Young Frankenstein

Young Frankenstein (1974) starring Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman. Directed by Mel Brooks. Frederick Frankenstein (Wilder), grandson of Victor Frankenstein, returns to Transylvania and again takes up the work of bringing the dead back to life. Once again, things go terribly, hilariously wrong. If you're familiar with the work of Mel Brooks, you know that his movies are laugh-out-loud funny, and Young Frankenstein is one of his more successful films. It's a delightfully daffy spoof of Frankenstein films, and every actor's work is spot-on -- especially Teri Garr, who gives a breakthrough performance. Shot in beautiful black-and-white, the movie captures the mood of an old monster movie, and then goes off on zany tangents. It's a great comedy, and holds up as well today as it did in 1974. (Subtitles in English are available, as well as closed captions.) Grade: B+