Little Girl Scene from 1931 Frankenstein and 1974 Young Frankenstein

We saw the scene in 1931 Frankenstein where the creature meets a young girl. Although a little afraid, she accepts him and plays games with him. After they throw all the petals from a flower into the lake, he looks around for something else to throw. He picks her up and throws her in. Until recently, the actual toss was cut from presentations of the film, because it is just too painful.

This scene frames the two in a beautiful context of Nature, an important theme of the novel that we did not discuss. We did, though, discuss the concept of what is "natural." It seems natural in the novel for people to reject the creature. But innocent children, including William in the novel and the girl in the film, seem to be able to accept the creature as another human being.

The first killing in the novel is presented as the creature’s vengeance for the rejection that he has learned about by reading his creator’s diaries. In the film, however, the first killing contains a kind of "innocence"; the creature does not know what he is doing.

That scene is re-written in the 1974 Young Frankenstein to fit that film’s consistent good humor and lack of harm to anyone. Imitating the 1931 film, Gene Wilder writes a scene in which the creature and the little girl run out of thing to throw in the water. The scene ends just as the creature reaches for the girl, the same way it ended in the censored version of 1931. We see the girl’s parents for a minute, and then return to the creature and the girl, who are now playing on a see-saw. So, we find out that the girl was not thrown in the water. When the creature sits on the see-saw, his weight catapults the girl through the air, after which she miraculously lands in her own bed, to the delight of her parents. No one is hurt or killed; we laugh, and we know that all will be well.

The Blind Man in 1935 Bride of Frankenstein and 1974 Young Frankenstein

In the 1935 Bride of Frankenstein the creature is drawn by violin music in the woods. He encounters a kind blind man, who shows him hospitality and lets him spend the night. This scene essentially replaces the entire episode of the DeLaceys in the novel. In the film the creature learns words from the blind man, drinks wine, and even smokes cigars. As he tucks the creature in, the blind man thanks God for sending him a friend, in an echo of the novel’s call for a friend by Walton. This idyllic interlude is interrupted by passing hunters.

In 1974 Young Frankenstein the scene from Bride is imitated and gently mocked. The blind man’s attempts at hospitality result not in comfort for the creature, but instead a burned crotch and a burned thumb. Finally, the creature escapes, while the blind man plaintively whines, "I was going to make espresso." Like Bride, like the novel, this scene shows the creature as essentially good and teachable. In fact YF shows that the creature does NOT even contemplate revenge, despite the pain inflicted on him.

 

Other Scenes from Young Frankenstein

1. Near the beginning of Young Frankenstein, Gene Wilder, as the grandson of the original Frankenstein, tries to escape his destiny by mispronouncing his name.

2. Despite his own fears, Gene Wilder confronts his creature and raises the creature’s self-esteem. Thus, the film fulfills the wish of most readers of the novel. The creature performs on stage as a sophisticated song-and-dance man, but goes nuts when fire erupts from a broken footlight.

3. To complete the socialization of the creature, Gene Wilder gives the creature part of his own brain. The creature becomes eloquent, and soon we see him lying in bed reading the Wall Street Journal. He has become the ultimate upper-middle-class man, complete with a wife (Elizabeth, who used to be Frankenstein’s fiancée) who cajoles him into civilized separation of dirty clothes.