Posted: Mon., Dec. 31, 1973, 11:00pm PT

Young Frankenstein

By Variety Staff

20th Century-Fox. Director Mel Brooks; Producer Michael Gruskoff; Screenplay Gene Wilder, Mel Brooks; Camera Gerald Hirschfeld; Editor John Howard; Music John Morris; Art Director Dale Hennesy

Gene Wilder Peter Boyle Marty Feldman Madeline Kahn Cloris Leachman Gene Hackman

Young Frankenstein emerges as a reverently satirical salute to the 1930s horror film genre.

The screenplay features Gene Wilder as the grandson of Baron Victor Frankenstein, creator of the monster. Wilder, an American medical college teacher, is lured back to Transylvania by old family retainer Richard Haydn. Wilder's assistant, the namesake descendant of Igor, is played by Marty Feldman.

Teri Garr is a curvaceous lab assistant, while Cloris Leachman is a mysterious housekeeper composite of Una O'Connor and Mrs Danvers. Wilder's fussy fiancee Madeline Kahn turns up importantly in the final reels. Peter Boyle is the monster, an artistically excellent blend of malice, pity and comedy.

1974: Nominations: Best Adapted Screenplay, Sound

(B&W) Available on VHS, DVD. Extract of a review from 1974. Running time: 108 MIN.