Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein (DVD)

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The comedy duo play Chick Young and Wilbur Grey, a couple of baggage handlers who are accused of mislaying the creatures when they are shipped into the country as attractions for McDougal's House of Horrors. McDougal is played by the familiar character actor Frank Ferguson. The heroine of the picture is a beautiful insurance investigator, Joan Raymond (Jane Randolph), and a minor hero is Dr. Mornay's assistant, Prof. Stevens (Charles Bradstreet), who knows nothing of his boss's real intentions. Vincent Price puts in a nonappearance at the very end as the voice of the Invisible Man.

Most of the action takes place in and about a creepy old castle in Florida (Florida?!), during the evening of a masquerade ball. A few of the jokes may seem familiar; if they do, it's because some of them were recycled from earlier Abbott and Costello pictures. For instance, the moving-candle gag is a replay of a bit the pair did for "Hold That Ghost" in 1941. Costello keeps seeing the monsters, but Abbott doesn't, another stock routine. A big part of the film's success lies in the fact that the monsters play it so seriously. We can laugh at the behavior and reactions of the comedians, but we never laugh at the monsters. A variation of the gimmick would be used to great advantage years later in the "Airplane" and "Naked Gun" movies, where much of the fun consists of the tough-guy actors playing the comedy straight.

Director Charles Barton keeps things moving at a healthy clip, having worked with the comedy team before, and the music of Frank Skinner has become almost as familiar to movie buffs as the film itself. "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" was the second-least-expensive film Universal made in 1948 and it became their second-biggest-grossing film of the year. They got their money's worth.

Video:
The black-and-white print, over half a century old, is not as pristine as it may have once been, but it still looks attractive. It's generally free of age marks, and the various dark shades are well contrasted with the lighter areas. There is some grain apparent, probably a part of the master copy.

Audio:
The monaural sound, remastered in Dolby Digital 2.0, also holds up well. It has a slight background hiss and is understandably limited in terms of frequency range and dynamics, but, otherwise, it conveys good presence.

Extras:
Universal continue their policy of providing good value one's money by including a number of useful bonuses. The most beneficial is a full-feature audio commentary by film historian Gregory W. Mank. The man is a treasure-trove of information. Because I don't usually have time to watch a movie a second time for the commentary, I generally listen only momentarily and forego the rest of the opportunity; but this is one of the few movies with such a commentary that I did watch again, Mank is so fascinating to listen to. The second major bonus item is a brand-new, thirty-three-minute documentary on the making of the film called "Abbott and Costello Meet the Monsters." It's hosted by David J. Skal and provides a pile of behind-the-scenes information, as well as recent interviews of surviving crew members and actors' offspring. Then there are production photographs, production notes, cast and filmmaker biographies, further Universal film recommendations, Web links to Universal Studios, eighteen scene selections, and a theatrical trailer. English is the only spoken language, but English and French are included as subtitles.

Parting Thoughts:
If you've never seen "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," you might think it wouldn't hold up as well as it does. Just try it. Of course, much of it is silly, but I think you'll find it as entertaining now as I did fifty years ago. I strongly recommend it for the child in all of us.

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