Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Well, horror fans. It's good every now and then let your hair down and kick up your heels. It my case I let my bun down and I can't do much heel kicking due to the damned big dress I am wearing.
But anyhow, let's look at the lighter side of the horror movies, namely Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein.
This film was made in 1948 and was directed by Charles Barton.
The cast included:
Bud Abbott as Chick Young
Lou Costello as Wilbur Gray
Lon Chaney, Jr. as larry Talbot ( The Wolf Man)
Bela Lugosi as Count Dracula
Glenn Strange as The Frankenstein Monster
Lenore Aubert as Dr. Sandra Morney
Jane Randolph as Joan Raymond
Frank Ferguson as Mr. McDougal
Charles Bradstreet as Dr. Stevens
The plot concers Chick & Wilbur as baggage clerks who need bring two crates to MacDougal's House of Horrors for inspection by an insurance agent. In the crates are supposed to be the remains of Count Dracula and The Frankenstein Monster.
Count Dracula awakens and hypnotizes Wilbur and both he and The Monster get away. When MacDougal and the insurance agent arrives and find the crates empty, the boys are accused of theft.
Sandra Mornay, Wilbur's girlfriend and a talented surgeon, gives refuge to Dracula and The Monster. She and Dracula plot to transfer Wilbur's brain into The Monster.
Meanwhile, Larry Talbot has taken the apartment across the hall from Chick & Wilbur. Talbot knows that Dracula and The Monster are alive and needs the boys help to destroy them. However, with the full moon he turns into The Wolfman.
The next night when Wilbur goes to pick up Dr. Mornay as a date for a costume ball, he brings along Chick & Joan. Dr. Mornay receives them very coldly.
Meanwhile when Wilbur answers a phone call, he is told by Talbot that he is in the House of Dracula. Wilbur & Chick search the house including an undergroud passageway, complete with boat and dock. Everytime Wilbur tries to show Chick Dracula and the Monster, they disappear behind a revolving door.
Joan finds Dr. Frankenstein's notebook in Dr. Mornay's bureau while Dr. Mornay has found out that Joan is an insurance agent.
Dr. Lajos (Dracula) meets Joan and the boys and commends Dr. Mornay on her choice of Wilbur, who is not aware of their intentions.
Dr. Bradstreet who is also working at the house questions some of the equipment Dr. Mornay is using. However, Dr Lajos (Dracula) pairs Dr. Stevens with Joan.
Dr. Mornay complains that she has a headache and cannot go to the ball. She tells Dracula that due to Joans insurance ID, Dr. Stevens questions on the equipment and Wilbur's inquiries, she wants to postpone the experiments. At that time Dracula bites her and puts her under his spell.
Dracula takes Joan to the dance and Dr. Mornay is trying to find a quite spot to bite Wilbur on the neck.
At this time, Larry Talbot approach looking for Joan and Wilbur, but Talbot transforms into The Wolf Man and injures MacDougal.
Back at the house, Dr. Mornay tells Wilbur of her intent to transplant his brain into The Monster and vice versa.
At this time Talbot and Chick break in and rescue Joan and Wilbur.
Talbot again turns into The Wolf Man and chases the fleeing Dracula. Dracula attemps to turn into a bat but The Wolf Man grabs him and they both fall over a balcony and into the rocky seas below.
The Monster tosses Dr. Mornay out of a window and she falls to her death.
The boys escape while being pursued by the Monster. They meet MacDougal looking for his exhibits. The boys tell him "here comes one now". When the Monster appears, MacDougal and his helper both jump off of the pier.
Joan & Dr. Stevens set the pier on fire and the Monster is engulfed in the flames.
Chick and Wilbur are now safe in the boat, or at least they think they are. All of a sudden appears a cigarette and the voice of Vincent Price as The Invisible Man after which Chick and Wilbur jump out of the boat.
To me this was a great comedy-horror film. Leonard Maltin gives it 3 1/2 stars out of 4. Not bad.
In 2001 The United States Library of Congress deemed this film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in The National Film Registry.
The film is available on DVD and should be in every horror library for the night when you feel like lightening up.
I highly recommend it. It's full of laughts as well as thrills.
Countess Marya, Your Hostess Of The Supernatural