The Internet Movie Database Movie Reviews
From the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Sort of. In a very oblique way. But funnier.
This was the third film we watched at an AGVAPSNBA*, the other two being Sin City and Laura.
Okay, I am totally shocked that in five years of reviewing movies, I have not yet reviewed this one. And I KNOW I’ve seen it. I think Mr. Otter has had it on a couple of times while I was doing other things like packing or crocheting or working on my web site, and I don’t tend to review movies that I don’t pay attention to unless it’s that they’re so bad I have to wander off…
So here goes.
Firstly, this is one of the Four Good Movies of Mel Brooks (the other three being Blazing Saddles, The Producers, and The Twelve Chairs.) And don’t be emailing me about Spaceballs or High Anxiety or any of those other movies. Otter has spoken.
Anyway. This is a WONDERFUL movie. Filmed in black and white, in the original set used in the Boris Karloff Frankenstein movie from 1931, it’s about Victor Von Frankenstein’s grandson…who has inherited some of his grandfather’s talents.
The cast is just perfect: Marty Feldman, Gene Hackman, Peter Boyle, Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Madeleine Kahn, Kenneth Mars, oh man. It’s a symphony of funniness, yes indeedy.
And I will tell you no more, because I do not wish to spoil a single hilarious second of your pleasure at seeing this movie for the first time, except to tell you that there are a million great lines that you will quote forever more. And a story: Otter first saw this in the theater when it was new. I was with my dad and his mother, a stolid middle-westerner.
Dad and I laughed hysterically, until both of us were crying and panting for air. Grandma…was not amused. One of my favorite childhood memories. You can see where I get my totally twisted sense of humor.
*All Girls Video and Pizza Sleepover No Boys Allowed
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