: Madeline Kahn
Frau Blucher: Cloris Leachman
The Monster: Peter Boyle

Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced Fronk-en-steen) (Gene Wilder)has been informed that his great grandfather, Victor Von Frankenstein, hasdied and that he has been left the Baron’s castle in Transylvania.

There he meets Igor (pronounced Eye-gor) (Marty Feldman), his newassistant, Inga (Teri Garr) and Frau Blucher (Cloris Leachman)whose mention of her name makes horses whinny.

Frederick discovers his grandfather’s book on creating the monster and heeventually decides to have a go at making his own creation.

Young Frankenstein is a spoof on the Universal Frankenstein films of the1930’s and it even used the same props and locations of those films! All thecast give great performances but special mention goes to the late MartyFeldman as Igor. I can’t think of anyone else who could have played the partas well as Marty did.

The film is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and it is quite good.Although the film is in black and white (this was done so the film couldmatch the atmosphere of what it was spoofing), the picture holds upreasonably well. Some grain and sparkle is present but it’s far better thanan old VHS copy.

The sound is Dolby Digital 2.0 and is a nice clear track. This film is notrealiant on big sound effects so a 5.1 mix would have been pointless.

Extras:

Chapters: There are 28 chapters for the film which is very good.

Trailers and TV Spots:We have 4 trailers and 9 TV Spots. The trailers consist of 2 from the film’srelease, an international trailer and one for the film’s re-release. The TVSpots vary in length between 10 to 60 seconds. Nearly all the of these arenarrated by Mel Brooks.

Some of these are quite funny especially the TV Spots “Miss Breakfast butdon’t miss Young Frankenstein! He won’t!” and “Hi! I’m Mel Brooks and Iwould like to talk to you about my new movie Young Frankenstein but I don’thave the time. So, keep in touch!” are two of my favourites.

Commentary:There is a commentary track which is excellent as Mel is very entertainingand always has lots to say.

Deleted scenes:There are 7 deleted scenes which inlude a 7 minute scene of Frankenstein’srelatives (minus Frederick) at the reading of the will and a scene withFrederick and a street violinist. These are a nice addition.

Outtakes:5 minutes of outtakes are present and they are amusing too.Although some of the words have been bleeped out.

Making FrankenSense Of Young Frankenstein:This is a 40-minute documentary about the making of the film from thebeginning to its release. Sadly, the amount of participants is limited. Outof all the main cast members, only Gene Wilder is present as well asproducer Michael Gruskoff, assistant editors Stan Allen and Bill Gordean andcinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld. Still, it is a very good documentary.

Mexican Interviews:A very strange inclusion! This shows a Mexican interviewer talking to MartyFeldman, Gene Wilder and Cloris Leachman in a mixture of Spanish andEnglish.

Menu:Menus are static and silent.

Overall, if you are a fan of Mel Brooks and spoofs, then this is anessential purchase. The film is great, the video and sound is good and theextras are plentiful.

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