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Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
(1948)
In this classic horror-comedy
hybrid film from director Charles T. Barton, a satire of Universal’s
horror films based upon the characters created by Mary Shelley and
Bram Stoker, there were a multitude of Universal's horror characters
cast for the film, including Lawrence Talbot/Wolfman (Lon Chaney,
Jr.), Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), and Dr. Frankenstein's Monster
(Glenn Strange); [Note:
the film's title was a misnomer - they actually met "The Monster" created
by mad scientist Dr. Frankenstein]:
- in the film's title credits opening, animation was
used to spell out the film's title in cartoon bones, and the silhouetted
figures of the main horror characters were introduced and paraded
across a backdrop of a moonlit sky
- the story opened in London where, as the night progressed,
Larry Talbot/the Wolf Man was attempting to put a phone call through
to the express postal office in the village of Islamorada, Florida
(in the Keys); in the baggage room, two unsuspecting, dim-witted
handling clerks Wilbur Grey (Lou Costello) and Chick Young (Bud
Abbott), were beginning to work on a cart stacked with luggage
and crates unloaded from a train; during the slapstick scene, Wilbur
removed one piece of luggage from the bottom of the cart, and sent
the whole load of cargo onto his head; Wilbur was infatuated with
beautiful and classy dark-haired "dame" Dr. Sandra Mornay
(Lenore Aubert) who happened to arrive to comfort Wilbur and his
injured head; in many scenes, Wilbur was foolishly infatuated and
in love with Sandra
- the phone call from Larry Talbot finally connected
and was received by Wilbur as he and Chick were in the midst of
preparing to unload the cart; Talbot was desperate to warn Wilbur
about not delivering two crates addressed to Mr. McDougal's House
of Horrors wax museum: ("Under no circumstances are you to
deliver those crates until I arrive")
Wilbur's Phone Call with Larry Talbot
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The Wolf Man's Transformation During Wilbur's
Call
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- mid-call as the moon was rising in London, Talbot
was transformed into the Wolf Man; Wilbur mistook the Wolf Man's
noisy growls, garglings and snarls as bad manners: "Mr. McDougal,
will you stop gargling your throat?...Hey, you'll have to get your
dog away from the phone, I can't hear a word you're sayin'. You're
awful silly to call me all the way from London just to have your
dog talk to me"
- after the call, McDougal (Frank Ferguson) arrived
at the baggage office and demanded the immediate release and delivery
of the crates, insured for $20,000 dollars, to his wax museum;
McDougal boasted to Sandra that the crates held two new attractions:
the coffin of the original Count Dracula, and the body of Dr. Frankenstein's
dormant Monster
- inside the baggage office, after almost crashing
the large crates with the two valuable items inside, Wilbur joked
to wax museum owner McDougal about working many hours (and possible
overtime) for two unions: "Well, that's gonna cost ya overtime
because I'm a union man and I work only sixteen hours a day";
when corrected by the exasperated McDougal: "A union man only
works eight hours a day", Wilbur noted: "I belong to
two unions"
- after the delivery of the first large crate into
the wax museum through its back entrance, as Wilbur was unboxing
the contents of the first crate (a coffin), lightning struck and
caused a blackout; partner Chick lit a candlestick and then left
to bring in the second crate
- Wilbur gave hysterically beserk reactions of terror
and frozen fright as he read aloud in the candlelight from a placard
about the Dracula Legend (Dracula's rising every night at sunset,
his changing into a vampire bat, his drinking of blood of his victims
to keep himself alive, etc.); shortly later behind him, Dracula
rose and draped his hand out of his creaky opened coffin lid; when
Wilbur claimed to Chick that he saw Dracula's hand from the partially-opened
coffin or that a candlestick moved on its own atop the coffin,
Chick was disbelieving; he accused Wilbur of being imaginatively "excited";
by himself again and totally frightened and nervous, Wilbur attempted
to call out for "Chick," but couldn't be heard because
he was at a loss for words; Chick returned and showed Wilbur that
the coffin was empty (Dracula had emerged momentarily, but then
returned later to hide in his coffin)
Moving Candlestick on Dracula's Coffin Top
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Wilbur Softly and Nervously Calling Out: "Chick,
Chick..."
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Wilbur's Fear when Opening the Coffin Lid and
Seeing Dracula Emerging For the Second Time
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Wilbur's Frozen Reaction to the Sight of Dracula
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- before removing the top of the second boxed wooden
crate, Chick read its placard for Frankenstein's Monster, who was
created by stitched-together parts of other bodies and then animated
and given "eternal life" via electricity; some claimed
the Monster was "not dead even now, just dormant"
- while Chick went to speak to McDougal, Wilbur opened
the coffin lid to hide a decapitated wax dummy head inside, and
spied Dracula emerging from his coffin; the Count was able to hypnotize
Wilbur into a trance with his piercing eyes; nearby, Dracula reanimated
Frankenstein's scarred-faced Monster (Glenn Strange) with electrical
jolts to the bolts in his neck; afterwards, Dracula and the Monster
snuck away to an island castle surrounded by water (with Frankenstein
carrying the Count's coffin), while McDougal accused the two baggage
agents of robbing him - his evidence consisted of two empty crates;
Wilbur was disregarded and ignored as he pantomimed what had actually
happened; the two baggage clerks were arrested and jailed for over
a day on suspicion of theft
- meanwhile, Dracula knocked on the front door of
the nearby castle, where he was revealed to be associated with
diabolical mad lady scientist Dr. Sandra Mornay; her her technical
assistant was Professor (Dr.) Stevens (Charles Bradstreet) working
diligently in a laboratory; the Monster was in a weakened condition,
and Sandra vowed with Dracula to not repeat the mistakes of Dr.
Frankenstein by creating a "vicious, unmanageable brute" with
a will of its own .- she proposed that they operate with a scalpel
and give the Monster an implanted brain from a "simple" and "pliable" individual;
she assured him that she had already chosen Wilbur's ideal and
simple "brain" for the Frankenstein Monster's body
- in the meantime in their hotel room, Wilbur attempted
to convince his disbelieving partner Chick that there were two
creatures - an 8 feet tall figure walking with stiff legs, and
another with staring eyes that were "balls of fire"
- Larry Talbot arrived directly from London and explained
he was the one who had phoned about the two delivery crates with
Dracula and the Monster inside; he took a room across the hall
at Wilbur and Chick's hotel, and asked for their assistance to
help him prevent Dracula from reanimating the Monster and carrying
out his evil plans; he insistently ordered them to lock him inside
his room, so that if he transformed when the moon rose, he wouldn't
hurt anyone
- the next day, McDougal's blonde insurance inspector
Joan Raymond (Jane Randolph) for Shippers Insurance, Inc., who
had bailed Wilbur and Chick out of jail, vowed to McDougal that
she was tracking down where his two missing wax museum exhibits
had been hidden: "I'm quite sure I can persuade the chubby
little fellow to lead me right to them"; Joan convinced Wilbur
to invite her to join him and Chick and attend a masquerade costume
ball that evening
- while leaving the hotel, they visited with Larry
Talbot across the hall, and noticed his room was in disarray; he
admitted to lycanthropy as the Wolf Man (turning into a beast in
the light of a full moon), when Wilbur joked: "I'm sort of
a wolf myself," since both Joan and Sandra had expressed an
interest in having Wilbur as their date to attend the masquerade
ball
- before the ball, Talbot again phoned and warned
Wilbur and Chick that a "Dr. Lejos" (aka Dracula) had
ordered electrical equipment at his castle's 'House of Dracula'
needed to "revive the Monster"
- while searching in the castle's basement, in a
funny revolving door sequence, Chick and Wilbur were on one side
of the stone door-wall, while the creatures (Dracula and the Monster)
on the other side rotated the wall to try and capture them; Chick
played the straight man - who never saw the creatures and didn't
believe any of Wilbur's fears, while Wilbur was tormented and haunted
non-stop by creaking noises and the threatening presence of the
creatures
- as the group prepared to leave for the ball from
the castle, Sandra introduced everyone to Dr. Lejos (Dracula in
disguise); he noted to Sandra that he approved very highly of her
choice of Wilbur: "What we need today is young blood. And
brains!"; worried that his plan would be delayed, Dr. Lejos
hypnotized Sandra to force her to immediately operate on Wilbur's
brain, and then bit into her neck to compel her to do his will
as a vampiress
- at the costume ball held on a large waterfront dock
area featuring big band music, Chick was planning to don a "Wolfman" mask,
while Wilbur had a "Devil" mask; when Talbot told them
he would soon transform into a Wolf, Wilbur joked: "You and
20 million other guys"; Count Dracula arrived and fit in perfectly
amongst the costumed guests
- controlled by Dracula, Sandra led Wilbur aside to
a garden area and tempted to whisk him away to the island castle
- with a sexy come-on: "I want to be the only one in your
life. I want to be part of you...You are so full-blooded, so round,
so firm"; she placed him in a trance and was about to bite
his neck when Talbot and Chick interrupted
- as the group looked for Joan in a wooded area, Talbot
transformed under a full moon and attacked Wilbur, who chastised
him, thinking it was Chick with a mask-disguise: "Didn't Mr.
Talbot tell you not to put that mask on anymore? Now, what'd you
put it on for?...Now take the mask off! Come on!"; shortly
later, McDougal was found with a neck-wound inflicted by the Wolf
Man; both Wilbur and McDougal blamed the innocent Chick for their
attacks
- meanwhile, Count Dracula transformed into a vampire
bat and put both Chick and Wilbur into a trance; Wilbur was taken
away in a motorboat (with an already-hypnotized Joan) to the island
castle to be detained, as Chick and the Wolf Man joined forces
to rescue them - they returned to the castle in a rowboat
- Dracula insisted to Sandra that Wilbur must be operated
upon immediately, and Dr. Stevens was knocked unconscious to prevent
interference; Wilbur was placed into a trance and tied down on
an operating table in the laboratory inside the island castle;
he was saved from having his brain removed by Sandra (to be transplanted
into the Monster), first by Chick, and then by Talbot as he transformed
Wilbur on Operating Table for Brain Transplant
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Sandra Operating on Wilbur to Surgically Remove
His Brain
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Sandra Thown Out Window by the Monster, as Chick
Freed Wilbur from Operating Table
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- as the Wolf Man and Dracula were fighting against
each other, the Monster freed himself from his restraining straps
on the operating table, grabbed Sandra, and threw her from a window;
Chick was able to free Wilbur, who exclaimed:
"Do you believe me now?"; they evaded the Wolf Man and
Dracula who were continuing to fight inside the castle until both
plummeted into the ocean; with Dracula's demise, the trance-like
Joan woke up and helped Dr. Stevens set the Monster on fire on the
pier, allowing Chick and Wilbur to finally escape in a rowboat after
untying themselves from the dock
- they were relieved and thinking that they were safe
from any more attacks or excitement, when Chick assured Wilbur: "Now
that we've seen the last of Dracula, the Wolf Man, and the Monster,
there's nobody to frighten us anymore"
- however, they found a disembodied Invisible Man
(voice of Vincent Price) making a surprise, curtain-closing appearance
in their rowboat; the two were dismayed by the Invisible Man's
words: "Oh, that's too bad, I was hoping to get in on the
excitement.... Allow me to introduce myself. I'm the Invisible
Man"
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Baggage Clerks Chick (Bud Abbott) and Wilbur (Lou Costello)
- Tumbling Luggage
Dr. Sandra Mornay (Lenore Aubert)
Mr. McDougal (Frank Ferguson) - House of Horrors Owner Demanding Two Crates
Wilbur Atop Two Large Crates in the Baggage Office
Delivering the Crates to the Wax Museum With Scary Wax Figures
Dracula's First Emergence From His Coffin
Dracula Reanimating Frankenstein In the Second Crate With Electrical Jolts
Wilbur Hypnotized and In a Trance
Island Castle of Dr. Mornay and Dracula
Count Dracula (aka Dr. Lejos)
Wilbur Attempting to Convince His Disbelieving Partner Chick of the Creatures'
Existence
Insurance Investigator Joan Raymond (Jane Randolph)
Wilbur Threatened by the Monster in the Castle
The Revolving Door-Wall Sequence
Wilbur With Dr. Sandra Mornay and Dr. Lejos (aka Dracula): "What we need
today is young blood and brains!"
Wilbur Chastising the Wolf Man: "Take the mask off!"
The Monster Burning Up on the Wooden Dock-Pier
Last Scene: The Invisible Man in the Rowboat with Chick and Wilbur
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