Young Frankenstien, Frau Blucher, and Broadway

Mel Brooks Young Frankenstein is easily his best movie and arguably Gene Wilder’s best role. Filmed in glorious black and white and featuring some of the most under rated talents of its time. Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Terri Garr, Madeline Kahn, and Cloris Leechman. The only real star in the film is Gene Hackman, doing an amazing job of playing an accidentally sadistic blind man. There are people who have never seen the original Frankenstein, but can quote whole passages of Young Frankenstein. Which is a pity, as most of the gags in the film refer back to the 1931 classic.

The news on Young Frankenstein the Broadway Show is that Cloris Leechman wants to play the horse frightening Frau Blucher on the stage and Mel Brooks thinks the role would kill her. Now I will admit it has been a couple of years since I watched Young Frankenstein, but I don’t recall Frau Blucher doing a lot of handsprings or well, much of anything. She stood there and looked unhappy while Igor said ‘Frau Blucher’ and the sound of horses whinnying filled the air. Of course, it is a musical, so I am guessing that the role calls for more singing and dancing than was in the film. Still, if Clorsi Leechman wants to risk her life for the role, isn’t that her business? Well, maybe not.

Broadway has always liked to take books and turn them into musicals and recently they have turned to the massive backlog of films to whip up their hits. The funny thing about this trend is that in at least a couple of cases it has lead to a new film version of the Broadway Musical. The new Hairspray was a fun movie, but I never liked the original film. The Producers was a very good movie the first time around, with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, but they still remade the movie based on the Broadway Musical. I never saw that one.

Young Frankenstein is as close to a perfect film as you can get. I understand that Mel Brooks might want another few million dollars to leave to his heirs, but please–Mel, don’t let them remake Young Frankestein the movie.