When you return home from watching “Young Frankenstein” at the Ambler Theater on Wednesday, Sept. 11, do yourself a favor and put on Universal Pictures’ 1935 classic "Bride of Frankenstein."
As you watch James Whale's monster masterpiece, you might feel a sense of deja vu. Something familiar in the crumbling castle sets, the foggy forests, and the interplay of shadow and light. As you watch, you'll be struck by just how right “Young Frankenstein” got it. Released in 1974, “Young Frankenstein” looks remarkably like a film of the 1930s. This is the great open secret of “Young Frankenstein,” so key to its power and humor fifty years on - “Young Frankenstein” is not only one of the funniest comedies ever made, but also one with some of the genre’s most skillful camera work.
Cinematographer Gerald Hirschfeld initially balked at Mel Brooks' insistence that “Young Frankenstein” be shot in black and white. While color film had existed in some form or another since the early days of the medium, by the mid-1960s, color film had eclipsed black and white as the industry standard, and for many studios, there was no looking back. As Hirschfeld explained in an article for American Cinematographer, the film lab that processed “Young Frankenstein” had not processed a black and white film in six years. Yet Brooks remained adamant, and after revisiting old prints of "Frankenstein" and "Bride of Frankenstein,” Hirschfeld understood Brooks' vision and set about crafting a film that pays homage to the old classics as much as it satirizes them.
Brooks and Hirschfeld employed long out of favor camera techniques to achieve the correct feel. According to "American Cinematographer," camera lenses were diffused to provide close-up shots with the soft focus favored in Hollywood's yesteryear. Backlights were overemphasized to create deeper shadow and spoof the dramatic lighting of "Dracula" and "The Wolf Man." A separate key light was employed to bring Peter Boyle's monster and his green corpse makeup into balance with the other actors in frame.
Outside the camera lens, similar pains were taken to ensure horror movie verisimilitude. Massive, elaborate sets were constructed for Frankenstein's castle and laboratory. Eagle-eyed fans might recognize some of the electrical equipment in the lab set. They're the same props used in the original 1931 "Frankenstein," provided by their creator, Ken Strickfaden, who had held onto them for 40 years.
The effect is a film that feels authentic to a previous era. The deep shadow and old school camera trickery provide the mood and framework for Brooks and Gene Wilder's script. That the film looks so convincingly like an old monster flick heightens the comedy, from Kenneth Mars' taciturn inspector being used as a battering ram, to a comedic sendup of the encounter with a blind hermit in” Bride of Frankenstein” to that famous "Putting on the Ritz" dance number. "Young Frankenstein" understands something quintessential about comedy that precious few filmmakers do: You must love something to properly make fun of it. "Young Frankenstein" is a movie in love with the Universal Pictures monster movies it sends up.
It's often said of Mel Brooks films that they could not be made today. This is certainly the case with "Young Frankenstein," but not for the typical reasons one might suggest. In an age in which digital cinema is the industry standard, and the few comedies that get put out by big studios are firmly low-budget projects, it's hard to imagine a film that takes as many risks as "Young Frankenstein" getting greenlit. Even in its day, shooting a comedy on lavish sets on black and white film was seen as a significant risk, and it's one we're all the better for Hollywood having taken.
"Young Frankenstein" will screen at 4 and 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 11. Movie fans looking to add "Young Frankenstein" to their Halloween season watching can also catch the film at 7 p.m., Friday, Oct. 11 at The Colonial Theater in Phoenixville.
