USA, 1977
94m, 2590 metres
35mm film, colour, 1.85:1
Dolby, English
An American comedy film with some fantasy elements direted by Mel Brooks.
Plot Summary
Dr Richard Thorndyke takes over the running of the Psychoneurotic Institute for the Very, Very Nervous and finds that there is more going on there than meets the eye. He’s soon framed for murder and has to battle his own “high anxiety” in order to clear his name.
Credits
Crew
Directed by: Mel Brooks
© 1977 Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Twentieth Century Fox presents a Mel Brooks film. A production of Crossbow Productions, Inc. Released by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation
Produced by: Mel Brooks
Written by: Mel Brooks, Ron Clark, Rudy DeLuca, Barry Levinson
Director of Photography: Paul Lohmann
Edited by: John C. Howard
Music: John Morris
Production Mixer: Gene Cantamessa
Costume Designed by: Patricia Norris
Makeup: Tom Tuttle, Terry Miles
Hairdressers: Sugar Blymyer, Linda Trainoff
Special Effects: Jack Monroe
Special Visual Effects by: Albert J. Whitlock
Production Designer: Peter Wooley
Locations: Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California, USA; Hyatt Regency Hotel, San Francisco, California, USA; Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California, USA; Mount St Mary’s College, Los Angeles, California, USA; San Francisco International Airport, San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco, California, USA
Cast
Mel Brooks (Dr Richard H. Thorndyke)
Madeline Kahn (Victoria Brisbane)
Cloris Leachman (Nurse Charlotte Diesel)
Harvey Korman (Dr Charles Montague)
Ron Carey (Brophy)
Howard Morris (Professor Lilloman)
Dick Van Patten (Dr Philip Wentworth)
Jack Riley (desk clerk at Hyatt Regency)
Charlie Callas (Cocker Spaniel)
Ron Clark (Zachary Cartwright III)
Rudy DeLuca (Braces)
Barry Levinson (Dennis the bellboy)
Lee Delano (Norton)
Bob Ridgely (flasher at LAX)
Richard Stahl (Dr Baxter)
Albert J. Whitlock (Arthur Brisbane)
Darrell Zwerling (Dr Eckhardt)
Pearl Shear (screaming woman at airport gate)
Murphy Dunne (piano player at Hyatt Regency)
Arnold Soboloff (Dr Colburn)
Alternative Titles
Alta Ansiedade – Brazil
Alta tensione – Italy
Las angustias del Dr Mel Brooks – Argentina
Det våras för galningarna – Sweden
Le grand frisson – France
Höhenkoller – West Germany
Høj skræk – Denmark
Korkeuskammo – Finland
Lek wysokosci – Poland
Máxima ansiedad – Spain
Mel Brooks Höhenkoller – West Germany
Links
Extracts included in
AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Laughs: America’s Funniest Movies (2000)
See also
The Birds (1963)
Frenzy (1972)
Psycho (1960)
Spellbound (1945)
Vertigo (1958)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
References
Books
- Film Review 1978-79 by F. Maurice Speed p.149
- Terror Tracks: Music, Sound and Horror Cinema by Philip Hayward (ed) p.17
- The World of Fantasy Films by Richard Myers p.20
