Friday, November 29, 2013

Young Frankenstein [Blu-ray]


Great movie...DVD worth the money (but warning!)
First, let me begin by saying that the only reason I don't give this 5 stars is that I wanted a bit more from the commentary track, as I indicate below.
The content of this wonderful movie is covered amply elsewhere, so I won't repeat what others have so well synopsized. I WOULD like to point out a couple of things about this particular DVD:
1) The commentary track is accessible from the the LANGUAGE SELECTION menu, rather than from the special features menu (as is usual for commentary tracks). I was terribly frustrated by this until I got some help from Christian at boldopinions.com (thanks Christian!).
2) Yes, the commentary track IS mostly Mel babbling, but there are some nice tidbits here (many of the cut-away shots were put in because Gene Wilder kept breaking, Mel thought "Puttin' On The Ritz" was frivolous, etc.). It's also heart-breaking to hear about how Marty Feldman's health habits led to his death at age 59. Unfortunately, since Mel's commentary leans toward...
Almost too good!
Features, features, features. Anyone who loves this film and loves special DVD features MUST buy this special addition. There are about 30 minutes of deleted scenes, hilarious bloopers and Mel Brooks tops it all off with insightful, intelligent commentary. A great DVD that does justice to one of the greatest classic comedies of all time. I couldn't turn it off.
"Roll, roll, roll in ze hay!"
This may just be the funniest movie of all time. Mel Brooks never before (and never again) worked with the tight parameters he did here: gene Wilder actually wrote most of the script, and that plus the use of the old Universal sets and props seem to have kept Borooks's more sophomoric instincts (which have gone overboard in some of his later films) tightly in check. Thus he--and everyone else in the film--is doing their absolutely finest work ever.

From Teri Garr "rolling in ze hay," to Kenneth Mars's inspired Police Inspector, everyone in the entire film seems to be working at their most hysterically hilarious. Special mention must be given to Gene Wilder giving one of his most classic performances of his strangled-fury schtick ever ("Put... the candle... back!!!") and to Peter Boyle, for his very poignant and funny depiction of the Monster.

But standing above all of the end in terms of sheer brilliance is Madeline Kahn, giving what must be the funniest female...
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