FILM I ncluded among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die , Young Frankenstein has a legion of fans worldwide who laugh at gags, double entendres, Marty Feldman s goofiness and Wilder s insanity. In honour of the 40th anniversary of Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks had a boulevard named after him in Hollywood. His comment? People are going to walk all over me! The brain which Igor is sent to steal (and which he drops) is labelled Hans Delbr ck, scientist and saint. There actually was a real-life Hans Delbr ck, a professor at the University of Berlin who died in 1929. His son Max was a biochemist who won the Nobel prize for Physiology or Medicine. Brooks chose Hans Delbruk as the name of the genius because it sounded very similar to Mel Brooks. Brook s Young Frankenstein is an affectionate homage to the classic Frankenstein of the 30s, directed by James Whale, starring Boris Karloff as the monster; the lab equipment used is from the original film. Young Frankenstein Young Frankenstein (1974) was written by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks and directed by Mel Brooks. The film stars Gene Wilder (as Dr. Frankenstein), Peter Boyle (as the Monster), Marty Feldman (as Igor), Teri Garr (as Inga) and Cloris Leachman (as Frau Blucher) A SYNOPSYS In this parody of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley s gothic tale Frankenstein, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein (pronounced Fronkensteen at his own insistence), grandson of Victor Frankenstein with whom he does not want to be confused, is a brain surgeon, professor at a New York medical school. When Frederick discovers that he has inherited the old family castle, he takes a train to Transylvania to check it out. At the castle, he meets the bug-eyed, hunchbacked servant Igor, the pretty blonde lab assistant Inga and the mysterious housekeeper Frau Blucher. Frederick had always dismissed his grandfather s medical experiments as impossible, but he changes his mind after he discovers a book entitled How I did it by Victor Frankenstein. In the process of replicating his ancestor s experiments, in the same laboratory where Victor Frankenstein once reanimated a corpse, Frederick digs up the corpse of a criminal who has just been hanged, and intends to replace the brain with that of Hans Delbruck, scientist and saint . But Igor drops the jar with Delbruck s brain and instead grabs a brain from another jar in the lab. Frederick performs the brain transplant and waits... BEFORE VIEWING 1. Do you know who Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley was? If not, surf the net to find some information about her. 2. Have you ever read Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley s Frankenstein? If so, how did you like it? 3. Do you know where Transylvania is? 98 Module 2 COMPOUNDS