Accidental Aesop: As a parent, never give up on your disabled child. Unlike his own grandfather in-story and countless alternate versions of Victor Frankenstein, Frederick Frankenstein never gives up on or abandons his creation, ultimately helping his artificial "son" to work through his difficulties and developing a treatment to ensure the creature can integrate into society and have a normal life, offering multiple second chances in the process. And in so doing both of them get the happy ending other versions of Frankenstein never do.
Alternative Joke Interpretation: Did Igor say he used the brain from "Abby Normal" to weasel his way out of admitting he grabbed an abnormal one, perhaps hoping to slip it past Frederick, or did he truly misread the label and not realize his error until Frederick connects the dots? His behavior could be both read as cheerful and unafraid and thus feeling no guilt, but shows shades of hesitancy and appeasing humility, like sitting on the floor before being offered a stool.
Award Snub: The movie did receive Academy Award nominations for Adapted Screenplay and Sound, but woefully ignored Marty Feldman, Cloris Leachman, and Madeline Kahn's hilarious performances. Not to mention nominations for Set Decoration or Costume. Leachman and Kahn at least got Golden Globe nominations, for Best Actress (Comedy/Musical) and Supporting Actress respectively. Plus, we'll never know if Kahn would have gotten an Oscar nod for Best Supporting Actress if she wasn't nominated in the same category for Blazing Saddles that same year.
Brooks stated on his DVD commentary track that he thought Gene Wilder deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. Of course, that year's Oscars had some very heavy competition (and the favorites didn't even win).
In the book The Big Screen Comedies of Mel Brooks, author Robert Alan Crick said of Peter Boyle's performance: "Academy Awards have gone out again and again to acting not half this good".
Awesome Music: John Morris's heartbreaking "Transylvanian Lullaby" score.
Can't Un-Hear It: Try to listen to a normal version of "Puttin' On the Ritz" without doing an impression of Peter Boyle as the Monster.
A commonly cited piece of trivia about the film is that the joke of the horses always whinnying in fear at Frau Blücher's (NEIGH) name is a Bilingual Bonus: the horses are scared because her name means or sounds like "glue" in German. Except, as anyone who actually speaks German or even a cursory glance at an online dictionary will tell you, it doesn't — it's just a completely unremarkable German surname. There are several German words for "glue" as a noun, such as "Kleber", "Klebstoff" or "Leim", none of which sounds even remotely like Blücher (NEIGH). The intended gag is less deep than the popular explanation, as it just uses the horses in the cliche fashion of melodrama stings to convey that Frau Blücher (NEIGH) is an especially ominous or fearsome person. The gag would have been the same regardless of her name.
In a somewhat bizarre example of this trope, it's often Common Knowledge that this movie is the origin of the Common Knowledge belief that Frankenstein (1931) featured a hunchback assistant named "Igor" ("Ygor" was a character from Son of Frankenstein who suffered a broken neck, the original hunchback assistant was named Fritz). However, both the Bobby "Boris' Pickett song "Monster Mash" and at least one episode of Scooby Doo had referenced an assistant named "Igor" well before this movie.
Fanon Welding: Some like to think that Frederick Frankenstein is actually Peter von Frankenstein, the canon grandson of Dr. Frankenstein in the Universal Monsters franchise. Peter even has curly hair just like Gene Wilder.
Fan-Preferred Cut Content: The deleted scene where the old baron's will is read has plenty of defenders who wish it had been kept. It has some good jokes and makes the plot slightly clearer.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: In Italy several quotes have become part of their pop culture (see Memetic Mutation) and the 2008 drama movie Si può fare is a Shout-Out to the Italian translation of Frederick's "It could work!"
Dr. Frederick "Freddie" Frankenstein/"Fronkensteen" is the witty, rational-minded grandson of the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein himself. Inheriting his family castle, Freddie is subtly persuaded by Frau Blücher (NEIGH)—his grandfather's lover—to resume Victor's work in creating life. Having his servant Igor help him rob graves to construct his "Adam", Igor ends up botching Freddie's plan by ruining the brilliant brain Freddie needed and bringing back an "abnormal" one. When the sweet-natured but easily confused creature attacks Freddie, he swiftly has it sedated and restrained until Frau Blücher (NEIGH) frees it to complete her and Victor's dream, though Freddie is able to lure it back by playing its favorite song on violin. Risking his life to philosophically engage the captive creature and convince it of its worth, Freddie is able to present it to the scientific community, even having it perform a snazzy dance number with him until the unappreciative audience enrages the creature. Once again luring it back to his castle with its favorite song while the townspeople hunt for it after the creature escapes arrest, Freddie links his mind to the creature's, letting it express itself with words and even befriend the townsfolk, his dream of creating intelligent life complete.
Dr. Victor Frankenstein and Frau Blücher (NEIGH) are a pair of geniuses defined by their love for science and each other. Together, they concocted the original experiments to create a living monster from dead tissue, and—desiring to continue the legacy of the Frankenstein name—they schemed to use Victor's grandson Freddie to carry on the work. Following Victor's death, Frau Blücher (NEIGH) reaches out and lures Freddie to Victor's Transylvania castle, where she coerces Freddie into Victor's old lab and helps him find Victor's research. Once Freddie carries on his grandfather's work and brings the "creature" to life, Frau Blücher (NEIGH) unleashes the creature and later assists Freddie in educating and civilizing the creature. In the end, Frau Blücher (NEIGH) and Victor's schemes are seen through by Freddie in their stead, and Frau Blücher (NEIGH) ends the film with a tearful smile at Victor's ultimate, posthumous triumph.
This is where the dramatic chipmunk music comes from, when they first look up at the castle.
Every punchline is a quotable wonder. The movie is up there with Blazing Saddles as one of Mel Brooks' most-quoted films.
The "It! Could! Work!" line is a minor one in Italy, where it was translated as "Si può fare!", which means "It can be done!" and has the more general meaning of "We can do it!"note Also a bit Hilarious in Hindsight when that became a major song in the stage adaptation of The Producers. and is often used in a variety of contexts as an encouragement.
The Italian translation of 'There wolf, there castle', 'Lupo Ululà e Castello Ululì!'note "Lupo ulula" means "wolf howls", while "lupo là, castello lì" means "wolf there, castle there". is a very famous quote in Italy. Even people who haven't seen the movie know the pun.
"BLUCHER!" *whinny*
Newer Than They Think: The idea of Dr. Frankenstein having a deranged assistant named Igor originates from this movie, but Igor became so much more iconic than the characters he was created to parody that he's now often talked about as if he were part of the original Frankenstein story to begin with.
In the musical, after Frankenstein gives some of his intelligence to the Monster, the townsfolk catch him and actually hang him! Thankfully, the Monster saves him.
Older Than They Think: When Igor is sent to fetch a brain for Frankenstein, he gets a jar with the correct brain, but trips and drops it on the floor, shattering it; he then tries to cover for his mistake by fetching the brain labelled "Abnormal" and taking that instead. A lot of viewers assume this joke is something Brooks made up, but Fritz actually did exactly the same thing in the original movie.
The cruel policeman who tormented The Monster with fire while he was imprisoned, and unlike most of the story, it's played very dark. Trivia: the policeman is played by Oscar Beregi, who seems to have done a lot of arrogant bastard roles, most notably the Asshole Victim Nazi in the Twilight Zone episode "Death's-Head Revisited".
It's a really faithful Affectionate Parody of Frankenstein (1931) and Bride of Frankenstein - to the point watching Young Frankenstein before makes many scenes in the originals hard to take seriously. Even more so, it specifically copies the plot and other elements (eg the one-armed policeman) of the third Universal Frankenstein film Son of Frankenstein, which is now almost forgotten outside serious Universal Horror fans. In particular, the flower girl scene was censored in re-releases of Frankenstein (1931) at the time, so the spoof of it in this film seems more like an original joke to audiences of the time.
The performance of "Puttin' On the Ritz" in this movie is one of the best known in spite of the song being written nearly fifty years prior.
Danny Goldman, the smarmy medical student who keeps pestering Frederick about his grandfather's work, would go on to play Brainy Smurf. It just figures.
The late Peter Boyle (The Monster) is better remembered by younger audiences for playing Frank Barone. Less so at the time, however, as he had achieved fame due to starring in Joe (1970) and was well known as a character actor.
Signature Scene: The "Puttin' On the Ritz" dance scene is the most frequently referenced from the film, to the point it's still heavily associated with the song in any other context.
The obvious padding on Gene Wilder's thigh when he stabs himself with the scalpel.
The scene of the Monster strangling Frederick had to throw in an awkward close-up of Inga gasping to cover for an edit they otherwise couldn’t make work.
What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Somehow, the "Puttin' On the Ritz" number turned up on the kid-targeted Anastasia Sing-Along/Anastasia's Music Box Favorites video. The clip itself doesn't have anything too inappropriate, but woe to the parents of any children who asked to watch the whole movie after seeing this clip...
The Musical:
Broken Base: Was the musical a worthy adaptation and successor to The Producers, or a lame corporate shill attempting to keep Mel Brooks relevant?
Awesome Music: "Life, Life" really stands out as a genuinely dramatic and impressive number among all the silliness.
Ho Yay: "Together Again", a duet between Frederick and Igor, almost sounds like a love song at times; they sing about how they feel they've met in a dream, and compare themselves to a list of famous duos which includes several romantic couples.
But the pair that we cry for The pair that we sigh for The pair that we die for Is Fronk-on-steen and Eye-gor
For the first time together again!
Visual Effects of Awesome: The musical did some impressive lighting effects, such as flying sparks during "Life, Life" and the rear-projected CGI forest during "Roll In The Hay."