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YoungFrankenstein
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 "Life! Life! Do you hear me? Give my creation... liiiiife!"

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Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder's loving parody of the classic Universal Horror films of the 1930s. Appearing in 1974, gorgeously shot in black and white (No offense!), using laboratory props from the original Frankenstein and starring a cast of brilliant comedic actors all at the very height of their talents, it is generally regarded as one of the funniest and most quotable movies ever made. It was adapted into a stage musical in 2007.

It is reported that the cast and crew had so much fun making the movie that they added in extra scenes just to keep it going.

In 2003, this movie was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, for its cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance. Two other works by Mel Brooks share this honor, The Producers and Blazing Saddles.

And, since it keeps coming up, "Blücher" (*Whinny*) is not the German word for "glue"; it's just a common misconception.

The Market-Based Title for the film in Italy, Frankenstein Junior, is Not to Be Confused With the actual Frankenstein, Jr..


This film provides examples (or rather subversions) of:[]

  • Affectionate Parody: As noted, 1930s horror movies. Heavy emphasis on "affectionate," too.
  • Alliterative Name
  • And Call Him George: The Monster, a little girl and a seesaw.
  • Anywhere but Their Lips: It's only in their first scene together that Elizabeth says "Not on the lips," to Freddy, and the reason is that she doesn't want her makeup smudged.
    • Subverted in that she doesn't seem to want to be touched anywhere, lest she mess up her hair, her nails, her dress, etc. In the end she and Frederick say goodbye by shaking elbows. She even flinches when he blows her a kiss.
  • Artificial Limbs: Inspector Kemp's wooden arm.
  • Aside Glance: By Igor several times, and a couple of times by the Monster.
  • Berserk Button: Mentioning Frederick's relation to "a famous cuckoo".
  • Big Electric Switch
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  But I'm not going to be the first.

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  • Bigger Is Better in Bed: "Ah, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found you!"
  • Bilingual Bonus: The two couples that accompany Frederick in the trains have exactly the same conversation, the first in English, the second in German.
  • Black Comedy Rape: Elizabeth gets raped by the monster. Then it turns out she enjoyed it and happily has more sex with him.
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 "All right-- seven has alway been my lucky number!"

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  Put ze candle beck!

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 Igor: Dr. Frankenstein…

Frankenstein: Fronkensteen.

Igor: You’re putting me on.

Frankenstein: No, it’s pronounced Fronkensteen.

Igor: Do you also say Froderick?

Frankenstein: No… Frederick.

Igor: Well, why isn’t it Froderick Fronkensteen?

Frankenstein: It isn’t. It’s Frederick Fronkensteen.

Igor: I see.

Frankenstein: You must be Igor.

Igor: No, it’s pronounced EYE-gor.

Frankenstein: But they told me it was EE-gor.

Igor: Well, they were wrong then, weren’t they?

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 "Come back! I was going to make espresso!"

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 Kemp: Und now, let us all go back to my place for a little spongecake, und a little vine, und - (his wooden arm pops off) - Ah, shit!

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 Frankenstein: What a filthy job!

Igor: Could be worse.

Frankenstein: How?

Igor: Could be raining.

(Thunderclap. Torrents of rain.)

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  • Running Gag: BLÜCHER! *WHINNY!*
  • Spell My Name with an "S": "It's Frahnk-en-steen!"
  • The Scottish Trope: "Blücher!" *WHINNY!*
  • Shaggy Search Technique: "Put - the candle - back!" Part of the parody is that Dr. Frankenstein was using legitimate means to search for it before the trope kicked in
  • Shaming the Mob: The Monster himself does it, with a speech mostly cribbed out of Shelley's original book.
  • Shoe Shine, Mister?: When Frederick's train pulls in, he asks a shoeshine boy, "Pardon me boy, is this the Transylvania Station?" The boy replies "Ja, ja. Track 29. Oh, can I give you a shine?" This is a Shout-Out to the 1941 song "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
  • Shout-Out: To Groucho Marx and Glenn Miller, among others.
  • Smoking Hot Sex: Elizabeth and the Monster.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: The somber musical score is squarely at odds with the screwball tone of the film, yet somehow works perfectly well.
    • Mel intentionally kept the fact that the film was a comedy secret from the composer, resulting in serious music to a seriously funny movie.
      • Shouldn't the composer have twigged onto the fact that it was a comedy from the first four words out of Mel Brooks' mouth? [1]
  • Stealth Hi Bye: Igor.
  • Sting: "Call it a... hunch! Ba-dump tsch!"
  • Stock Sound Effects: Castle Thunder, repeatedly throughout the movie.
    • Also a Shout-Out, given that the stock thunder sound effect used in movies for decades was created for the original Frankenstein.
  • Tempting Fate: Go back until you reach Rock Bottom.
  • That Poor Cat: Hit with a dart.
    • Bonus points for being a Throw It In moment Mel Brooks improvised while shooting the scene.
  • Throw It In
    • Igor's hump, which changes position from scene to scene; Marty Feldman decided to do this on his own, without telling anybody beforehand. When someone finally noticed, they added a bit where Frederick does as well.
    • Brooks ad-libbed the sound of a cat getting hit with one of Frederick's darts.
    • Almost a Throw It Out moment; in some interviews, Mel Brooks stated that the only point during production where he and co-writer Gene Wilder seriously disagreed was the inclusion of the "Puttin' On the Ritz" number. Gene loved the idea but Mel hated it. After Gene vehemently defended the scene, Mel decided, "If you feel that strongly about it, we'll shoot the scene. If it works, we'll use it, if not, we won't." They shot it and it became one of the highlights of the movie.
  • Torches and Pitchforks: "A riot is an ugly thing. Und, I think that it's just about time that we had vun!!"
  • To the Bat Noun: "To the lumberyard!!"
  • Train Station Goodbye
  • The Unintelligible: Inspector Kemp borders on this, even with his fellow countrymen.
  • Victim Falls For Rapist: The Monster wins Elizabeth's love with his insatiable and gigantic... appetite.
  • The Von Trope Family: Frederick's great-grandfather, Baron von Frankenstein.
  • Walk This Way
  • X-Ray Sparks: The Monster's creation.
  1. We are logically assuming those words were, "Hello, I'm Mel Brooks."