I’d seen it several times in past years but I guess I never watched it that closely, because last week it had me falling out of my chair in laughter. Jesus! The performances are razor-sharp and inspired. The script is brilliant. And what I missed before is the beautiful photography. Not only is it in black and white, but the lighting is superb, each scene carefully composed. I had remembered Gene Wilder’s scene where he is about to enter the room with the monster and he tells his assistants to not let him out of the room, “Do not open this door!!” and Madeline Kahn saying, “Come here, you hot monster!” but there were a dozen other gems, like Cloris Leachman’s scene, which has been running through my mind:
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: “Then you and Victor were.…”
Frau Blücher: “YES. YES. Say it. He…vas…my.…BOYFRIEND!”
Here’s a 5-minute cut on Youtube of a bunch of scenes:
Cinematography on YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN by Gerald Hirschfeld—beautifully shot!
Cloris Leachman is sublime.