Madeline Kahn’s Iconic Role in Young Frankenstein — A Comedy Classic

Madeline in “Young Frankenstein”

For her performance as Lili von Shtupp in “Blazing Saddles,” she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

A legendary figure in comedy was Madeline Kahn. Naturally, I was thrilled to find her name next to what appears to be the one Mel Brooks movie I haven’t seen.

Elizabeth, played by Madeline Kahn in “Young Frankenstein,” is Dr. Frederick Frankenstein’s socialite fiancée.

The first time the audience sees Elizabeth as a character, Frederick departs to board his train to Transylvania. It’s also humorous.

In addition to being a parody of the “goodbye in the train station” scenes found in countless classic films, the scene introduces Elizabeth as a character.

The camera moves to show the two of them closely together, with Elizabeth wearing a fancy outfit and jewels all over her body, giving her the appearance of a peacock with a woman’s head.

With the passionate stare that many female characters possessed in those days, she assures Frederick that she will “count the hours that he is away.

” Elizabeth instantly steps back a bit (without averting her passionate gaze) when Frederick approaches for a farewell kiss and responds, “Not on the lips.” She clarifies that she doesn’t want her lipstick to spill because she is attending a party later.

We can tell that Elizabeth is constantly thinking about her appearance and how nice she looks because Kahn never stopped glancing at Wilder with her hungry eyes while warning him about her lips.

As Elizabeth cautions Frederick about caressing her hair (“The hair! The hair!”), their antics continue.

Every time she warns him, it’s because he was just reaching in for a tender hug. “Just been set!”), her clothes, and her nails.

This is ideal because it demonstrates to the viewer that although Elizabeth does love Frederick, she is too preoccupied with her looks and socialite ways to give him her whole attention.

She stops speaking in that airy, femme fatale voice and starts speaking in the voice of an ordinary upper-class woman whenever she stops to correct Frederick about her appearance or her attire.

For instance, she responds, “You bet your boots it does,” in that movie noir voice, when Frederick asks her whether she loves him.

The slang of the time is obviously being honored here, but when she breaks it to reprimand Frederick for touching her dress, she emphasizes other terms to seem almost valley girlish (“No, the dress is taffeta!

It wrinkles very easily. In an overdone attempt to parody the female characters in the vintage movies and their dramatics, Kahn turns her body around to face Frederick as he boards the train to go.

The moment Frederick blows a kiss to Elizabeth is among the funniest aspects of this sequence and of Kahn’s performance.

Kahn makes a grimace like someone just threw a diaper at her as she ducks to escape the kiss, as if she were worried that it might spoil her appearance.

She then instantly returns to smiling and waving at Frederick. I was particularly convinced that Madeline Kahn was her role by her vocal and physical choices.

Her humorous pauses in the role are given much more weight because Kahn portrays this character nearly exactly like a stereotype of female characters in vintage movies.

Elizabeth doesn’t show up until the end of the movie, over an hour and a half after her initial appearance.

When she gets there, she wakes up to discover that The Monster has escaped and has taken her hostage.

While Frederick is in bed with Inga, Frau Blucher sends him a note stating that Elizabeth will be here any moment.

She awakens and is startled by the figure standing over her. After Elizabeth begs the Monster not to, he proceeds with his preparations to rape her.

She tells him she will give him money, that she has a crucial call at 11:30, etc. One of the funniest lines in the entire film, in my opinion, is delivered by Kahn as The Monster removes his pants.

When the Monster’s pants fall down and he reveals himself, Elizabeth exclaims, “Oh my god. Woof! Kahn’s eyes enlarge in response to her terror, indicating to the viewer that despite her fear of The Monster, his package must be enormous.

We learn that Elizabeth is genuinely enjoying being raped by The Monster. Elizabeth sings at the Monster’s enormous package and amazing endurance. literally.

As The Monster continues to make sex with her, Kahn begins to yell an operatic song in her character’s delight. This moment is undoubtedly one of the funniest in the entire film, and Kahn deserves praise for her flawless comedic performance.

At the end of the movie, Frederick marries his lab assistant, and Elizabeth marries The Monster, sporting the “Bride of Frankenstein” hairstyle.

Did she give a convincing performance? It was credible, of course.

This performance was as ridiculous as it was. I genuinely thought Madeline Kahn was Elizabeth because she gave it her all. The rich socialite who develops feelings for a monster.

It’s always unfortunate that Madeline Kahn only played a minor part in this movie. It was most likely due to her acting commitments in “Blazing Saddles,” which came out in the same year as “Young Frankenstein.

” Although Kahn’s portrayal of Elizabeth in this movie was mostly subdued at times, such as when she switched between voice types in the opening scene,

it was also occasionally exaggerated, as shown in the sex scene between her and The Monster.

Madeline Kahn will be remembered as one of the greatest cinematic treasures and one of the greatest comedy symbols of the 1970s and 1980s, regardless of her roles in films like Cloe, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Paper Moon, or anything else.