Today we're looking at a few of Young Frankenstein's ancillary products (where, of course, the REAL money is made).
This is from a line of gorgeous Sideshow Collectibles figures from 2001. Until today, I'd never taken mine out of the box. He's gorgeous, and looks just like Gene as Frederick.
His accessories include operating tools and a stethoscope, his lightning goggles, a nice textured stand, and a copy of his grandfather's book.
He has all the expected points of articulation for free posing (including a full range of motion at the ankles, which is nice) and stands about a foot high.
Sadly, I don't have the other two figures in this set (they also made an Igor and a Monster, of course) but you can look at them, and maybe even buy one, at this eBay link.
If I have a little extra time and energy before the month is out, maybe you'll see some more of this guy.
Also sadly, I don't have any of the more recent Funko toys. As you can see, they've chosen the same character lineup, but with a more stylised, cutesier design. (Well, ugly-cute, but that's in keeping with the franchise.)
They're shorter, too, so maybe I only want the Igor to keep my Sideshow Frederick company. Luckily, these guys are still widely available, and I just added all of them to my Amazon Wishlist.
As I mentioned in my last post, I haven't seen or read Mel's new book about the film yet, but I hope to very soon. And of course, there have always been T-shirts and soundtrack albums and tie-in magazine covers and the Young Frankenstein Flame Thrower ("A Children's Toy").
Finally for today, we're going to have a brief discussion of the Broadway musical adaptation of the film.
That video puts a happy spin on Mel's followup to his Producers bonanza, but the reviews and grosses weren't nearly as good. I'll be honest, I'm not much of a Broadway musical guy. (For some reason, the sound of a modern pitband grates on my nerves.) I saw The Producers (on a later tour, and then the movie version, which I preferred), and I enjoyed it well enough. But I didn't feel the need to ever see it again, or even rewatch the film version. I prefer the original film so much to either adaptation that, at least until Mel leaves us, I probably won't even relisten to the songs (which I remember as okay, but they didn't inspire me to buy the album).
Over on my Twitter feed, I compulsively notate every album I listen to, and this month I've done a lot of Halloween-themed listening. I heard this for the first time right after the Addams Family musical, which I enjoy whole-heartedly. I'm afraid Young Frankenstein pales in comparison, though.
A lot of the movie fits well into a musical-theater structure, and a lot of the movie's most important moments are well-represented in song (I really enjoyed the full treatment of "Roll In The Hay," based on just five seconds of the movie). But, while the songs work well musically, a lot of the lyrics aren't particularly clever. So much time is spent on innuendo that we don't get a lot of wordplay, or even much emotion or character development.
Sidebar: on the topic of "Deep Love," the part of the movie that has dated the worst is the Monster's rape of Elizabeth (to be fair, this was hinted at way back in Whale's 1931 film, but playing it for laughs is deeply troublesome). I get the impression (just from the songs, since I haven't seen a production) that they attempted to soften the blow of this by having Elizabeth be a recovered slut (which is, to my mind, just as troublesome). I know the movie is beloved, and any big change will alienate a lot of the core fanbase, but I think a change was possible that could avoid slut shaming and victim blaming in this case.
I don't think I'll ever love this musical adaptation, and I'm sad it's not better. I can't imagine a better film than Young Frankenstein. I can certainly imagine much better musicals made from it.
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