Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein is a film I knew – erroneously – by a presumed reputation. It was credited as the film that ended the long-running Universal Monsters series. Allegedly, it took the wind out of the monsters and made it so no one could take them seriously anymore. Having, at long last, seen the film, I feel like I can say with a degree of confidence that at as far as the film’s intent is concerned, nothing is further from the truth.
In the film, Abbot plays Chick and Costello plays Wilbur, a pair of railroad baggage clerks who end up getting caught up supernatural affairs when two large crates they’re hired to deliver turn out to contain Dracula (Bela Legosi) and Frankenstein’s Monster (Glenn Strange) – the two smuggled to the states so Dracula can get a more obedient brain installed in Frankenstein’s Monster, and so he in turn can use the monster to take over the world. Dracula’s ally, Dr. Sandra Mornay (Lenore Aubert) – who is firmly implied to be at least Nazi-adjacent – belives Wilbur is the perfect candidate. However, someone is pursuing Dracula to stop him – Larry Talbot (Lon Cheney Jr.) – and Larry has gotten in touch with Chick & Wilbur for help.
In short, the entire monster plot is played deadly serious within the film, and the comedy comes from Wilber & Chick getting caught up in the middle of it. In particular, Abbot & Costello, while they do have some physical comedy, are much more banter-based in how their humor works (as you would expect from the people who brought you “Who’s On First”). So, the physical comedy comes less from Stooge-esque slapstick and more from clever sight gags and camera framing. For example, there’s a bit early in the film, where Wilbur is reading the legend of Dracula (which is attached to his coffin for the museum he’s being delivered to), and is progressively getting freaked out – meanwhile Dracula is trying to covertly get out of his coffin, in the process tipping off Wilbur that something is up, while none of this is seen by Chick, who keeps having to chew Wilbur out for jumping at shadows that aren’t there (while the audience knows that they’re there).
In a way, without Abbot & Costello Meet Frankenstein, we wouldn’t get the current concept of the sincerely self-aware horror comedy. Not the ironic film like Scream, but the films where the humor comes from the character who knows what’s up and takes it seriously, paired with a character who does not believe in the situation, until it becomes clear that it’s real, and we get the “told ya so” catharsis from their reaction. If the comedy undermines the horror at all, it’s that nobody really gets killed for much of the film. We don’t have a moment of Dracula needing to feed after his journey to remind us, beyond the informative card Wilbur read earlier and his own reputation, of how much of a threat Dracula is. Frankenstein’s monster doesn’t manhandle anyone until late in the film – same with the Wolfman (though in that case, that relates to Larry Talbot being more of a protagonist and seeking to keep his bestial side in check).
Having finally seen the movie now, I realize that I was wrong to dismiss the movie for all these years, and I should have given it a fair shake a long time ago. I hope you will do the same.
Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein has a Blu-Ray release which is available from Amazon (Affiliate Link) – it’s kinda bare-bones, but one can hope that it gets a more robust release in the future.
Please support my Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/countzeroor
Buy me a coffee at Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/countzero
Watch my Live-Streams on http://twitch.tv/countzeroor
Check out my Let’s Plays at https://www.youtube.com/@CountZeroOrPlays
