Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Depending on who you talk to, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is either one of the best horror comedy films ever made, or the absolute the nadir in Universal's monster series of the 40s. To many horror aficionados it is a depressing sight to see three great horror icons (Dracula, The Wolf Man, The Frankenstein Monster) playing second fiddle to the comedy stylings of Abbott and Costello. In their mind, it's on par with shouting "HAIL SATAN!" in the middle of a Sunday church service, ABSOLUTE BLASPHEMY! I am part of the former camp that claim it at as one of the best, if not the best, horror comedy ever made.
 Of course, I'm absolutely biased as I first saw it when I was nine and watched it obsessively throughout the course of my youth. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein was also my first exposure to both Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster (I saw The Wolf Man before hand). I own it in two different formats (VHS and DVD). I remember seeing the VHS on the shelf at Suncoast video, beckoning me to buy it for the low price of $19.99 and I obeyed, spending two weeks worth of allowance money on it in the process. A few months ago I spotted it on the DVD rack at Wal-Mart for $7.50 and needless to say bought it (especially after learning that it had a Greg Mank commentary on it).

The films of Abbott and Costello are fairly hit or miss, their best films include: Pardon My Sarong, Hold That Ghost, Who Done It, The Time of Their Lives, Buck Privates, Buck Privates Come Home, Africa Screams, and, of course, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Their other films range from being tolerable, but mediocre to downright painful; the 50s, in particular, was not a kind decade for the comedy duo. Though, I have a soft spot from the absolute dreadful Abbott and Costello Go Mars, mainly because it borders on the surreal at times (the boys bump into a civilization of attractive warrior women that inhabit Venus). Costello's childish antics can be funny, especially when paired with the supernatural, but can be irritating as well. Bud Abbott was the perfect straight man and brought balance to the proceedings, often to the point of being able to offset Costello's mugging.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein would be the swan song for Universal's classic monsters, they would be replaced in the following decade by giant insects, alien invaders, dinosaurs, and most famously, the Gill Man from The Creature From the Black Lagoon. The plot is fairly simple: Dracula (Bela Lugosi) wants to put the brain of the dimwitted Wilbur (Costello) in the body of the Frankenstein Monster (Glenn Strange) so it will be obedient to his commands. Enter Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney, Jr.) whose top priority is stop Dracula, when he isn't turning into a werewolf and tearing up hotel rooms. While many horror fans complain about the monsters being relegated to supporting roles to a "second rate" comedy team, the truth is that Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is far more respectful to the classic horror icons than the two previous films in the Universal series, House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. The Wolf Man comes off rather well in these two pictures, but that's largely because he's central to the plot of both films. Dracula, wonderfully played by John Carradine, gets killed off midway through both films and the Frankenstein Monster is essentially a walking prop. In House of Dracula, the Frankenstein Monster spends most of the film strapped to an operating table, then in the finally closing minutes (the last two to be exact) he stumbles around inside a burning castle, only to have the roof come crashing down on him. To add insult to injury, the shot of the roof caving in on the Monster is lifted from The Ghost of Frankenstein. 
The reason Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a success is that it takes the horror elements seriously; never once are the monsters made to look silly. There's no scene in which Dracula's trousers fall down, or the Wolf Man taking a pie in the face. Dracula poses a very serious threat to our protagonists and Lugosi gives a very commanding performance (in the role he made famous seventeen years earlier). The humor comes from the characters reactions to the supernatural elements, or them being completely oblivious to them. In one funny/scary scene, Larry Talbot begs the boys to lock him in his hotel room and they reluctantly comply. However, Wilbur notices that Talbot left his suitcase in the hallway and brings it in, unaware that Talbot has just changed into the Wolf Man. The scene is filled with near misses and in one particularly moment Wilbur sits down to write Talbot a note, letting him know where the suitcase is, ignorant to the fact that the Wolf Man is lurking right behind him. Modern days audiences will probably find the scene more amusing than scary, but I'm sure it was an absolute scream fest in 1948.

The film is loaded with horror film iconography:
1) A creepy wax museum. The owner of the wax museum, Mr. McDougal, has purchased what he thinks are the "remains" of Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster, unaware both are fully intact and very much alive. This is where Wilbur first encounters Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster.
2) The shot of the full moon. In the opening sequence, Larry Talbot is on the phone in his London hotel room, trying to convince Wilbur, a baggage clerk at a railway station, not to deliver the crates that contain Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster to McDougal's House of Horrors. However, before he can finish his sentence, he notices the full moon and transforms into a werewolf and proceeds to tear apart his room.
3) A dilapidated, old castle. Dracula lives inside the castle under the pseudonym Dr. Leighos. It's also where he keeps his laboratory is located.
4) Secret passages. Chick and Wilbur, while searching the castle, stumble upon a underground passageway. Wilbur leans against a brick wall, which turns out to be a revolving panel that leads to a secret room where the Frankenstein Monster is being kept. Wilbur experiences a few close calls with both Dracula and the Monster. When Wilbur goes to get Chick, they have both seemingly vanished into thin air.
5) Hypnotism. Dracula is able to hypnotize Sandra (Lenore Aubert) and Wilbur into obeying his will.
6) The bat on the string effect. We get plenty of shots of Dracula, in bat form, flapping about the countryside.   It's also one of the few horror films of the decade in which the audience gets to see Dracula transform into a bat and vice versa. This is achieved through animation and, while not entirely convincing, is a rather neat effect to watch.
7) The laboratory scene. At the end of the film, Dracula has both Wilbur and the Frankenstein monster strapped to operating tables inside his laboratory. However, before he can begin his operation Chick and Larry come bursting into the save the day. Just when it seems Wilbur is finally safe from all harm, Larry turns into the Wolf Man.

The only real flaw of the film is the character of Dr. Stevens (Charles Bradstreet), whose main function is to serve as a love interest to Joan Raymond (Jane Randolph), an insurance investigator working for McDougal.
He is a rather uninvolving character and nearly drains the fun out of every scene he is in, which, thankfully, isn't too many. He does destroy the Frankenstein Monster at the film's end (by setting it on fire), but even that is a bit anti-climatic, considering Chick and Wilbur are rowing to safety in a row boat, while the Wolf Man and the Dracula have plummeted to their supposed deaths.

However, this is an extremely minor flaw in an otherwise great film. Abbott and Costello would bump into other monsters (The Invisible Man, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Mummy) in the next decade, but none of those films come close to capturing the magic of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. It was lightning in a bottle that would also signal the end for the classic Universal Monsters.

Credits:
Cast: Bud Abbott (Chick Young), Lou Costello (Wilbur Grey), Bela Lugosi (Dracula), Lon Chaney,Jr. (Larry Talbot/The Wolf Man), Glenn Strange (Frankenstein Monster), Lenore Aubert (Sandra Morney), Jane Randolph (Joan Raymond), Frank Ferguson (Mr. McDougal), Charles Bradstreet (Dr. Stevens).

Director: Charles Barton
Screenplay: Robert Lees, Frederic I. Rinaldo, John Grant.
Running Time: 83 min.