The smartest creative decision of Mel Brooks’ career was to match the lighting design from classic Universal Monster movies for his spoof of… well people think it’s a spoof of 1931’s Frankenstein, but the story actually more closely resembles the 1939 sequel Son of Frankenstein, starring basil Rathbone as the offspring of Dr. Henry F. who eventually falls under the same mania. Brooks usually just looks for a good topic to skewer, but he shows a genuine love here for the movies he’s making fun of, as well as their sets, lighting, score and rich cast of supporting characters. These kind of films are always hit-and-miss and even with this one, sometime I laugh more than others. What always lands with me is the cameo by Gene Hackman and the musical number, where Frankenstein and his Monster perform “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”
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