This ones for you Charlie
I really haven’t seen any Abbot and Costello bits since I was in high school, but this movie has always intrigued me. The title is actually a bit misleading in suggesting its only Frankenstein on the scene, and with so many iconic monsters running around it was inevitable I would enjoy myself watching this movie.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a 1948 American horror comedy film directed by Charles Barton. The world of freight handlers Wilbur Grey and Chick Young is turned upside down when the remains of Frankenstein's monster and Dracula arrive from Europe to be used in a house of horrors. Dracula awakens and escapes with the weakened monster, who he plans to re-energize with a new brain. Larry Talbot (the Wolfman) arrives from London in an attempt to thwart Dracula. Dracula's reluctant aide is the beautiful Dr. Sandra Mornay. Her reluctance is dispatched by Dracula's bite. Dracula and Sandra abduct Wilbur for his brain and recharge the monster in preparation for the operation. Chick and Talbot attempt to find and free Wilbur, but when the full moon rises all hell breaks loose with the Wolfman, Dracula, and Frankenstein all running rampant.
Before this movie, The idea of putting several monsters in one film had already been done quite successfully. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man in 1943, House of Frankenstein in 1944, and House of Dracula in 1945 all enjoyed varying levels of success by combining different Universal Monsters, but by the time of the Universal merger, simply bringing the monsters together again wasn't going to cut it. Robert Arthur, along with Abbott and Costello writers Frederic Rinaldo and Robert Lees, wrote a script that pit the comedy duo against the legendary monsters. There will always be a few people eager to “um actually” me, but ill be damned if this movie didn’t pave the way for the horror comedy genre.
The only real concern I had going into this movie was that the comedy wouldn’t age terribly well, and I was surprised how quickly this movie charmed me. Abbot and Costello (mostly Costello) are immediately Hella charming, and even despite the sometimes alien looking time period there comedy manages to be relatable working class stuff. Dealing with Karen’s in British old man form, annoying co-workers, trying to keep your head on straight around the woman you love, and countless examples of clever world play and double meanings. Its never mean spirited, the jokes almost always land, and it has the sense enough not to take itself to seriously. In fact, Costello laughs in the face of what society thinks a man should be. He is disrespectful, ruled by emotion, takes nothing seriously, and often quite girly in ways that would make any homophobe squirm. He is what the kids would a call a real Golden Retriever boy, and god damn do I love his acting from the in you obvious to the blink and you’ll miss it subtly.
To make a long story short, this movie is just good old fashioned awesome in every way.
10/10
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