Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Film: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Stars: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Lon Chaney Jr, Bela Lugosi, Glenn Strange, Vincent Price
Director: Charles Barton
Oscar History: No nominations
Snap Judgment Ranking: 5/5 stars

A few months ago, we did a series highlighting the horror/monster films of the pre-1970 era of cinema, and one of the pictures I was most hoping to highlight was Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.  It was, in fact, the movie I was expecting to cap off the series with, considering it was largely the end of the first batch of Universal monster movies, but sadly Netflix decided it wasn't time for me to get that disc (I'm never going to complain about my little red envelopes too hard since, thanks to the demise of FilmStruck, Netflix discs are the best spot for actual movie-lovers and not just streamers who want to watch TV, but it is a bummer that it feels so arbitrary over which of your Top 5 films will actually come to you next, especially when you're planning a series).  However, by chance I caught this movie over the Christmas break (because who doesn't associate such a film with Christmas?), and didn't want to wait a full year to share my thoughts on the picture, so let's include it as an honorary member of the series.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film stars Abbott and Costello as Chick and Wilbur, respectively, but let's be real here-every Abbott & Costello movie stars them as themselves.  The two are baggage clerks charged with moving two items for a House of Horrors exhibit, a Frankenstein's Monster (Strange) and the remains of Dracula (Lugosi).  What of course we know and the duo soon realize is that these aren't just dummies for a horror show, but in fact the actual Frankenstein and Dracula.  They eventually meet up with Larry Talbot aka the Wolf Man (Chaney) who had warned them about the dangers of Frankenstein & Dracula, and wants to find a way to destroy the monsters.  Wilbur's girlfriend turns out to be in cahoots with Dracula, and is trying to seduce him to steal his brain to give to Frankenstein's monster.  A wild series of antics ensues at the castle, including a number of madcap chases, before all three of the monsters are destroyed, and Wilbur & Chick make out on a boat, claiming they want to be done with such adventures, only to be joined in a brief cameo by Vincent Price as the Invisible Man, lighting a cigarette on the boat.

The movie is silly fun, but man is it fun.  For those who haven't seen an Abbott & Costello routine or movie, it's usually predicated on Costello seeing and trying to explain something ridiculous to Abbott, usually without success.  The entire sequence where Lugosi and Strange come to life is a riot, as Costello keeps finding ways to just miss the monsters rising from their coffins, clearly seeing them but never catching them in the act when Abbott is there.  The duo had their struggles late in their careers, but here they have never been better, and it's easy to understand why this is regarded as their finest hour.  Costello has rarely been funnier, and it's a thrill to see them play opposite Lugosi, Strange, and Chaney, all taking on their iconic roles for the last time.

This feels like a fitting end to the horror icons of the monster movies.  We profiled so many of them in October it feels a bit wistful to bid them adieu in such a way, but the movies were increasingly played for laughs as the series' continued (look at Lugosi's Igor in the later Frankenstein pictures, for example, who regularly has dastardly intentions that even in the 1940's felt more parody than actually terrifying).  This was weirdly the only time other than the original Dracula where Lugosi would play his most iconic creation onscreen-the sequels either skipped Dracula entirely or had a different actor (like John Carradine or Lon Chaney Jr) play the part.  It's a joy to see Lugosi, who would never appear in another major Hollywood studio film again & would instead be in truly horrible films for Ed Wood (while dying of a methadone addiction), get to have one last hurrah with the character.  Abbott & Costello are the obvious stars here, but I've become attached to Lugosi over our series and as a result he became something of a sentimental favorite with this picture for me.

Every October we do a recurring series of Monster Films, looking at pre-1970 horror/thriller films.  While it's not October, I still thought it'd be fun to add this movie to the list considering its important position in the horror film canon:

Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Dracula, Mad Love, Son of Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Mummy, Freaks, The Ghost of Frankenstein, It Came from Outer Space, The House of Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera, The Masque of the Red Death, Invasion of the Body Snatchers