Review of Young Frankenstein

Video

Young Frankenstein: Special Edition was originally shot in black and white and is presented in 1.85:1 widescreen. The print used for the DVD transfer is surprisingly good given the age of the film. There was the odd noticeable imperfection in the video quality, presumably from the original print, but this is only to be expected and did not in any way detract from the film itself. The DVD is divided into 28 chapters, and clarity is excellent.

Audio

This film is presented in Dolby Digital Mono so don`t expect an awesome soundtrack. However the film is meant to be a parody of early horror classics of the Boris Karloff era, so a thumping full surround soundtrack would have seemed a little out of place! The soundtrack is typically 1930`s sounding with a full orchestra score in many parts.

Features

This disk seems to have the most extras of any of the DVDs I own! Due to it`s `Special Edition` status there are loads of different trailers and TV shorts. It took me a long time to plough through all of them. There is a `making of` type documentary over 30 minutes in length, as well as several outtakes and deleted scenes - some of which make you wonder why they were ever deleted, as to see them again makes you realise how important some of them were! There are also some production stills, and a full commentary by Mel Brooks himself which is very listenable and entertaining. The menus are static, and are in a similar horror style to the movie itself.

All in all the extras are superb - and this is a budget disk! Film companies should sit up and take note - this DVD features a 25 year old film, and has more extras than virtually any other disk on the market. And it`s cheap!!

Conclusion

Young Frankenstein: Special Edition is a joke in itself, as to my knowledge there has never been a DVD release of any other `edition` of Young Frankenstein! This film is one of my favourites of Mel Brooks work (along with Blazing Saddles and History of the World Part One - am I the only one who thought SpaceBalls was overrated??) as the spoof horror genre is so accurately reproduced. Even the opening title sequence is perfect with the diagonal listing of about fifteen names on the screen at one time, to a full orchestral score. Also throughout the film, Brooks has used typical old horror film screen transitions between scenes, such as top to bottom of the screen. Very authentic!

Gene Wilder is one of the all time great comedy actors and both he and Brooks wrote the screenplay - his futile attempts to express how to pronounce his name in the opening scene to his students is a comic masterpiece. Marty Feldman also, was an excellent choice to play Igor, and often gets some of the scene`s best lines ("What hump?") !

All in all Young Frankenstein can be described a classic, and the DVD is superb value for money. This should become a reference DVD as to what can be done for older movies, and should bring a whole new audience to enjoy Mel Brooks` work.