Today, I am bringing you a great film featuring not only the classic Universal Monsters, but also one of the legendary comedy duos of all time. Today, I give you Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. This movie was made when the monsters weren’t quite the box office draw that they had been, having combined the three big monsters into single films for House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula, it seemed natural to have them featured along with the comedians.
This is only the second time that Bela Lugosi would play Dracula on film, a role that he created in the 1931 film. Lon Chaney, Jr. would return to play the cursed Lawrence Talbot, who under a full moon turns into a wolf man (Lon Chaney, Jr is the only actor to play the roles of Dracula, Frankenstein’s Monster, and the Wolf Man for Universal; he was the only Wolf Man of the classic horror era). Glenn Strange had taken over the role of Frankenstein’s Monster from Lon Chaney, Jr for Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, and would go on to play the monster in three other films. This gave him one more role in the makeup over Boris Karloff, who played the monster in the first three films.
The plot centers around Dracula’s attempts to steal Abbott’s brain to put into the monster to make him easier to control. Lon Chaney is trying to stop Dracula, and poor Abbott and Costello are caught in the middle. To pick up a copy, click the image below (the link will take you to a multi-pack, which also features Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy, …the Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde – four comedy greats at a low price). The film’s synopsis is below.
Synopsis: Abbott and Costello, as railroad baggage clerks, receive a strange shipment – the last remains of Dracula and Frankenstein’s monster. But this deadly duo is still very much alive. So when the shipment arrives at the House of Horrors, the Monsters are not in their crates but have disappeared to a secret hideaway island. Blamed for the disappearance, Abbott and Costello follow their trail to the island, where not only do they meet up with Dracula (Bela Lugosi) and the Monster (Glenn Strange), but a Mad Scientist (Charles Bradstreet) who wants to switch Costello’s brain with that of the Monster. With everyone chasing each other, the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.) shows up to scare them all. In the end everything works out: Costello finds romance and the Monsters find their final resting places…or do they?
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