Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Another horror comedy favorite of mine that is rarely shown on TV these days is from the ever dependable comedy team of Abbott and Costello in Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. Actually the title is not correct. First off they meet Frankenstein’s monster. Dr. Frankenstein is nowhere to be seen. Secondly they meet more then the monster they also meet Dracula, the Wolf Man and have a brief encounter with the Invisible Man played by Vincent Price in what I believe was his only portrayal of that character in any film. The movie is actually one of the best film satires ever made of horror films. The movie starts with A and C working as shipping in Florida. Two crates arrive for the House of Horrors Wax Museum. They are not aware that the crates actually contain the real bodies of Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster. Costello gets a call from Larry Talbot (the Wolf Man) who warns Costello not to open the crates. However, Mr. Talbot is calling from England where it is nighttime. The full moon comes out while they are on the phone and he changes into the Wolf Man. When he hears growling on the line Costello ask him to get his dog away from the phone because he can’t hear what is being said. When the growling continues Costello hangs up. Later we meet Costello’s beautiful girlfriend Sandra. We find out that she is not really in love with him but she has been in contact with Dracula. He is bringing the monster here so that Sandra can get the unwitting Costello’s brain into the monsters head. That night A and C deliver the crates to the museum. Costello is alone when he opens up the case that contains Dracula. Dracula quickly puts him into a trance and opens up the monster’s crate. In a funny scene of their first meeting, the monster is frightened by Costello’s appearance. He has to be reassured by Dracula that Costello won’t hurt him. The two are interrupted when the museum owner arrives but they escape. The owner is furious when he sees the crates are empty. He holds A and C responsible and has them arrested where they spend the night in jail.

The next day they are bailed out by Joan an insurance investigator trying to find the missing contents of the crates. Also, that day Larry Talbot arrives from England. Talbot tries to convince A and C of what Dracula has planned with the monster. Costello has seen them and believes him. So far Abbott hasn’t seen anything and thinks he is crazy. Since Costello believes him Talbot confess to him that when the moon comes out he changes into a wolf. Misunderstanding what he means Costello says “You and 20 million other guys.”

One of the funniest scenes in the movie happens when A and C are in a castle. They are trying to find the monster. Costello finds it by accident and doesn’t realize the chair he is sitting in is really the monster’s lap. The scene starts off with Costello realizing that he has a third hand. I have heard that this was one of the scenes that took the longest time to be filmed as Glenn Strange, who played the monster, couldn’t stop laughing.

During a masquerade party Dracula finally gets Costello. He gets him on a boat and takes him back to the castle in the everglades. When he finds out that they are going to take his brain, Costello pleads with the monster to not let it happen. He says to him “I’ve had this brain for 30 years and it hasn’t worked right yet.” Just as the operation is about to start Abbott and Talbot arrive to rescue him and Joan who was also kidnapped. However, night has fallen and the moon has risen again and suddenly Costello is still strapped down to the table when Talbot becomes the Wolf Man. So he is trapped between a fighting werewolf and Dracula. The monster also joins in the fight. During the fighting Costello is freed and he and the others try to escape. I have read that one time during the filming of this scene that Costello stepped off his mark and Glenn Strange accidentally really hit him. Drac and the Wolf Man fall off a balcony to their presumed deaths. A and C head for a rowboat to escape with the monster in hot pursuit. They get to the rowboat and leave the monster standing on the pier. Another unwitting accomplice of Dracula’s arrives and takes the opportunity to set the pier on fire to kill the monster.

They now feel they are safe in the rowboat until the disembodied voice of Vincent Price says he wanted to get in on the excitement and says…”Allow me to introduce myself I’m the Invisible Man.” Just as a cigarette starts to float in midair and then lights itself they jump out of the boat to swim for shore.

This was a very funny film. It is almost hard to believe that it is said Costello wanted to pass on the film thinking it wasn’t very good. It turns out to have been one of his best performances and their most popular film. Still maybe they should have passed on it. It forever type cast them as the studio would put them in other films where they met the Mummy, Mr. Hyde and another version of the Invisible Man.

You can get the lobby card you see above if you click on the title to go to the auction site.