A young man working as a neurosurgeon, he spent his whole life in the hope of one, the legend of his grandfather Frankenstein. The doctor tried repeatedly to prove to people that he was honest about his grandfather and that he was not as crazy as others thought. After a while, luck serves him to find the doctor himself a heir to a large castle for the grandfather of the deceased, and then discovers that mystery is hidden in the process that saves the dead body.
The Brooks of 'Young Frankenstein' isn't really skewering the conventions of the horror movie - he's paying tribute to them, and using them as scaffolding for his particular brand of goofy, Borscht Belt burlesque.
Wilder's hysteria seems perfectly natural. You never question what's driving him to it; his fits are lucid and total. They take him into a different dimension -- he delivers what Harpo promised.
Some of the gags don't work, but fewer than in any previous Brooks film that I've seen, and when the jokes are meant to be bad, they are riotously poor. What more can one ask of Mel Brooks?
Film Geek Central
April 25, 2014
It's a wonderful, iconic comedy. Mel Brooks' masterpiece!
It shows artistic growth and a more sure-handed control of the material by a director who once seemed willing to do literally anything for a laugh. It's more confident and less breathless.
