The film Young Frankenstein is a 1974 comedy directed by Mel Brooks. The film lampoons the 1818 Mary Shelley novel, Frankenstein by supposing that Dr. Frankenstein bore a son (Gene Wilder), who despite an initial reluctance, becomes equally committed to the reanimating of the dead. The film also parodies many plot and style elements of the famed monster movies of the 1930s.
Fast Facts:
- Release Date: December 15, 1974
- Directed by Mel Brooks
- Shot in black and white
- Starring Gene Wilder, Teri Garr, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn and Cloris Leachman
- Young Frankenstein the Musical debuted on Broadway at the Hilton Theater on November 8, 2007.
- It's pronounced "FronkenSTEEN."
Brief Synopsis
Gene Wilder plays Dr. Frankenstein, the son of the famed mad scientist from whom he tries to differentiate himself by insisting others pronounce his name "Fronkensteen". When the doctor inherits his grandfather's castle, he not only comes upon the late doctor's diary (entitled "How I Did It"), he also inherits a cast of loons: the simultaneously seductive (to horses) and repulsive Frau Blucher (Cloris Leachman); the buxom and hay-rolling farmgirl Inga (Teri Garr); and the bug-eyed, vaudevillian Igor (Marty Feldman). With their help, he creates his vision: the monster, played by Peter Boyle. However, the experiment goes wrong when the doctor discovers that Igor stole the wrong brain (from a subject who Igor says may have been named "Abby Normal"). Gene Hackman plays a blind hermit who meets the marauding monster, and Madeline Kahn plays Wilder's fiancée.
