Young Frankenstein Blu-ray

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka "Frankenstein Jr." )

directed by Mel Brooks
USA 1974

Frankenstein quickly returns to Transylvania and the old ancestral castle, where he is awaited by the faithful houseboy Igor, the voluptuous lab assistant Inga, and the mysterious housekeeper Frau Blucher, whose very name causes horses to rear in fright. The young man had always rejected his grandfather's medical experiments as impossible, but he changes his mind after he discovers a book entitled How I Did It by Victor Frankenstein. Now all that's involved is a little grave-robbing and a trip to the handy local Brain Depository, and the Frankenstein family is back in business.
In his two best comedies, before this, The Producers and Blazing Saddles, Brooks revealed a rare comic anarchy. His movies weren't just funny, they were aggressive and subversive, making us laugh even when we really should have been offended. (Explaining this process, Brooks once loftily declared, "My movies rise below vulgarity.") Young Frankenstein is as funny as we expect a Mel Brooks comedy to be, but it's more than that: It shows artistic growth and a more sure-handed control of the material by a director who once seemed willing to do literally anything for a laugh. It's more confident and less breathless. That's partly because the very genre he's satirizing gives him a strong narrative he can play against.

Excerpt from Roger Ebert's review located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: December 15, 1974

Reviews More Reviews DVD Reviews

Comparison:

Twentieth Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray vs. vs. Twentieth Century Fox (Special Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC vs. 20th Century Fox (Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Henrik Sylow and Mathias Nielsen for the SD-DVD Screen Caps!

1) Twentieth Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - LEFT

2) Twentieth Century Fox (Special Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC - MIDDLE

3) 20th Century Fox (Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT

Box Covers
Distribution	Twentieth Century Fox Region 'A' - Blu-ray	Twentieth Century Fox Region 1 - NTSC	20th Century Fox Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:45:40	1:45:32	1:41:18 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	Feature: 27.8 Gig, AVC @ 26 MB/ps Dual-layered, 1080P Blu-ray	1:83:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 5.11 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1:85:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 4.61 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate: Twentieth Century Fox (Blu-ray)	NO BITRATE GRAPH FOR BLU-RAY YET!
Bitrate: Twentieth Century Fox (Special Edition)
Bitrate: 20th Century Fox (Special Edition)
Audio	English 5.1 DTS HD Master Audio Lossless, English (mono), DUBs: Spanish and French mono	2.0 Dolby Digital Mono English, DUBs: 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono French, 2.0 Dolby Digital Mono Spanish	2.0 Dolby Digital Mono English
Subtitles	English, Spanish, Chinese (Traditional + simplified), None	English, None	Czech, Danish, English for the hearing impaired, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish
Features	Release Information: Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Aspect Ratio: Widescreen - 1:85:1 Feature: 27.8 Gig, AVC @ 26 MB/ps Dual-layered, 1080P Blu-ray Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by Mel Brooks • Making of 'Young Frankenstein' (41:52) The Franken-Track: A Monstrous Conglomeration of Trivia • It's Alive: Creating a Monster Classic (31:16 in HD!) • Transylvania Lullaby: the Music of John Morris (10:29 in HD!) • Making Frankencsense of Young Frankenstein • Interview with Marty Feldman (3:45), with Gene Wilder and Cloris Leachman • Outtakes/ Deleted Scene (7:33) • Isolated Score Track More... DVD Release Date: October 7th, 2008 Standard Blu-ray case in cardboard box Chapters 29	Release Information: Studio: Twentieth Century Fox Aspect Ratio: Widescreen - 1:83:1 Edition Details: • Audio Commentary by Mel Brooks • Making of 'Young Frankenstein' (41:50) • Trailers • 7 deleted scenes (16:44) • Mexican interviews • with Marty Feldman (3:45) • with Gene Wilder and Cloris Leachman (3:45) • Outtakes (5:00) • Production Photographs DVD Release Date: June 3, 2003 Keep case Chapters 29	Release Information: Studio: 20th Century Fox Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 1:85:1 Edition Details: • Making of Young Frankenstein • Director's Commentary (Mel Brooks) • Trailers (Showrama Trailer, Trailer A, Trailer B, International Trailer, Re-Release Trailer) • TV Spots (60 Second Spot, 30 Second Spots, 10 Second Spots) • Deleted Scenes (7) • Mexican Interviews (Marty Feldman + Gene Wilder & Gloris Leachman) • Outtakes DVD Release Date: October 30, 2000 Keep Case Chapters 28

Comments

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

First and foremost - my Sony BDP-S300 Blu-ray Disc Player required the 4.2 firmware update to play this disc (from v3.95).

Previous SD-DVD releases of Young Frankenstein on DVD were regarded as of fairly poor quality (even the 16X9 NTSC version not shown in this comparison). The Region 1 Special Edition in this comparison is non-anamorphic but the PAL edition (below it) is... yet there is not much difference in the overall quality. It is possible that the intentional heavy grain look of Young Frankenstein just didn't translate well to SD. I'm happy to say that the grain structure on this dual-layered Blu-ray (feature taking up a healthy 27.8 Gig for the 1 hour 45 minute film) looks quite wonderful. You can see yourself my clicking the expandable Blu-ray captures. This is not noise - this is good film grain. The SDs look softer and brightened beside it. The Blu-ray shows more detail even with the heavy grain. Contrast, though not perfect, is also very strong. I'm quite happy with how Young Frankenstein looks on Blu-ray. It is far superior to the previous editions.

Audio too has greatly improved with a Lossless DTS HD Master track which has some fair separations and although the mix is not overly dynamic I enjoyed the occasional rear speaker action. It is complimented with a choice of English mono and two DUBs.

Supplements include most of the valuable extras from the previous releases, including the decent and often amusing Brooks commentary and the 41 minute 'Making of...'. There is some new material as well with two especially standing out as worthy. It's Alive: Creating a Monster Classic is a 31:16 featurette in HD! with input from Brooks, Cloris Leachman and many others discussing and reminiscing on the creation of the film and the production. Transylvania Lullaby: the Music of John Morris is10:29 long, also in HD!, and details the long working relationship between the director and Morris. His music is quite wonderful and I didn't know that much about him till this mini-documentary. You can access hise isolated score on this Blu-ray. There are some Outtakes and a Deleted scene plus a The Franken-Track: A Monstrous Conglomeration of Trivia challenge. The extras are pretty complete and it's nice to see some new features (in HD too!).

So thumbs up all around - super grain-intact black and white image, competent new audio mix and some new and overall substantial extra features. Great job Fox! I'd forgotten how much I enjoy this film - one that I can put on at any time and be amused.

Gary W. Tooze

Extras on the Blu-ray

DVD Menus

(Twentieth Century Fox (Special Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC - LEFT vs. 20th Century Fox (Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - RIGHT)

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Screen Captures (can't get subtitle capture from Blu-ray yet)

1) Twentieth Century Fox - Region 'A' - Blu-ray - TOP

2) Twentieth Century Fox (Special Edition) - Region 1 - NTSC - MIDDLE

3) 20th Century Fox (Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL - BOTTOM

Screen Captures