The Unnoticed Joke From Mel Brooks’ ‘Young Frankenstein’

Mel Brooks is well-known for his unique choice of humor in his works, including the 1974 American Comedy Horror, Young Frankenstein. His jokes had a way of portraying the negative side of society in a satirical manner to soften the blow while passing the message across at the same time.

Aside from the political and social perspectives of his jokes, Mel also had a knack for including dirty jokes in his films, like many other directors. In Young Frankenstein, the story features several naughty antics and sexual innuendos, including Frau Blücher’s part that flew over heads for decades.

The subtle joke everyone missed

There were a good number of funny exchanges between Gene Wilder’s character, Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, and Cloris Leachman’s Frau Blücher. However, the scene where Frau offers Frankenstein a refreshment before bedtime counts as the film’s most underrated joke. The unnoticed raunchiness of the joke testifies to Mel’s comedic genius even over five decades later.

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Frau was Frankeinstein’s grandfather’s ex-girlfriend and was likely his lab assistant. Based on the uncanny resemblance Frankenstein shares with his old man, and her devotion to caring for Frankenstein— even inviting him for a nightcap, it is possible she was proposing sex to him.

Frau may have been attracted to Frankenstein

Frau’s tone, insistence, and suggestive eye contact, coupled with her famous question to the Doctor, “Would the doctor care for a brandy…warm milk…Ovaltine…before retiring?” suggest she may have liked him. Although this is not certain, more parts of the movie give a nudge to the assumption.

As Frankenstein, Inga, and Marty Feldman’s Igor arrive at the estate, Frau greets them and every time her name is said, the horses jeer at her— likely insinuating she is so hideous even animals cannot stand her. After failing to convince Frankenstein to stay over, the horses sneer again at the mention of her name but her reaction is different from the previous.

Rather than appear annoyed at the horse like she initially was, she looked rather concerned— possibly out of fear that Frankenstein may have caught her kissing his grandfather’s portrait. Other scenes also suggest she may have seen him as her former lover’s reincarnated version, especially seeing how she revered his monster a lot.