18 Comments

Thank you for the shout out, Aisling!

Expand full comment

My pleasure!

Expand full comment

You've convinced me - it's time to re-watch Young Frankenstein!

Expand full comment

This is, at the end of the day, my ultimate goal! 😅

Expand full comment

Another brilliant piece Aisling,

Young Frankenstein one of our favourites to regularly quote… “put the candle back” and of course “Cigars!!”

I first started to follow you from the square peg podcast… thank you for sharing! 🙏

Expand full comment

Is it the most quotable movie ever??? I'm not sure, but close! Thanks so much for reading Alan, great to have you here!!

Expand full comment

Thank you Aisling, Agree so many bits… Ditto with blazing saddles… Brooks did a send up of Hitchcock movies High Anxiety - I’ll check this one out again see how it reframes in todays world 😆..

Expand full comment

Might also watch Dracula Dead and Loving it tonight, 'tis the season after all!

Expand full comment

Rewatched Young Frankenstein as inspiration for a piece I just wrote! The brain, yikes! I could put that Abby Normal scene on a loop it’s so good. My dad was a big fan and I watched it with him at first and move of the jokes were way over my head. A friend gifted me Mel Brooks book, I read the Young Frankenstein chapter, time for the rest!

Expand full comment

Oooh that post sounds intriguing! It's a film that just keeps on giving, even 50 years later!

Expand full comment

And my wife was also meh about the ending

Expand full comment

The happily ever after ending?

Expand full comment

Right; your point in the 4th footnote

Expand full comment

Ah yes, a little problematic but willing to forgive Mel this time round as he usually treats his female characters pretty well! Also watching this alongside Madeline Kahn's role in Blazing Saddles makes me feel a little better about what's going on here, but I could be off the mark!

Expand full comment

Also Teri Garr was awesome and she died yesterday so all the more reason to celebrate it

Expand full comment

Omg, I had no idea, what a loss!

Expand full comment

Mel Brooks is one of the most influential creative figures in my life, and this film is one of the reasons for that. He reminds us constantly here that comedy and tragedy are two sides of the same coin, and that it can take only a few changes in context, knowledge and empathy for the picture to change. We start by fearing the monster when he first appears, but we eventually come to appreciate what positive qualities he has...

(Significantly, Brooks was the executive producer of the 1980 David Lynch film "The Elephant Man", dealing with the real-life case of John Merrick; a tragic counterbalance to "Frankenstein" 's comedy).

Expand full comment

He truly is one of the greats! Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles are two of my all-time favourite movies, and funnily enough they came out the same year! I have not actually seen The Elephant Man but I will check it out for sure!

Expand full comment