Top 25 Greatest Halloween Films: #14 – 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein' (1948)

#14: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Lon Chaney Junior’s Lawrence Talbot: “Every night when the moon is full, I turn into a wolf.”

Lou Costello’s Wilbur: “You and twenty million other guys.”

By the time 1948 rolled around, Bud Abbott was 53 years old, Lou Costello 42, and both had enjoyed life at the top of Hollywood box-office success since the 1941 release of their classic service comedy, “Buck Privates.” But after averaging an incredible two films a year (three in 1945), The Boys, as they were affectionately called, had hit a bit of a box office slump with their last few films and were in need of some fresh ideas and a new direction. Who would’ve ever guessed that the desperate and awful-sounding concept of partnering Bud and Lou with Universal’s wildly popular monster roster (using a script titled “The Brain of Frankenstein” that Lou Costello absolutely hated), would extend the duos’ popularity, reignite their box office clout well into the next decade, and be the first of another half-dozen entertaining “Abbott and Costello Meets” to come.

Though the boys have yet to receive the critical respect they deserve, “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (and the Wolf Man and Dracula) is still widely recognized as a true film classic — the standard by which all horror-comedies are judged, and the verbal exchange quoted above goes a long way towards explaining why. Rather than make the fatal mistake of dropping their classic movie monsters into an Abbott and Costello comedy, instead, Bud and Lou are dropped into a straight-forward Universal horror picture. By making the monsters straight men for Lou the dignity of their screen persona never suffers. This was not only important when it came to protecting the brand but also in avoiding what would’ve probably been a campy disaster.

Chick Young (Bud) and Wilbur Grey (Lou) are a couple of inept baggage handlers charged with delivering the remains of the Frankenstein Monster (The Mighty Glenn Strange) and Count Dracula (The Mighty Bela Lugosi) to a local House of Horrors attraction. No one believes the crates contain anything more than hype except for Wilbur who, unfortunately, gets a look at both just before they make their escape to a local castle. Accused of stealing the remains… Oh, who cares. It’s not the plot, it’s the execution, and as was always the case with Bud and Lou, the execution here is absolutely flawless.

Just as impressive is Charles Barton’s direction and Charles Van Enger’s cinematography. Both had worked with the comedy duo before and would again, but neither had been a part of the 20-plus horror film franchise Universal had produced up to that point. This epic and unsurpassed cinematic canon that ranges from 1923’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame” straight through to 1956’s “The Creature Walks Among Us” is forever tied together through a very specific look and atmospheric mood no pretender has ever come close to reproducing. And yet, Barton and Van Enger don’t miss a step. The cinematography along with the staging and performance involving any scenes with the three monsters (The Mighty Lon Chaney Jr. is also along for the ride reprising his tortured Lawrence Talbot character from “The Wolf Man”) fits perfectly within the Universal horror family. There’s even a moment of real horror in the hilariously brilliant finale/ chase sequence, when the Monster picks up a woman and throws her to her death out a window.

This is in no way meant to take anything away from or to diminish the genius of Chaplin, Keaton, the Marx Brothers or any other cinematic clown or comedy team smothered in well-deserved critical approval. I love and respect most of those guys, as well. But for my money, when it comes to pure entertainment, none of them can touch The Boys. Bud Abbott is tied with George Burns as the greatest straight man ever and The Almighty has never produced anyone funnier than Lou Costello. Chaplin touches me, Keaton dazzles me, The Marx Bros. make me laugh and think, but the comedic genius and childlike warmth and innocence of Abbott and Costello does something no one else ever has: They deliver pure joy into my life. Second place? That just so happens to be the Universal horror collection, which should explain a lot.

Eighty minutes spent in the black and white world Bud and Lou inhabit has never failed to temporarily balm most anything life has thrown at me … thus far. Like an asshole, I just sit there and grin and laugh and wonder what it was like to live in an America where this kind of entertainment could rule the box office.