I have watched this movie countless times for probably 20 years…
Not until about a week or two ago, when I was watching it on AMC, did I catch something I had missed time and time again.
There are “two” Marty Feldman characters in the movie!
How do I arrive at this conclusion?
[li]His humpback moves from one side to the other, perpetually.[/li][li]His “walleye” changes sides in accordance with the humpback. (probably by flipping the negative for the eye, since Feldman’s eye was actually that way IRL)[/li][li]He seems to be in two places at once, such as when he is tying the kites on the roof, then suddenly appears at Wilders side below in the lab, while Wilder is still talking to him on the roof.[/li]li IIRC, Feldman’s character corrects Wilder to address him as “EYEgor” at the train station, then later changes the correction to “EEEgor” later on. (spelling mine for phonetics)[/li]
What a wonderful little mystery I may have revealed! If I am correct, this is probably the best subtle gag in the whole movie. Feldman’s playing mirror twins named “EEEgor” and “EYEgor” who never are seen at the same time! LOL BRILLIANT I love it! Please tell me I am correct about this gag! If it’s true, Brooks is just f-ing brilliant, IMHO.
I love movies like this, that you watch for years and years, and everytime you find something new.
I only remember his hump moving once and then back to its original position. Dr. Frankenstein starts to comment on it, but then thinks better of it. Igor has an “audience moment” where he raises his eyebrows a couple of times at the camera.
Didn’t notice this at all – I guess I’ll have to watch the movie again.
I think that is the only scene like it, and the joke was how fast he could move when in danger.
This was Igor’s reaction to Frankstein’s pronunciation of his name to dissociate himself from his infamous relative. He initially pronounced it “Fronkensteen” and then once accepted “Frankenstine” once he took over the monster creating biz. Of course, the best pronounciation (which I can’t phonetically reproduce) was Frau Blucher’s (nnnneeeeigh!).
All Things Considered on NPR today had a story about Mel Brooks today. They talked about his musical The Producers. Here’s the link which should have the audio up on it soon.
All Things Considered on NPR today had a story about Mel Brooks today. They talked about his musical The Producers. Here’s the link which should have the audio up on it soon. http://www.npr.org/programs/atc/
Subtle? Are you serious? Maybe it’s just me (and everyone I’ve every seen this fine, fine piece of film with), but I’ve always laughed uproariously at each and every one of those scenes (except, maybe, for the walleye bit, I’ll have to check that out.)
The DVD of Young Frankenstein is worth every penny. It has some hilarious deleted scenes, documentaries, and there are tv spots as well as trailers from the original release as well as the rerelease. At Fred Meyer, near my house, it was only $16.99 on DVD. Well worth it.
Monster meets blind man played by Gene Hackman who thinks he’s a mute. He ends up spilling soup in Frankenstein’s lap and lighting his thumb instead of a cigar.
Minutes later a little girl gets done throwing flower petals into a well with the monster(I believe that’s right). Now what else will we throw into the well? she asks. The monster (played brilliantly by Peter Boyle) looks at the screen as if to say, Should I do it? Should I throw her into the well? Boyle’s facial expressions were hilarious throughout the movie.
Walk this way. Igor drags foot behind him. Dr. Frankenstein does the same.
The Puttin’ on the Ritz dance routine. The whole scene killed me. I mean, why would you prove to the scientific community that you’ve created a human from dead parts by having him dance and sing? And why would the scientists react in anger when this new discovery is upset by fire during the routine? Friggin’ hilarious.
According to Gene, Mel wasn’t completely sure about the dance routine. Mel said no to the routine in order to gauge Gene’s reaction. Gene’s vehement defence for the routine convinced Mel to keep it.
Clever Idea about the “two Igors”. I’ll have to check it out.
I agree that the “Young Frankenstein” DVD is worth having. I have to respectfully disagree about the quality of the “cut” scenes, however. Both Pepper Mill and I watched them and can fully understand why they were excised.
Clucky said:
I’m not sure if you’re aware of it, but these two scenes directly parody scenes in the original Universal films. The scene with the blind man appears in the first sequel, Bride of Frankenstein, while the scene with the little girl and the flowers appears in Frankenstein. In the original, it’s a river or lake, instead of a well, and the monster does throw her in at the end of it. (The entire scene, in fact, wasn’t available until ten years ago or so – it was censored before the film was released and the complete scene was only made available for the first time on video.)To anyone who grew up watching the original James Whale/Boris Karloff films, these scenes have a particular resonance.
Finally, I’ve asked this before on the SDMB, but haven’t gotten an answer. People I’ve talked to (including my wife, Pepper Mill) swear that when they saw YF on the Big Screen there was an extra scene, which has since been delected. It is not among the "deleted scenes on the DVD, damnit. It occurs at the theater, just before the “Puttin’ on the Ritz” number. Gene Wilder as Frankenstein approaches Marty Feldman as Igor. For the first time in the movie Igor has NO hump. He asks: “What happened to your hump?”. Igor replies “NEVER with a Tux!”
After Peter Boyle as the Monster escapes, Terri Garr and Feldman rush up to the fallen Gene Wilder to see if he’s OK, and you can clearly see that Feldman’s Igor HAS NO HUMP. The scene thus doesn’t make sense unless that excised scene had originally been present. But I’ve never seen it. I can only assume that Brooks cut it because he was afraid of complaints about insensitivity from people who really do have hunches, and that he kept it off the DVD for the same reason. Has anyone else seen this excised scene? Or do you know anything more definite about it? Inquiring Minds Want to Know.
Okay, there’s seems to be a bit of confusion as to what exactly it is that I deemed as subtle. To clarify… the subtle gag is
There may be “two” Marty Feldman characters in the movie! Feldman is possibly playing mirror twins named “EEEgor” and “EYEgor” who never are seen at the same time! (spelling mine)
Even if my observation is inaccurate, it still “works” to a degree, when you apply this concept to the film.
However, all the other gags are obvious, e.g. the moving hump, etc. I only listed them to “back-up” my theory of two Feldman characters.
If you haven’t seen the originals, you should, if only to heighten your appreciation of Young Frankenstein. The entire movie – title and all – is a broad parody of the third Universal movie, Son of Frankenstein, starring Basil Rathbone (!) It didn’t have Karloff as the Monster or James Whale as the director, but it did give us the first appearance of Ygor, played by Bela Lugosi, of all people (in previous movies, Dwight Frye played the assistant – named “Fritz” in the original). The Kenneth Mars character, with the artficial arm is there, too, played by Lionel Atwill. I was surprised to find, upon watching it recently,that the dart game between him and young Frankenstein is even in the movie Son of Frankenstein.
It’s an interesting idea, but I don’t think there are two of him. I think he’s “up to something” so to speak. Like it’s his joke on the world and the hump is just a prop.
Would you believe I recently discovered a friend who HAD NEVER SEEN THIS CLASSIC??? And had the temerity to compare that to me never seeing “Princess Bride”? She was then obliged to watch that AMC telecast. This film is a true classic.
**Well, I have to say I think you’re reading too much into it. Not that the film isn’t brilliant! But I always felt that the gag was simply Igor messing with Dr. Frankenstein. I don’t think we were meant to think he was twins.
