Your Daily Dracula – Bela Lugosi, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
For decades, it’s been a pain to list this film because here’s the onscreen title card – which says Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein, so should the film be alphabeticised under A, B or M?
I was asked online how I thought the film rated in horror comedy terms and responded ‘it came a few years after A&C’s peak, and the ‘meet’ phase of their career acknowledges it by adding in other characters and actors who compete with them. There’s nothing in it to match ‘who’s on first?’ or ‘the Susquehana Hat Company’. I’ve not watched it in a while, but I suspect Hold That Ghost is the pair’s best spooky movie. And it’s not on a par with The Ghost Breakers, The Cat and the Canary (1939), Whistling in the Dark, Murder He Said, and several other old dark house comedies of the era. In A&C Meet Frankenstein, I find A&C themselves well off their game – it’s a shame the Road movies were at Paramount, because Bing and Bob in Road to Frankenstein with the same monster cast would have been a much more tempting proposition.’
Bonus Dracula – Paul Kruger, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
Discussion
No comments yet.