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It’s Not What You Say It’s How You Say It

Young Frankenstein (1974)
Dir. Mel Brooks
Written by Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks
Starring: Gene Wilder, Teri Garr, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman, Madeline Kahn Cloris Leachman

Young Frankenstein, like all of Mel Brooks’ films, is many things. Firstly, a comedy, but it also touches upon different genres such as: satire, parody, homage…but more to the point could it be considered a Screwball?

This is the second Mel Brooks film that I have ever seen. The first that I saw this past summer was High Anxiety, a parody of suspense films—especially Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. It was funny—but not laugh out loud funny. YF took a while to grow on me but now I love it. I’ve also seen Blazing Saddles recently which I have to say was difficult to watch. I know that it was a satire but the number of n-words bandied about so casually threw me for a loop. Brooks has, what I would term a heavy-handed approach to humor. It slaps you in the face and punches you in the stomach. Both Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder wrote this film, so it is a little subtler in some ways than a pure Brooks’ film.

Another descriptive term that I would use would be deliberate, every word and movement is formulated to get the most absurdity out of it possible. This film is a parody of the old black and white monster movies so the pace of the film’s dialogue is rather slow. Gene Wilder has a singular way of expressing himself, he uses leisurely and measured tones interspersed with outbursts that come out of nowhere as his comedic markers.

YF is chock full of sight gags and verbal gags; every scene is full of jokes, jests, witticisms, quips, puns, double entendres; practical jokes, stunts, larks; informal cracks, wisecracks, and one-liners—you get the jist. Accents are especially important: added “zes” and “unds” along with a few German words for good measure are added to the mix for optimum comedic effect.

Upon the fifth or sixth viewing I’ve come to the conclusion that this is not a screwball. It is too many things to be considered a neo-screwball. Mel Brooks’ films taken as whole are screwy, definitely, but they are in a different comedy bracket—more of a pastiche. When compared to a film such as His Girl Friday YF’s dialogue is hysterical but the delivery is so different.

Women are not very important in this film, which is another reason why it can’t compare to other Screwball comedies. There are couplings and love triangles and inevitable marriages but this film is more about the individual gags then the narrative as a whole. This film definitely has some Bromance elements that I could potentially explore but that topic is for another day and another blog. On the surface this film has some of the tropes of classic screwball such as:
Ø Marriage (in some way shape or form, e.g. couple getting divorced, married, or re- married)
Ø Verbal gymnastics or sparring
Ø Physical Comedy (not required)
but overall it does not use them in the way that a Screwball film does.

Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Screwball?

http://www.listal.com/viewimage/3857

A Fish Called Wanda (1988)

Dir. Charles Crichton Written by: John Cleese & Charles Crichton

Starring: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin, Tom Georgeson9

Otto: Don't call me stupid.
Wendy: Why on earth not?
Otto: Oh, you English are *so* superior, aren't you? Well, would you like to know what you'd be without us, the good ol' U.S. of A. to protect you? I'll tell you. The smallest fucking province in the Russian Empire, that's what! So don't call me stupid, lady. Just thank me.
Wendy: Well, *thank* you for popping in and protecting us.
Otto: If it wasn't for us, you'd all be speaking *German!* Singing "Deutschland, Deutschland über alles..."

Searching for, what I call neo-Screwball comedies, is more difficult than I thought. I found a few pitiful lists--they contained mostly films that I've either thought of or ones that might have a few screwballish tendencies but never the real deal. This film, A Fish... was on one of those lists and so I dutifully ordered it from the local library. It came and I popped it into the DVD player, actually I carefully placed it in the player so as not to scratch it like any good Film buff would and sat back and relaxed.

The basic premise:

Set in London, four people come together to pull of an jewelery robbery. Within the group of four there are dyad's that have formed alliances previously to the group coming together. Wanda (Curtis) and Otto (Kline) are couple who pretend to be brother and sister-to make things easier-George (Georges) and Ken (Palin) are the other alliance. They all plan, plot, and execute the crime and make off with the loot. The next phase of the plan requires them to all separate and for one to take the jewels and hide them. After this they are supposed to meet divvy up the jewels; only they and don't and then they can't.

On the basis of a good comedy film it was one. I tittered in spots and enjoyed the performances of the leads but it missed the mark for me on several points if it is to be considered a Screwball Comedy. Mostly it was missing the complete zaniness of true SC. That oh-so-elusive element that makes SC'S still funny and refreshing so many years later.

I am all for vugarity, but I am not sure how I feel about the use of vugarity within a SC. One theory that I operate under is that the reason some genres of classic films exist, and in my opinion Rock!, are because they had to work around and underneath the MPPDA, aka the Hays Code, censorship does wonders for creativity. Two of my absolute favorite genres, Screwball Comedies and Film Noir benifitted wonderfully from the production code.

So while, I feel like the movie is wonderfully inventive and a lovely comedy it is not going to be labeled Neo-Screwball by me. But I reserve the right to change my mind;)