Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951) review

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN 1951

Bud Abbott (Bud Alexander), Lou Costello (Lou Francis), Arthur Franz (Tommy Nelson), Nancy Guild (Helen Gray), Adele Jergens (Boots Marsden), Sheldon Leonard (Morgan), William Frawley (Det. Roberts), Gavin Muir (Dr. Philip Gray), John Day (Rocky Hanlon)

Directed by Charles Lamont

The Short Version: A&C's second monster meet and greet (not counting 1949s monster-less ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF) is more of a comedy gangster film than comedy horror. Likewise the tone of the invisibility sequences owes more to the lighter Invisible spin-offs like THE INVISIBLE WOMAN and INVISIBLE AGENT than to the blackly comical horror of James Whale's THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933). There's some minor horror moments early on including a nifty link to the original movie, some spook iconography and a mention of the previous A&C ghoul gathering, but that's about it. After MEET FRANKENSTEIN, this is a mild disappointment, if worthwhile viewing for A&C fans. One thing that's not unseen is a lot of laughs and a fast pace.

Bud and Lou have barely graduated from Dugan's Detective Academy when they quickly land their first case with professional boxer Tommy Nelson, whom they discover is wanted for allegedly murdering his manager. Reluctant to trust him, the green P.I.'s accompany Nelson to the residence of Dr. Philip Gray, a scientist working on a serum that renders its subject invisible. Created by Jack Griffin--a scientist who tested the drug on himself and promptly went insane--Dr. Gray refuses to inject Nelson for fear of the maniacal side-effects. With the cops hot on his tail, Nelson administers the drug on himself and, quite literally, vanishes. The two ham-fisted flatfoots join forces with the invisible Nelson to clear his name. Much camera mugging and invisible insanity ensue.

At the end of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948), the Invisible Man makes his presence known--vocally, of course--via the signature tonality of iconic genre star Vincent Price. Eight years earlier Price made his horror movie debut in THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940), so it was the perfect way to end the already amazing A&C Frank flick with his brief return to the role. Unfortunately, Price went unseen on the production of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN (1951). Relative newcomer, Arthur Franz (INVADERS FROM MARS [1953], MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS [1958], THE ATOMIC SUBMARINE [1959]), took the role. Since the story deals with boxing (reportedly a re-worked storyline for an unmade INVISIBLE MAN sequel), Franz was most likely a better fit than Price would have been. 

Even though it's a Priceless affair, Franz does fine as the framed boxer, who's rarely visible, as such; but there's no denying the unmistakable voice of Vincent is sorely missed after being teased with it in the previous picture. Like Boris Karloff, Price had a voice that made horror movies sing and MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN is off key without him. In much the same fashion, Claude Rains had an impressively demented delivery in the 1933 horror classic. Unlike Franz, 99% of THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) is carried without ever seeing Rains; and unlike Rains, Franz's character only flirts with going off the deep-end. He doesn't have that horror movie voice to identify with the likes of Rains or Price. 

 
Not only that, but the picture never really feels even the slightest bit like a horror movie; it's more in line with INVISIBLE sequels like THE INVISIBLE WOMAN (1940) and INVISIBLE AGENT (1942). There are elements from Price's own THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940), only had Price's services been acquired, the picture would feel more genre friendly. If you're expecting this second A&C Uni-horror meet and greet to have that same lovably morbid atmosphere as MEET FRANKENSTEIN, you're in for a disappointment....

Regardless, Bud and Lou's adventure with this version of the Invisible Man is frequently funny, milking the "vanishing act" for all it's worth. In some ways, it's actually more amusing than its predecessor. These gags work especially well bouncing off of Costello's maladroit style of pratfall comedy while Bud Abbott essays his usual straight-man routine. In the previous outing, Abbott didn't catch on to the monstrous goings-on till later in the picture; in this one, Abbott's "seeing" is believing occurs much earlier. Meanwhile, Costello ramps up the mugging for the camera and looking directly into it for added comedic effect. Another area that MEETS THE INVISIBLE MAN gets it right is in the pacing--it never falters.

It might not be the monster bash of before, but the script (a slew of writers had their hands in this one) links itself with James Whale's classic 1933 original. A picture of Jack Griffin (Claude Rains's insane title monster in the '33 film) hangs on the wall in doctor Gray's office. Despite the doctor's reservations, Nelson desperately wants the serum to make him disappear. And this is where our goofball gumshoes come in....

The plan to clear Tommy Nelson's name involves Lou pretending to be bulbous boxer Louie the Looper, stepping into the ring with rough-houser, Rocky Hanlon. Unknown to the gangsters with a lot of dough riding on the bout, it's really a handicapped match with the invisible Nelson ensuring a victory for the Looper. About as subtle as Tyson biting your ear off in the third round, Lou hops, skips and jumps around the ring while Tommy rings Rocky's bell with a series of powerful, perfectly paralyzing, percussion-paced punches. Ironically enough, Costello had been an amateur boxer in his earlier years.

The invisibility FX are like a highlight reel of everything that came before. David S. Horsley did the special photographic effects for this picture and all the INVISIBLE MAN sequels. Those previous vanishing acts always had some new trick to show off. The invisibility sequences in Lamont's movie offer nothing new but are a lot of fun in how they're implemented into both the narrative and Abbott and Costello's shtick.

Out of all the gags (the dinner sequence is a particularly healthy entree of specials effects and comedy), one of the best belly-acher's involves no camera tricks at all, just Costello's uniquely timed clumsiness. Entering a gym to show what he's got, Louie the Looper takes a whack at the speed bag only for the speed bag to take a whack at him. Naturally it's Nelson machine-gunning the bag with Lou barely going through the motions while a congregate of boxers and trainers stand around with mouths agape.

After a rip-roaring confrontation with the gangsters, the last sequence ends the movie with a TKO. In it, chubs is helping out a critically injured Tommy with a blood transfusion. Lou somehow getting the invisibility serum into his own bloodstream resulting in some brief silliness in a hospital ward. A similar gag closes out the next film, the superior ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953).

 
Look out for William Frawley as Detective Roberts. A few of the gags are real knee-slappers because of his reactions to the shenanigans perpetrated by those oblivious to his presence; or his own cluelessness to what's right in front of him. Virtually everybody watching this will remember him as Fred Mertz on the I LOVE LUCY (1951-1957) show. You almost expect Vivian Vance to show up and call him a "fat old goat". He's a joy to watch in this, and the movie is made better with his participation.

Fans of Bud and Lou (who play characters using their first and middle names) will get the most out of this one. Uni-horror fans might be let down for the lesser accent on horror, but if you stick with it, you're likely to have a good time. ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN (1951) is, despite the lack of any Gothic trappings, very funny. Based solely on its horror content, it barely makes it to the 5th round; on its comedic qualities, it goes the distance for the whole 12. Things are back to normal, so to speak, in the next entry of the Abbott and Costello comedy-horror quartet.

This review is representative of the ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MONSTERS 2 disc set. It shares a disc with ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. Specs and Extras for MEETS THE INVISIBLE MAN: 1.33:1; theatrical trailer. 

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) review

 
ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN 1948

Bud Abbott (Chick Young), Lou Costello (Wilbur Grey), Lon Chaney, Jr. (Larry Talbot/Wolf Man), Bela Lugosi (Count Dracula), Glenn Strange (Frankenstein's Monster), Lenore Aubert (Dr. Sandra Mornay), Jane Randolph (Joan Raymond), Frank Ferguson (Mr. McDougal), Charles Bradstreet (Professor Stevens), Vincent Price (voice of the Invisible Man)

Directed by Charles T. Barton

The Short Version: It's Mirth vs. Menace in what is easily the best example of the horror comedy yet made. Bud and Lou's comic genius was paired with three of Uni-horror's icons of fright--Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Frankenstein Monster--the results are nothing short of hair-raising hilarity. Consistently entertaining from start to finish, the combination of vintage comedy and monsters is one the whole family can enjoy. The first and best of A&C's four Uni-Monster comedy combos. Beat for beat and goosebump for goosebump, you won't find a funnier horror film to give you chills in the most rib-tickling way possible.

Two bumbling baggage clerks, Chick and Wilbur, are instructed to deliver two large crates to McDougal's House of Horrors, a Florida wax museum. Carrying the bodies of Count Dracula and the Frankenstein Monster, the two living corpses escape upon their placement in the museum. Soon thereafter, Lawrence Talbot arrives from London and explains he's been tracking the two monsters to find and destroy them. Unknown to Chick and his rotund sidekick, Wilbur's pretty girlfriend, Sandra Mornay, has been secretly studying Dr. Frankenstein's journals, conducting experiments at her island castle (in Florida?!). Joining forces with Dracula, Mornay plots to transfer Wilbur's brain into the body of the Frankenstein Monster to make him a more easily controlled creature. Between Chick and Wilbur's ineptness, a snooping insurance investigator, Mornay's suspicious assistant and Talbot sniffing around during the full moon, Dracula has more trouble than he can sink his teeth into.

Mixing the storylines of Universal's popular monster franchises began with Roy William Neill's seminal FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLF MAN (1943). The result wasn't an action-packed spectacle, but it made for gripping entertainment as to how it brought the two popular series' together. The following year brought the first big monster mash with the faster-paced sequel, HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944). Not to be shown up, Transylvania's most famous resident proved he could host a mad monster party as good as the next ghoul in HOUSE OF DRACULA in 1945. Three years later, Universal's titans of terror were resurrected one more time for another meet and greet; only for this occasion, they'd be joined by the colossal chuckle combo of Abbott and Costello.

Horror was on the decline in the late 1940s, particularly the Universal style of moldy Gothics. It was about to be replaced by the encroaching Atom Age, whose theatrical propositions grew exponentially in the 1950s--begetting dozens of giant creatures from this world and others. Gelling the studio's most famous monsters into a comedy shtick was generally the fate of many popular genres in later years--after a cinema style enjoys several years of box office vibrancy, and the ticket sales taper off, it's time to change things up to get theater patrons to loosen their wallets again.

Thankfully, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948) was the sort of jolt this genre needed to keep it shambling, arms outstretched, for a few more years. Likewise, this 83 minutes of horror hilarity rejuvenated the A&C duo, who had a dip in their own popularity by the mid 1940s.

The comedy comes frequently, balanced to near perfection with the horror sequences. Both Bud and Lou are pitch perfect during the first 30 minutes. The laughs are thinned out slightly during the middle portion, but not to the film's detriment. Towards the end, the tempo hits a rapid pace with the slapstick and spookery joined at the hip. Dracula and the Wolf Man battle it out all over the castle while Frankenstein's creation chases the clumsy comics. The monsters all meet spectacular ends and during the final shot, A&C are visited by an unexpected guest aboard their dinghy, the Invisible Man! Voiced by Vincent Price, this last gag foreshadows coming attractions.

The success of A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN was a timely gamble that has repeated itself year after year. Horror has always been something of a black sheep in the industry, yet it can always be counted on to return big bucks on a low investment. It was a sizable success for Universal while other, bigger budgeted, and more prestigious works fared less well. The famed comic combo benefited the most, yet monster faves Chaney and Lugosi were kept in the public eye for a bit longer before personal demons consumed their careers. Ironically, with all the fun and frivolity that went on backstage and up on screen, there was seemingly a lot of reluctance and disdain from the actors about participating on this production.

At least one half of the comic team, Lou Costello, wasn't exactly thrilled with starring in the picture. Cited as referring to the script as "crap", lovable Lou finally acquiesced after receiving additional monies and the comfortability of working with a familiar director in Charles Barton.

If Lon Chaney, Jr. truly disliked this movie, you couldn't tell from all the behind the scenes photos. At one point stating this movie ruined the famed horror icons, he nonetheless joined the off screen lunacy during the filming. Elsewhere, Lon proved just what a trooper he was; during a particularly shocking scene where the Monster tosses the female villain through a castle window (same stunt from HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN but with J. Carrol Naish being tossed), Glenn Strange broke his foot so Chaney stepped into the big boots to hurl the stuntwoman through the candy glass. It wasn't the first time Chaney played the role--he was the Monster in GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN in 1942.

Lugosi was said to take his role with the utmost of seriousness. However, he seems a bit more relaxed in this, his second go-round as the Count. He may not partake in the shenanigans (onscreen, at least) but there are a couple moments where his presence greatly enhances the farce. The best sequence melding the comedy and the horror involves Lugosi; it's the scene early on in the wax museum where Wilbur (Lou), repeatedly choking up and at a loss for words other than, "Chiiiick, Chick! CHIIIIIIIICK!", tries to convince Chick (Bud) that Dracula is most certainly up and about.

Arguably, this is Lugosi's best bloodsucker interpretation of the four he completed; not counting PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE (1959), which featured Bela in a few scenes from an unmade Ed Wood flick decked out in his familiar vampire regalia. Outside of DRACULA (1931), he'd played a faux vamp in MARK OF THE VAMPIRE (1935) and the real thing in the uniquely peculiar RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1944). For this comedy-horror venture, he was back in the coffin as the undead icon that both made and typecast his name. Unfortunately, the huge success of this movie didn't lead to bigger and better roles for Bela Lugosi. Not long after this genre match-up, Lugosi would express interest in doing lighter, more comedic pictures--which he did, both intentionally and unintentionally with the likes of BELA LUGOSI MEETS A BROOKLYN GORILLA (1952) and BRIDE OF THE MONSTER (1955). The actor's last horror hurrah came in the form of THE BLACK SLEEP (1956), an underrated gem that, sadly, had Bela in a smaller capacity, and with no dialog.

The film's comic content seemed to have had the greatest effect on Glenn Strange. He apparently had a great time making the movie, reportedly finding it difficult to keep a straight face when doing scenes with Lou Costello. Acting in countless westerns including a famous role as Sam the barkeep in GUNSMOKE (1955-1975), Strange essayed the lumbering, patchwork creature two times prior in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN (1944) and HOUSE OF DRACULA (1945). Unlike those two pictures, Strange speaks twice (if briefly) and gets more to do; particularly during the chaotic finale when he chases Bud and Lou in and around the castle grounds before succumbing to a fiery finish. Glenn Strange is arguably most famous for playing Dr. Frankenstein's creation, but the actor most synonymous with the role did have a connection with the production....

Boris Karloff, who hadn't donned the dead man's makeup since 1939s SON OF FRANKENSTEIN, had retired from the role. Reportedly, he didn't find spoofing his famous portrayal a favorable proposition. He did agree to help promote the picture via some publicity photos showing him in front of a marquee and purchasing a ticket, despite Karloff  refusing to actually see it. With the film's huge success (Universal's second biggest hit of that year), Karloff did appear in the next picture, the non-monster masher, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF (1949). The revered British horror star returned to Bud and Lou Land as a famous monster of another kind, with ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953).

The special effects might be antiquated, but they're still effective in their execution 60+ years later; these include the death scene of Dracula and the Wolf Man, the bat effects and animated shots of the Count transforming into his human guise, and the cameo of the Invisible Man during the closing moments. The eye-catching animated credits really set the tone for what is essentially a live-action cartoon. Not everything is terror-ific, though; with so much variance in the effects department, you'd think somebody would have had some forethought during the scene where we blatantly see Dracula's reflection in a mirror. Additionally, if you want to nitpick, the title is a misnomer--Abbott and Costello never actually meet Frankenstein, but do meet Frankenstein's Monster.

Fans of Abbott and Costello and the Uni-horror's are getting the best of both worlds with this spirited creature feature, the benchmark of the horror-comedy and the best of their string of horror-tinged features. If you've seen it, the month of October is a great time to revisit; if you haven't, what are you waiting for?

This review is representative of the Universal ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE MONSTERS COLLECTION 2 disc set. Extras and Specs: Full frame 1.33:1; Abbott & Costello Meet the Monsters documentary; audio commentary with historian Gregory W. Mank; theatrical trailer.