Young Frankenstein on DVD

Young Frankenstein
[DVD Young]

This was a pretty funny movie that parodies Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein novel, which I haven’t read, so can’t compare and contrast. In the movie, a young doctor and medical professor in America gets a letter from his deceased grandfather’s estate in Transylvania requesting his presence. His last name is Frankenstein and because his grandfather was well known as being rumored to have reanimated a dead body, he does not enjoy people commenting on the matter. He dislikes it so much that he even insists that his name be pronounced differently, just to be taken more seriously. Despite his feelings on his family matters, he still makes the journey, leaving his fiancé behind in America; however, she eventually pays him a surprise visit. It’s very funny throughout, even his journey to his grandfather’s castle, during which he meets a woman who sort of ends up being his assistant. Once he arrives, he discovers in his grandfather’s papers that he did indeed bring someone back to life and there are notes recounting exactly how to do it. Curiosity gets the best of him so he tries it out – after collecting a dead body – and it works. It never ceases being humorous and I for one found it especially funny that Dr. Frankenstein is played by Gene Wilder who I know best as Willy Wonka from the older version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I would definitely watch this movie again and recommend it to anyone looking for a comedy.

[ Internet Movie Database page for this film ]

Recommended by Kristen A.
Gere Branch Library

See the October 2008 review of Young Frankenstein by Scott C.

See the November 2016 review of the Young Frankenstein “making of” book by Mel Brooks, also by Scott C.

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Frankenstein: A Cultural History by Susan Tyler Hitchcock

Frankenstein: A Cultural History
by Susan Tyler Hitchcock [398.45 Hit] 

This is a fascinating scholarly look at the 200 years of cultural history behind the phenomenon that has grown up around Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel, Frankenstein: Or…the Modern Prometheus. But it is not simply for literary scholars — Hitchcock writes with great accessibility, and this book can easily be enjoyed by just the casual reader.

The book is broken into three primary sections — “Part One: Birth”, explaining the origins of Mary Shelley’s story, both in myth and reality; “Part Two: Coming of Age”, exploring the expansion of the Frankenstein story via popular feature films, and how the story was co-opted by other writers and mythologized; “Part Three: Our Monster”, examining how Frankenstein has exploded in the popular culture, and taken on new life in ways that Shelley could never have imagined. Hitchcock provides a coda at the end, “The Monster and His Myth Today”, that synopsizes how broadly the Frankenstein story has permeated cultures around the world.

I found this book a fascinating read, especially for its sense of completeness — even rare, obscure versions of the Frankenstein story get worked into Hitchcock’s narrative — Of course, one of my all-time favorite films, Young Frankenstein, is mentioned prominently, but so is Frankenstein: The True Story, a 1973 TV-movie version by Christopher Isherwood. The history of the creature in a variety of comic-book forms was fairly detailed as well. And Herman Munster from The Munsters gets plenty of mentions.

If you’re even just the slightest bit interested in the history of Dr. Frankenstein and his namesake monster, you’ll enjoy browsing this volume, or even reading it cover-to-cover!

[ publisher’s official Frankenstein: A Cultural History web site ] | [ unofficial Susan Tyler Hitchcock background on Encyclopedia.com — author’s official website appears to be off-line ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you read this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!

Victor Frankenstein on DVD

Victor Frankenstein
[DVD Victor] 

This 2015 film is an alternative take on the well-known Frankenstein storyline, as originall written by Mary Shelley. Instead of the focus being on Doctor Frankenstein directly, this film follows Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe as Igor, who becomes Victor Frankenstein’s personal project first, and then his partner in experimentation later. The main leads — Radliffe, James McAvoy as Frankenstein, and Jessica Brown Findlay as Igor’s romantic interest, Lorelei — all give excellent performances. The production design, makeup and costumes are all top-notch, but I was somewhat disappointed in the modifications made to the basic storyline. Well done for what it is, but a bit off-putting to anyone who’s a fan of the original Shelley story.

[ Internet Movie Database entry for this film ] | [ official Victor Frankenstein web site ]

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library

Have you watched this one? What did you think? Did you find this review helpful?

New reviews appear every month on the Staff Recommendations page of the BookGuide website. You can visit that page to see them all, or watch them appear here in the BookGuide blog individually over the course of the entire month. Click the tag for the reviewer's name to see more of this reviewers recommendations!