ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948)Director: Charles T. Barton
Universal Home Video
ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948)Bud and Lou are two baggage clerks delivering two crates containing the remains of Dracula and Frankenstein's monster to a House of Horrors. Dracula (Bela Lugosi) rises from his coffin and frees the monster (Glenn Strange) from his wooden box as Costello witnesses the ghoulish proceedings.
Unable to convince Abbott of the strange goings-on, Costello gains an ally when Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney) arrives on the scene to inform the comic duo he's hot on the trail of the monsters because Dracula intends to restore Frankenstein's creation to full power. He requests the aid of Bud and Lou, but they've got their own problems to worry about for the moment.
Also figuring into Dracula's scheme is his desire to place Costello's weak and gullible brain into the monster. In the end, Lou is captured and taken to Dracula's lab where Bud and Talbot attempt to rescue him. All hell breaks loose as the full moon turns Chaney into the Wolfman, and the three monsters run rampant around the castle. Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman ultimately meet their doom, but the picture ends with a gag as Abbott and Costello are greeted by the Invisible Man (voiced by Vincent Price) who is too late to join the party.
A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN is a great film, and the best horror send-up of all time. It's great to see Bela Lugosi return (at age 65) to play Count Dracula, and he is in many ways the best asset of the mix. It was a break for the actor from his dismal productions at minor studios, and this would also be the last time he found employment from a prominent studio. The movie has long been hailed as Bud and Lou's best picture, and the monsters are better served here than they were in either HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944) or HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945). The creatures are well-written into the script and are treated with dignity and class, giving them a proper grand finale from Universal.
Sadly, this DVD transfer is not given the same formal treatment. Once again, Universal Home Video has spared every expense and issued the same old VHS print, complete with grain and roughness here and there. If you'll click onto my article called UNIVERSAL (UN)APPEAL, you can learn just how disappointed I've been with the handling of these Universal DVD releases. These are my personal favorite motion pictures OF ALL TIME, and it hurts to see imperfect renditions on disc.
While A&C MEET FRANK is less offensive than some other releases on DVD, I'm tired of having to reduce my sharpness levels on the TV as well as the contrast control in order to get a passable picture. It's not that the movie is unwatchable; it's just not up to par with other black and white transfers from other DVD companies with regard to older films of the 30s and 40s.
On the plus side, I thoroughly enjoyed the commentary from the always reliable Gregory Mank. I first was enthralled with Mank when I read his older book It's Alive, which covered every film in the Universal Frankenstein series. Since then, he's written countless informative articles and conducted priceless interviews with former stars from the Universal Horror days. The audio track here perfectly covers all you could want to know about the production of this film, some previously known and some brand new. This would also be a good time for me to recommend the excellent ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN filmbook, with original shooting script and production background, which is volume #1 in a long-running series from MAGICIMAGE.
The still gallery is also very well done, and I noticed a few alluring shots which even I (if I may sound pompous) have never seen!
The documentary is pretty much by the numbers, but I was blown away by seeing Glenn Strange's original monster boots and 1948 Frankenstein headpiece, as well as a Lon Chaney facial appliance. They are presented by collector Bob Burns, a friend of Glenn Strange, who provides much insight into the fourth actor to play Universal's lumbering creation.
On the minus side, the bonus supplements make poor use of the outtakes which exist from the movie. While the documentary does include a few flubs, they are marred by editing and narration. I urge all fans to seek out a cheap VHS tape called ABBOTT AND COSTELLO IN THE MOVIES. This compilation contains several funny outtakes that have been circulating amongst collectors for years now, and their exclusion on this DVD is a crime. One of my favorites involves the shooting of the hotel scene where Chaney meets Bud and Lou. Abbott is telling Costello: "Aw, you're nuts! And so is this mug-" to which Lou, noting Bud's poor delivery, concedes; "So's the whole goddamn scene!" It's typical that Universal wouldn't run the blooper reel straight and raw, giving fans a banquet instead of an appetizer.
A trailer is presented as well, and it's in fairly good shape. I might also point out that a nice job was done on the colorful main menu screen, which features the three monsters on top with cartoon caricatures of Bud and Lou actually running beneath them.
The new packaging is the pits, and really sums up the visual look of the transfer itself. I loathe that generic "Comedy Legends" border in the stark black and white on the cover. It makes the box look like one of those no-frills cheapies that you used to see on Video Treasures or GoodTimes VHS sleeves. (Joe Lozowsky)