TheRetroCritic

Had I known as a kid that one day a Young Frankenstein musical would ever exist I think I would have gone through the roof with pure geeky giddiness. Well, I wasn't a kid but when I heard Gene Wilder say in an interview that Mel Brooks was working on that show but I can honestly say that I creamed a tiny bit. Now it's 2011 and...you know what? I completely missed the damn thing! Living in London sucks. I did get to check out a filmed performance though so at least I got to see it eventually. Thoughts? This is one big, expensive musical indeed. Hell, the Overture itself is like 4 minutes long! But I guess seeing as this is based on what is essentially Mel Brooks' best film and follows a huge hit like The Producers it's bound to be big and expensive. From what I understand critics were mixed upon its release but from my side of things, I loved every minute of it. Roger Bart, originally cast as Igor, turns out to be the perfect choice for Dr Frankenstein (read: F

Frankenstein Created Woman indeed...or rather...a man within a woman. Yes, don't be fooled by the straightforward title, this is as random as a Frankenstein film can get. Not really actually, there's always Frankenstein Conquers The World . One of Hammer's last films, this is also one of its best. Peter Cushing has never been cooler, the whole thing looks fab, Thorley Walters is a lot of fun as Frankenstein's bumbling right-hand man and the villains are a positively odious lot and not too dissimilar from the Clockwork Orange gang or the nasty fox-hunters from Plague of the Zombies . The real strength of the film is that it introduces us to a young troubled couple we actually get attached to only to turn everything upside down as Frankenstein's well-meaning (or not) experiment once again backfires. As tragic as the story is, the film never forgets to be fun and, indeed, as preposterous as it all is, the silliness feels essential. Besides, those ann