Move Over, Frankenstein!

Maybe I've seen Young Frankenstein too many times over the years...It started when I was 8 years old, in 1974. My family was camping in Door County, WI, and there was a terrible thunderstorm one night, so dad drove us into town, Egg Harbor, and we went to a theater and ayup, we saw Young Frankenstein...I didn't understand plenty of it, though I got the knocker joke...

Over the years I've seen that film a dozen times, I suppose, and yeah, it's a classic, to be sure, but last night I watched The Adventures Of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother for the first time, and it was fantastic. And maybe it's just the thrill of that first, fresh viewing, but I dare say, this film might just be better than Young Frankenstein. Yeah, I will dare.

Wait, no I won't. But it's a close second, if that counts.

Why did it take me 31 years to see this film? How did I miss this for so long?

This is Gene Wilder's writing and directing debut, and the title pretty much says it all - this is a farce about the sibling rivalry between Sherlock Holmes and the younger brother forever living in his shadow. Wilder plays Sigerson, the jealous brother who just so happens to be private detective himself. As the film begins, Sherlock passes off one of his cases to Sigerson, and from there it's 90 minutes of clever wordplay and Marty Feldman's eyes. Advanced swordplay and silly slapstick. Sight gags that Gondry might steal, and Madeleine Kahn at her very best, playing the damsel in distress, who yeah, just so happens to sing in a semi-operatic style, one of Kahn's trademarks. The lady did shrill like nobody's business.

Wilder, Feldman, Kahn - yeah, it's the same trio from Young Frankenstein, and yeah, it's similar in taste and tone to Mel Brooks' best films, though in Wilder's hands, it's all a bit more intellectual, and possibly more absurd.

And then there's Dom DeLuise, playing the blackmailer, Eduardo Gambetti, and first of all, it's DeLuise at his best, before he got hung up with Burt Reynolds, and secondly, I just want to say that Jack Black is the Dom DeLuise of this generation. Yeah, I dare, dude.

Gene Wilder only directed five films in his career, and wrote nine, but this was his 14th film as an actor, and it's clear that he learned alot from Brooks, and was smart enough to essentially "cash in" on the success of Young Frankenstein from the previous year. Hell, Brooks even has a voice cameo near the beginning.

Speaking of voices, pay attention to Wilder's. That's the first joke. And then there's a whole lot more.

And Marty Feldman's eyes.

Five stars and all that...Queue it up today...

Hotcha!
Hank