Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein
Short description
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein follows two railway baggage handlers, Chick Young and Wilbur Grey, who are given the job of delivering two large crates to a house of horrors museum. One crate holds the body of Count Dracula, the other the remains of Frankenstein's monster, and when the pair accidentally revive the two creatures, a scheme unfolds to put a new brain into the monster. The Wolf Man, played by Lon Chaney Jr., tries to warn Wilbur of the danger, while Dracula takes an interest in Wilbur himself as a suitable donor. Bud Abbott plays Chick and Lou Costello plays Wilbur, with Bela Lugosi as Dracula, Glenn Strange as the monster and Lenore Aubert as Dr. Sandra Mornay among a credited cast of twenty. Charles Barton directed from a screenplay by John Grant, Robert Lees and Frederic I. Rinaldo, with Robert Arthur producing for Universal.
The film was released in June 1948 and runs 83 minutes. It came early in Barton's directing career and sits between Nevada (1935) and Africa Screams (1949), well before The Shaggy Dog (1959). Its worldwide box office of roughly 5 million dollars made it a strong performer for its time, particularly for a comedy built around two established radio and film comedians. Audiences have stayed fond of it: on IMDb it holds 7.3 out of 10 from about 22,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.1 out of 10 from 362 votes. A critics' rating of 7.3 out of 10 from 29 reviews places it level with the IMDb figure and slightly ahead of the TMDB score, indicating that reviewers and general viewers have regarded the film similarly over the decades.
What's left behind the scenes
- Lou Costello did not want to star in this film, claiming that even his little daughter could write a better script. He was only persuaded by an advance of $50,000 and the fact that one of the directors turned out to be Charles Barton, who was a good friend of his and Bud Abbott.
- Glenn Strange landed the role of Frankenstein purely by chance. Makeup artist Jack P. Pierce saw him on the 'Universal Pictures' lot while he was acting in some pirate film. Pierce paid him $25 to stay after filming, after which he tried out Strange as Frankenstein.
- Boris Karloff refused the offer to play the monster, but agreed to help promote the film as part of the advertising campaign. In one photograph, for example, he is shown standing in line at the box office of one of New York's cinemas showing the film, while in other photographs he is looking at the film's posters in the cinema lobby.
- Lon Chaney Jr. played both monsters in this film. During filming, Glenn Strange tripped over a camera cable, fell, and broke his leg. Chaney Jr. didn't have a scheduled shoot that day; he was properly made up, put on Frankenstein's costume, and played the scene where one of the characters is thrown out of the window.
- In the final chase, when Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are standing by the door while Frankenstein bursts through it, Costello received a blow to the face. Charles Barton liked his reaction to the hit so much that he kept the episode in the film.
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