Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
(B+ or 3.5/4 stars)
'Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein' (directed by Charles Barton) is a horror/comedy classic & box office hit from 1948. A&C made 35 films together, but this one was made at the height of the duo's fame and, to me, it's their best. I loved it as a kid & I appreciate it now as a silly, fun flick that showed respect for Universal's traditional monster films. In this great monster spoof, Universal brings out Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolf Man, & the voice-only of the Invisible Man (provided by the great Vincent Price). Bud Abbott & Lou Costello play 2 bumbling railway baggage handlers, Chick & Wilbur, who receive a shipment of 2 crates from London to the MacDougal House of Horrors. The wax museum hopes to display the coffins of both Count Dracula & Frankenstein, with their remains still intact.
Before said crates arrive, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) phones from London warning Wilbur not to open the crates or ever give them to MacDougal ... that Dracula (Bela Lugosi) is planning to revive Frankenstein (Glenn Strange, not Boris Karloff this time around) by an electrical charge & use him as a slave to do his dirty work while he goes looking for victims to bite in the dead of night. MacDougal doesn't trust these 2 nitwits to handle his cargo, & forces them to deliver the crates at night to the museum where they'll be opened in front of the insurance investigator -- but the crates are empty. Perhaps Dracula has a sinister plan up his sleeve {wink, wink}.
Meanwhile, Talbot arrives from London & says he will help destroy the monsters, but they'd be wise to lock him up in his hotel room at night because the moon is full and, well, that drives him a litttttttle crazy {cue some howls}. Sandra Mornay (evocative Lenore Aubert), a corrupt scientist, 'likes' Wilbur, but her hidden agenda is to take his brain & transfer it via operation to a now-revived Frankenstein (all this is done under Dracula's command). Sandra then invites Wilbur (+ Chick & his girl, Joan) to a masquerade ball at a creepy castle (where Dracula 'lives', using an alias). Shenanigans ensue as fraidy-cat Wilbur ultimately convinces Skeptic Chick that these monsters are for real. Tensions run high as our protagonists try to escape the eerie castle in one piece while all the monsters are in hot pursuit.
This is just a fun Halloween romp - nothing more, nothing less. Running at a little over an hour, it is astutely directed, lavishly produced (GREAT production design, period costumes, incredible monster make-up, effects, etc.), & well performed. The then 65 yr. old Boris Karloff politely declined to take part in this film as he thought it would be a bit undignified to spoof his monster in an Abbott & Costello flick, so that's how the part went to Glenn Strange, who'd played the part in 2 other prior movies. Bela Lugosi is excellent once again as Dracula; this would be the only film that he'd portray the iconic vampire outside of his own classic. Lon Chaney Jr. is wonderful as the woeful Talbot/Wolf Man. And though you don't see him, The Invisible Man also makes a cameo in the last scene. If it couldn't be Claude Rains returning for the part - bummer, Rains riveted me in 1933's superb The Invisible Man - then I'm glad it was the similarly stellar Vincent Price.
What made 'A&C Meet Frankenstein' work so well was that the monsters played it 'straight' while our comedian duo acted in the same goofball manner they usually do; making it a classic hybrid horror-comedy. There are plenty of harmless laughs sprinkled throughout the proceedings. They mostly occur with Wilbur's Lou Costello acting afraid, like when he can't physically scream or whistle because he's so scared by Dracula's coffin opening whenever Chick steps away. What A&C did, they did well (schtick that combined slapstick, mugging, & light-hearted misunderstandings). So yeah, I've had a ball watching this over the years. A&C + the love letter to Universals monsters + the classic horror movie castle + the good-natured fun = a great Halloween watch for kids & adults of all ages.
Before said crates arrive, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) phones from London warning Wilbur not to open the crates or ever give them to MacDougal ... that Dracula (Bela Lugosi) is planning to revive Frankenstein (Glenn Strange, not Boris Karloff this time around) by an electrical charge & use him as a slave to do his dirty work while he goes looking for victims to bite in the dead of night. MacDougal doesn't trust these 2 nitwits to handle his cargo, & forces them to deliver the crates at night to the museum where they'll be opened in front of the insurance investigator -- but the crates are empty. Perhaps Dracula has a sinister plan up his sleeve {wink, wink}.
Meanwhile, Talbot arrives from London & says he will help destroy the monsters, but they'd be wise to lock him up in his hotel room at night because the moon is full and, well, that drives him a litttttttle crazy {cue some howls}. Sandra Mornay (evocative Lenore Aubert), a corrupt scientist, 'likes' Wilbur, but her hidden agenda is to take his brain & transfer it via operation to a now-revived Frankenstein (all this is done under Dracula's command). Sandra then invites Wilbur (+ Chick & his girl, Joan) to a masquerade ball at a creepy castle (where Dracula 'lives', using an alias). Shenanigans ensue as fraidy-cat Wilbur ultimately convinces Skeptic Chick that these monsters are for real. Tensions run high as our protagonists try to escape the eerie castle in one piece while all the monsters are in hot pursuit.
This is just a fun Halloween romp - nothing more, nothing less. Running at a little over an hour, it is astutely directed, lavishly produced (GREAT production design, period costumes, incredible monster make-up, effects, etc.), & well performed. The then 65 yr. old Boris Karloff politely declined to take part in this film as he thought it would be a bit undignified to spoof his monster in an Abbott & Costello flick, so that's how the part went to Glenn Strange, who'd played the part in 2 other prior movies. Bela Lugosi is excellent once again as Dracula; this would be the only film that he'd portray the iconic vampire outside of his own classic. Lon Chaney Jr. is wonderful as the woeful Talbot/Wolf Man. And though you don't see him, The Invisible Man also makes a cameo in the last scene. If it couldn't be Claude Rains returning for the part - bummer, Rains riveted me in 1933's superb The Invisible Man - then I'm glad it was the similarly stellar Vincent Price.
What made 'A&C Meet Frankenstein' work so well was that the monsters played it 'straight' while our comedian duo acted in the same goofball manner they usually do; making it a classic hybrid horror-comedy. There are plenty of harmless laughs sprinkled throughout the proceedings. They mostly occur with Wilbur's Lou Costello acting afraid, like when he can't physically scream or whistle because he's so scared by Dracula's coffin opening whenever Chick steps away. What A&C did, they did well (schtick that combined slapstick, mugging, & light-hearted misunderstandings). So yeah, I've had a ball watching this over the years. A&C + the love letter to Universals monsters + the classic horror movie castle + the good-natured fun = a great Halloween watch for kids & adults of all ages.