Library Film Features Young Frankenstien

Young Frankenstein is a 1974 American comedy horror film directed by Mel Brooks and starring Gene Wilder as the title character, a descendant of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The supporting cast includes Teri Garr, Cloris Leachman, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, Richard Haydn and Gene Hackman. The screenplay was written by Wilder and Brooks.

The film is an affectionate parody of the classic horror film genre, in particular the various film adaptations of Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein produced by Universal in the 1930s. Most of the lab equipment used as props was created by Kenneth Strickfaden for the 1931 film Frankenstein. To help evoke the atmosphere of the earlier films, Brooks shot the picture entirely in black and white, a rarity in the 1970s, and employed 1930s' style opening credits and scene transitions such as iris outs, wipes, and fades to black. The film also features a period score by Brooks' longtime composer John Morris.

A critical favorite and box office smash, Young Frankenstein was deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the United States National Film Preservation Board and selected for preservation in the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2003. On its 40th anniversary Brooks considered it by far his finest (though not his funniest) film as a writer-director.

Join us at the Greenville Public Library Thursday October 19th at 7:00 p.m. Ryan Carpe will be leading a brief discussion after the movie. As always, there will be free theater popcorn, candy, coffee, and Jones Soda. We hope to see you there!