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    Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    If like me, the later sequels to “Frankenstein” and the monster mashups “House of Frankenstein” and “House of Dracula” disappointed you, do not despair. “Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein” is a solid comedy that also serves as a loving tribute to the classic black-and-white horror films of Universal. It took me a bit of time to warm up to the slapstick comedy of the duo, but once it gets going you can’t help but fall in love with it.

    Chick Young (Bud Abbott) and Wilbur Grey (Lou Costello) are baggage clerks, delivering boxes to the McDougal House of Horrors. It turns out the deliveries are Count Dracula’s actual, real-life coffin (played for the second time by Bela Lugosi, but so iconic you swear he’d done it a thousand times) and the Frankenstein Monster (Glenn Strange, a veteran who is an acceptable substitute for Boris Karloff) It becomes a true madhouse when Lawrence Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) arrives to try and help the duo escape Dracula’s sinister plan – to replace the monster’s criminal brain with Wilbur’s.

    I think the key to the film’s success is that it is picking and choosing on some of the more memorable aspects of the horror icons’ franchises and tossing Abbott and Costello in the mix to generate laughs. Lawrence Talbot for example, never cracks a joke. He’s serious throughout the movie. So serious, so tortured over the fact that it’s only a matter of time before he transforms under the full moon that it becomes hilarious when put right next to our heroes’ attempts to figure out what is going on. Meanwhile, Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster are doing their own thing, acting out a story that’s not all that different from the one in “Ghost of Frankenstein” but this time it works because the idea of brain transplants, particularly involving the mind of a buffoon like Wilbur are treated appropriately.

    There’s a nice mix of the classic slapstick comedy the duo are well known for and some jokes that are quite clever in their satirical approach. I wonder if in the 40’s people objected to the abrupt endings often found in so many of Universal’s films. If they did, they would have rejoiced when they saw them spoofed numerous times during this picture’s conclusion. I thought it was right on the money. I have to admit that at first I found some of the funny voices used by Abbott in particular to be a little bit annoying, but once Costello sinks into his straight-man routine and slaps the little guy around for believing in such foolish things as Dracula being real, it’s great.

    I remembered seeing this film as a kid, but I was wary of revisiting it. So many times I have found myself thinking “my taste back in the day was so awful I’m embarrassed! ” For once, my younger self had genuinely good taste. I’ll make a point to see “Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein” more regularly, as it’s one of the better follow-ups to the classic Universal horror pictures. (On DVD, December 17, 2015)

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    adamwatchesmovies@  24.12.2015 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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