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Young Frankenstein + The Critic

Young Frankenstein + The Critic (English with French subtitles)
Location
Main screening room
Date
March 27th, 2024
Duration
110 min
Cycle
Mel Brooks, a hilarious wit

Mel Brooks' comedic style is one of exaggeration, irreverence and absurdity. In addition, his caricatures can be ferocious. With him, there are no half-measures! Director, screenwriter, producer and actor, Brooks has also played with cinematic codes, twisting the western (Blazing Saddles), gothic horror film (Young Frankenstein), silent comedy film (Silent Movie), space opera (Spaceballs) and peplum (History of the World, Part 1), to name only a few.

From March 27 to April 21, the Cinémathèque invites you to laugh your head off - because it feels good. And as a bonus: comedians and humorists will be presenting some of the films.

Many thanks to l'école nationale de l'humour for putting us in touch with up-and-coming comedians!

Presented by Simon Olivier Fecteau

The Critic
Directed by
Ernest Pintoff
Language
English
Origins
USA
Year
1963
Duration
4 min
Genre
Animation
Format
16 mm
Synopsis

Geometric shapes come to life on the screen and a grumpy narrator, played by Mel Brooks, comments on the images.

The Critic
Young Frankenstein
Directed by
Mel Brooks
Language
English with French subtitles
Actors
Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman
Origins
USA
Year
1974
Duration
106 min
Genre
Comedy
Format
Digital
Synopsis

Not very proud of his ancestry, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein agrees to return to the land of his ancestors. Caught up in his family's madness, he decides to follow in his forefather's footsteps and create a creature from corpses, with the help of his faithful servant Igor. Unfortunately, when he is asked to find the brain of a genius, Igor makes a mistake and brings back an abnormal brain to Frankenstein.

Young Frankenstein
Awards
Mel Brooks, c'est un peu le Groucho Marx des temps modernes : il détruit tout sur son passage, même l'idée du monstre sans cervelle qu'on trouvait traitée avec un sérieux imperturbable dans la première version de ce film.
Luc Perreault, La Presse, 1975

Mel Brooks

Melvin Kaminsky, known as Mel Brooks, is an American director, actor, executive producer, screenwriter, composer, and producer, born on June 28, 1926, in New York. He co-directed his first film with Ernest Pintoff: a parody short film about modern art titled The Critic, which won an Academy Award. He then wrote a screenplay based on his experiences with Broadway producers, which became his first feature film as a director: The Producers, which also won an Academy Award. It was there that he met the actor who would become his frequent collaborator in many of his films, Gene Wilder. In 1974, while filming one of his most famous movies, Blazing Saddles, Gene Wilder proposed an original screenplay. This became Young Frankenstein, a parody of the classic 1930s film.

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Young Frankenstein: 10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Mel Brooks Movie

Young Frankenstein from Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder is one of the funniest movies ever made while also being an incredible homage to the James Whale film that it spoofs. It is a blend of brilliant wit and physical comedy with an incredible cast of Wilder, Marty Feldman, Teri Garr, Peter Boyle, Cloris Leachman and Madeline Kahn that has stood the test of time...

Cast
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