ABBOTT
AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY (1955)Director: Charles Lamont
Universal
ABBOTT
AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY (1955)Heeeeyyyyyy Abbbotttttt!!!!!!! Unless you're from "Planet X," you'll easily recognize that as the trademark shout of the great Lou Costello to his equally great sidekick, Bud Abbott. After first battling monsters in 1948's ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN and subsequently matching wits with The Invisible Man, The Killer. and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the boys finally met Klaris the Mummy in 1955's ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY and now that film finally gets a much anticipated DVD release and believe me, it was well worth the wait!!!!!
The plot is typical for an ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET... flick with Costello's stupidity, rampaging monsters, disappearing corpses (which ALWAYS vanish BEFORE Abbott can see them), and femme fatales. Bud and Lou (incorrectly billed in the closing credits as playing characters called "Pete Peterson" and "Freddie Franklin") are treasure hunters in Egypt who run out of money and need to get jobs in order to earn the fare back to the United States. Abbott believes their troubles are over when he overhears Dr. Gustav Zoomer (Kurt Katch) say he needs "two trustworthy men to accompany his mummy back to the United States." Also eavesdropping are Josef (Dan Seymour) and Iben (Mel Welles). Josef is a henchman for the sultry, but villainous Madame Rontru (Marie Windsor in a very good performance). Rontru, Josef, and a second henchman, Charlie (Michael Ansara) plan on stealing the treasure from Princess Ara's tomb including Klaris the Mummy and the sacred medallion around his neck. Iben is a henchman for Semu (Richard Deacon) who leads a cult devoted to protecting the tomb of Ara and the mummy of Klaris.
It isn't long before two cult members murder Dr. Zoomer for entering the tomb of the ancient princess and taking the medallion from Klaris' neck. Of course, Bud and Lou arrive on the scene just after the murder and that leads to a hilarious disappearing corpse routine (very similar to the one in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF in 1949). Eventually, the medallion ends up in the boys' possession and is even eaten by Lou in an extremely funny scene in the restaurant. When Rontru learns that Costello has eaten the medallion, she has an X-ray of Lou's stomach done so she can read the medallion's ancient writing to discover the exact whereabouts of Princess Ara's tomb and hidden treasure. Semu learns of her plans and poses as a professor willing to assist her in her search. Of course, his real intention is to kill her and Bud and Lou for daring to trespass on the sacred ground of Princess Ara.
Soon, our heroes and our villains are in the middle of the desert at the tomb of Ara. Eventually, Rontru learns who Semu really is and why he volunteered to accompany her. However instead of killing him, she decides to hold him hostage in case some of Semu's cult followers try to kill her or stand in her way of stealing the treasure. The boys in the meantime find the usual hidden passage in the rocks and explore the ancient tomb in a number of funny gags featuring Costello's always hilarious "scared" reaction. There is also a hilarious routine (in the "Who's On First?" mold) featuring a shovel and a pick as the film builds to its climax in Ara's tomb with explosions, hidden treasure, and three (yes-count 'em) mummies.
This film was not only the last ABBOTT ANT) COSTELLO MEET... film, but also the last film the boys made at their longtime home, Universal Pictures. According to the production notes (an extra on this DVD), this film was an unexpected hit and Universal wanted to renew their contracts, but in the end all parties concerned couldn't come to terms. It's too bad because ABBOTT and COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY is 80 minutes of sheer fun. Even though so many of the routines were tried and true, the boys' comic genius make them as fresh as when they started making fright/comedies as early as 1941 (HOLD THAT GHOST).
The supporting cast also is excellent and strike a careful balance between Bud and Lou's craziness and the more serious villainy they portray. Marie (CAT WOMEN OF THE MOON) Windsor is beautiful and dangerous and makes the latter fact perfectly clear to all who oppose her. Richard Deacon (whom everyone remembers as Mel Cooley in the classic "The Dick Van Dyke Show") here plays Semu with quiet subtlety in a role that could easily have been overacted. Genre favorite Mel Welles (THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, LADY FRANKENSTEIN) also is properly menacing as Semu's cult henchman, Iben as are Michael (VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA) Ansara and Dan (RETURN OF THE FLY) Seymour as Rontru's henchmen, Charlie and Josef. Stuntman Edwin Parker as Klaris has often been criticized as playing him as a "growling idiot," but in keeping with the film's overall comedic tone, he does a passable job although the mummy costume is rather cheap and shoddy and NOT the painstaking make-up job from Jack Pierce in 1932's THE MUMMY.
The DVD itself is an excellent (for a film more than 45 years-old) transfer in full screen. The print is remarkably free of major scratches and is very clear. The audio (in Dolby Digital) has a selection of English, Spanish, and French. The subtitles are only available in English. Extras on the DVD are the already mentioned production notes plus an original theatrical trailer from 1955 and biographies of the film's main actors. The only complaint I have is that a documentary (like the one on the ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN DVD) about the making of the film is NOT included on this DVD. It would have been nice to have interviews with surviving cast members like Michael Ansara and Mel Welles. However, this is a SMALL price to pay to have this excellent comedy/thriller out on DVD and one can only hope that Universal will soon release to DVD the remaining ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET... series in the near future!!! (Joe Cascio)