Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Is That a Mel Brooks Joke in the New Frankenstein Trailer?

Among the many iconic lines from Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein,” (“Walk this way;” “Would you like to roll in the hay;” “Frau Blucher”) one always stands out for me. It’s the one spoken by Dr. Frederick Frankenstein when, upon meeting his assistant Igor for the first time, he corrects his pronunciation. The exchange goes as follows:

IGOR: “Dr. Frankenstein.”

FRANKENSTEIN: “Frankensteen.”

IGOR: “You’re putting me on.”

FRANKENSTEIN: “No it’s pronounced Frankensteen.” etc, etc.

Here’s the clip, just for kicks:

Now, compare that to the back-and-forth repartee which takes place about halfway through for “Victor Frankenstein,” the latest iteration of Mary Shelley’s monster to hit the big screen.

POSSIBLE LOVE INTEREST/ PRETTY LADY: “Are you not afraid to challenge the natural order, M. Frankensteen?”

FRANKENSTEIN (played by James McAvoy): “No. And it’s Frankenstein.”

The new film promises to be a whole new take on the Frankenstein story, but if that’s not a wink to Mel Brooks’ movie, I don’t know what is.

In other MOT news, notice Daniel Radcliffe, cast as a very straight-backed Igor, last name “Strausman.” Mel Brooks jokes and a very possibly Jewish Igor? I’m in.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.