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Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Abbott and Costello are working as railroad clerks and receive a shipment containing the last remains of Dracula and Frankenstein. When the remains diUniversal Pictures made a great deal of money from its monster movies in the 1930s. In the early ’40s, the burlesque team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello kept the studio’s coffers full. When the two franchises were combined in 1948, the result was another windfall–despite the apparent oil-and-water mix of subject matter. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was the first of these summit meetings, although the title is a misnomer. Actually, Bud and Lou bump into most of the Universal heavy-hitters, including Count Dracula (played by Béla Lugosi himself), the Wolfman (Lon Chaney Jr.), and the Frankenstein monster (veteran monster Glenn Strange). There’s even a token appearance by the Invisible Man, whose disembodied voice is recognizable as that of Vincent Price. Sure enough, the film is funny, especially since it gives the portly Costell
Rating: (out of 142 reviews)
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Kurt A. Johnson
October 9, 2010 at 4:57 pm
Review by Kurt A. Johnson for Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Rating:
Life is going swimmingly for deliveryman Wilbur Grey (played by Lou Costello), a good job and the attentions of a beautiful woman (Lénore Aubert). But, when he and Chick Young (Bud Abbott) deliver some new displays to a wax museum, they turn out to be Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi!) and Frankenstein’s Monster (Glenn Strange). Dracula makes off with the Monster, leaving Wilbur and Chick in the hands of the police, charged with theft. But, Dracula’s not through with Wilbur yet, he has something that Dracula wants…his brain. And, who is this strange man (Lon Chaney Jr.) who believes everything that Wilbur says? He has something to hide as well. [Black-and-white, released in 1948, with a running time of 1:23.]
OK! Let me start out by saying that this is a great movie! I love Abbott and Costello, and honestly think that this is the best movie that they have ever made. The story is very funny, and once the action gets going it is surprisingly gripping…but always funny. Plus, with Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Glenn Strange as Frankenstein’s Monster, and Lon Chaney Jr. as the Werewolf, you cannot go wrong!
So, let me just sum up by saying that this is a great comedy, made by two of comedy’s masters, and accompanied by three of Horror’s greats. By the way, it is absolutely family-friendly, so order it today!
J. Gibson
October 9, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Review by J. Gibson for Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Rating:
Regardless of whether you have ever seen Abbott & Costello or not, this is a DVD you simply cannot pass up. I highly recommend this film because not only is it excellent, Abbott and Costello are always winners! As usual, Abbott is sarcastic and Costello is loveable and charming.Bud Abbott and Lou Costello star in this hilarious horror/comedy that has not only one but three of Universal’s classic monsters: Frankenstein, Count Dracula and the Wolfman.Abbott plays Chic Young and Costello is Wilbur Grey. Both men work as baggage handlers in Florida. After a brief meeting with Wilbur’s beautiful girlfriend Sandra(Lenore Aubert), Wilbur takes a mysterious phone call from Lawrence Talbot (the wonderful Lon Chaney Jr.) about two crates to be delivered to the McDougal House of Horrors.Thinking nothing of it, the eternally scared Wilbur goes about his business. When Chic and Wilbur get the crates for Mr. McDougal (Frank Ferguson) in a rather unusual manner, McDougal insists the men deliver them personally so the insurance company can inspect the deliveries.After a hilarious delivery scene, Count Dracula (the immortal Bela Lugosi) and the Frankenstein monster (Glenn Strange) escape the House of Horrors and go to the home of Dr. Sandra Mornay! Dr. Mornay and Count Dracula want Wilbur’s brain so they can revive the Frankenstein monster.Added to the mix is a lovely insurance inspector, Joan Raymond (Jane Randolph) who is ‘interested’ in Wilbur for the purpose of her investigation. Chic simply cannot understand why so many beautiful women are in love with Wilbur!I was very pleased to see the classic stars Lon Chaney Jr., Bela Lugosi and Glenn Strange in this film. All three men were just as splendid at comedy as they were in their horror roles. I also found this movie to have some very good special effects for its time. The scene where Dracula changes from a bat to a man is excellent. Vincent Price, a true master of horror himself, appears as the voice of the Invisible Man at the end of the film. This film also has some great trivia. Lon Chaney Jr. worked as both the Wolfman and the Frankenstein monster on some scenes after Glenn Strange broke his ankle during filming. Boris Karloff also did some promotional work for the film. Check out the Internet Movie Database for more trivia!Will Dracula and Sandra get Wilbur’s brain? Will Wilbur get the girl? Will Chic ever give Wilbur the respect he deserves? Get the DVD and find out!
Christopher J. Jarmick
October 9, 2010 at 3:53 pm
Review by Christopher J. Jarmick for Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Rating:
Abbott and Costello’s best known and perhaps best film has them meeting Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolfman, then Bela Lugosi as Dracula, then Glenn Strange as Frankenstein and then. . . . The plot revolves around the idea that the perfect new brain for the Monster should be a simple one -on that’s easy to control. Lou Costello’s is simple enough. The slapstick begins when Bud and Lou refuse to believe Larry Talbot (Lon) is the wolfman. The best non-monster bits are variations on what Bud and Lou did in the still funny, Hold That Ghost. You will note that Dracula can be seen in mirrors and that he would not have really died from a long fall (that’s not being left out in the sun or getting a stake in the heart). But who cares, this is a silly, enjoyable slapstick that gives us both Lon Chaney Jr. and Bela Lugosi doing a wonderful job acting straight against the boy’s antics. Glenn Strange is the Monster. Vincent Price does a cameo. (1948 – Directed by Charles Barton).
Lawrance M. Bernabo
October 9, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Review by Lawrance M. Bernabo for Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Rating:
Lou Costello was always the master of strangulated, speechless terror, so putting Abbott & Costello in a movie with the Wolfman, Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster was inspired. Getting Lon Chaney, Jr., Bela Lugosi and Glenn Strange to play the Terror Trio was just icing on the cake. This time around Bud and Lou play Chick Young and Wilbur Gray, a pair of railroad baggage clerks in LaMiranda, Florida, who have to deliver two large crates to MacDougal’s House of Horrors. Inside are Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster, but of course they escape. To make things worse, Wilbur’s beautiful girlfriend, Sandra Mornay (Lenore Aubert), is really a mad scientist who wants to put Wilbur’s brain in the Monster. Fortunately, Lawrence Talbot (Chaney) has arrived from Europe on the trail of the monsters. It is rather amazing how long this film goes with Wilbur being the only one to spot the monsters. The comedy in this movie is something of a departure for the comedy team, because it relies more on situational humor and not as much on the “Who’s On First” word play. The scene pantomime scene with Lou on the Monster’s lap is great, as is the final chase scene with the boys encountering one monster after another. “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” is the first and the best of the boy’s comic team-ups, which does not deserve the reputation it has in some quarters for having made the Universal monsters creatures of ridicule. That might be true of later Abbott & Costello monster comedies, but the charge would be truer of “House of Dracula” than this film, which has the same respect for the monsters as does “Young Frankentstein.” Trivia Note: While filming the scene where the Monster throws Sandra through the lab window, Strange was knocked over and broke his ankle. Chaney, who had played the Monster in “Ghost of Frankenstein,” volunteered to step in and once again don the makeup and he is the one who re-shot the scene that appears in the movie.
Richard Lees
October 9, 2010 at 2:51 pm
Review by Richard Lees for Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein
Rating:
Hello All
I was just wandering through amazon and came upon this section and was just delighted to find “A&C meet Frankenstein” getting such nice compliments.
I would like to let you all know that my father Robert Lees and his writing partner and an old family friend, Freddy Rinaldo, wrote this film.
Freddy is no longer with us but my father is still, all of 92 years old, and is thrilled that after all these years you all like the film.
A little addenda:
You all must remember that A&C were essentially radio comedians,
and it was from his training in radio that Costello had the bad habit of coming unglued if he didn’t consistantly get laughs from the crew for each gag each take, no matter how many takes were involved in getting a scene right.. For him the crew was a live audience, so if he didn’t take the house down, he would put in another piece of business and reinvent the scene on the spot until he did – and he was very inventive! I don’t know how successfull they were, but they tried to take him aside and explain how important it was to actually follow the script!! Dad said that Lugosi enjoyed this aspect of Costello very much although I’m not so sure whether the director did, or the writers either for that matter.
Both Dad and Fred respected the “horror/terror” genre in literature very much noting to me when I was younger how complex and interesting the form had become in the hands of writers like Dunsynane Tolstoy Lovecraft Saki,or Poe to name a few.
Tolstoy wrote some strange and luminous things in this old form, once a short story about a Vampyre.
But in those days and by the time Universal Studios got through exploiting it all, “The Wolfman meets Dracula, meets Frankenstein,meets the Mummy, meets the Andrews Sisters” well, lets just say that the bloom was well off the rose…..
And so the object for them was not to parody the genre (at least the serious part) but to parody what Universal Studios had by this time done to the genre….
One of my favorite parts in the film is that sublimely dysfunctional chase scene at the end.
And its true, they had a blast writing the movie.