Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
(Back To Abbott & Costello Filography)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a 1948 American horror comedy film directed by Charles Barton. The film features Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), who has partnered with Dr. Sandra Mornay (Lenore Aubert) in order to find a brain to reactivate Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange), and they find Wilbur Grey (Lou Costello), the ideal candidate.
The film was developed and production started with misgivings by Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, who disliked the script. Barton faced difficulty during the production of the film, with Abbott and Costello often absent from the set. However, the film was successful at the box office and became one of Universal's top films of the year. Several follow-up films ensued involving Abbott and Costello meeting other horror film actors and monsters. The film was mostly well received by critics on its release and in 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry; it also placed at number 56 on the list of the American Film Institute's 100 Funniest American Movies.
Larry Talbot makes an urgent phone call to a railway station in Florida, where Chick Young and Wilbur Grey work as baggage clerks. Talbot tries to warn Wilbur of a shipment due to arrive for "McDougal's House of Horrors". However, before he finishes, the moon rises and Talbot transforms into a werewolf, causing Wilbur to think the call is a prank. Meanwhile, McDougal demands the crates be personally delivered to his wax museum.
Chick and Wilbur deliver the crates after hours. They open the first one and find Dracula's coffin. When Chick leaves the room to retrieve the second crate, Wilbur reads the Dracula legend and the coffin suddenly opens, and Dracula sneaks out. Wilbur is so frightened he can barely articulate his call for help. When Chick returns, he refuses to believe the story. The boys open the second crate, and Chick goes to greet McDougal. Dracula hypnotizes Wilbur, finds Frankenstein's Monster in the second crate, and reanimates him. Both leave and McDougal finds the crates empty and has Wilbur and Chick arrested.
That night, Dr Sandra Mornay welcomes Dracula and the Monster to her island castle. Sandra has seduced Wilbur as part of Dracula's plan to give the monster a more obedient brain. Meanwhile, Wilbur and Chick are bailed out of jail by Joan Raymond, an undercover insurance investigator who feigns love for Wilbur, hoping to gain information. Wilbur invites Joan to a masquerade ball that evening. Talbot takes the apartment across the hall from Wilbur and Chick and asks them to help him find and destroy Dracula and the Monster. Wilbur agrees, but Chick remains sceptical.
Wilbur, Chick and Joan go to Sandra's castle to pick her up for the ball. Wilbur answers a telephone call from Talbot, who informs them that they are in fact in the "House of Dracula". Wilbur reluctantly agrees to search the castle and soon stumbles upon a basement staircase, where he has a few close encounters with the monsters. Meanwhile, Joan discovers Dr Frankenstein's notebook in Sandra's desk, and Sandra finds an Insurance Investigator ID in Joan's purse.
Dracula, under the alias of Dr Lejos, introduces himself to Joan and the boys. Also working at the castle and attending the ball is the naive Professor Stevens, who questions some of the specialized equipment that has arrived. After Wilbur says that he was in the basement, Sandra feigns a headache and tells the others to attend the ball without her. In private, Sandra admits to Dracula that she feels they are not safe to conduct the experiment. Dracula then turns her into a vampire.
At the masquerade ball, Talbot accuses Lejos of being Dracula, but no one takes him seriously. Joan soon disappears. Sandra lures Wilbur into the woods and attempts to bite him, but fails. While looking for Joan, Talbot becomes the Wolfman and attacks McDougal. Since Chick's costume is a wolf, McDougal accuses Chick, who escapes and witnesses Dracula hypnotizing Wilbur. Chick is also hypnotized and rendered helpless, while Dracula and Sandra bring Wilbur, Stevens, and Joan back to the castle. The next morning, Chick and Talbot meet up in the bayou and set out to rescue Wilbur and Joan.
Wilbur is quickly freed, but Dracula uses hypnotism to call him back. As Sandra prepares to cut into Wilbur's brain, Talbot and Chick burst in. Chick knocks out Sandra with a chair and Talbot tries to release Wilbur but turns into the Wolfman again. Frankenstein's Monster breaks free of his bonds and Sandra tries to control him, but he throws her out the window. After a chase through the house between Chick, Wilbur and the Monster and a face-off between Dracula and The Wolf Man, Dracula transforms into a bat but is pounced on by the Wolfman, who drags the two of them to their deaths.
Chick and Wilbur escape in boats; while Joan and Stevens set the pier ablaze while the Monster is standing on it, and he dies in the flames. Wilbur scolds Chick for his earlier scepticism, and Chick remarks they have nothing to fear now. The Invisible Man addresses them from the boat's thwart, and they flee in terror.
On November 28, 1945, Universal Pictures joined with British entrepreneur J. Arthur Rank, who bought a one-fourth interest in the studio. In 1946, Universal reported a profit of only $4.6 million. They responded by dropping many actors from their contract roster, including Chaney. On July 31, 1946, an official merger began. The company, now called Universal-International, had only Deanna Durbin, Maria Montez, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and a few other actors remaining on their payroll. Since the February 1941 release of Buck Privates starring Abbott and Costello, the duo were among the most powerful stars at Universal. By 1945 however, the duo were close to splitting due to in-fighting with each other and personal issues; Abbott suffered from severe epilepsy and Costello had nearly died of rheumatic heart disease in 1943.
In their first year of operation, the studio nearly went bankrupt. By 1948, William Goetz had been in charge of production since the merger and Abbott and Costello's popularity was waning. According to director Charles Barton, who was among the top comedy film directors at Universal between 1945 and 1952, Goetz did not want anything to do with Abbott and Costello after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had dropped their option for more films and Camel Cigarettes dropped their radio show in 1947.
Robert Arthur, a former writer and associate producer of MGM musicals along with veteran Abbott and Costello writers Frederic Rinaldo and Robert Lees, developed a script that involved Frankenstein's monster, Count Dracula and the Wolf Man. Their original script also included Kharis the Mummy, Dracula's son Count Alucard and the Invisible Man, and involved the Monster becoming Dracula's slave and the search for the brain of a simpleton to be placed into the Monster's body. Kharis and Alucard were dropped from the script and the Invisible Man was only included as a small gag at the end of the film. On reading the script, initially titled The Brain of Frankenstein, Lou Costello responded negatively, stating "You don't think I'll do that crap do you? My 5-year-old daughter can write something better than that". Variety made the first public announcement of The Brain of Frankenstein in July 1947.
Arthur felt strongly about the project and offered Costello a $50,000 advance on his percentage if he agreed to do the film. Among the cast was Glenn Strange, who had previously played the Monster in House of Dracula (1945). Strange had only been in a handful of roles since that film, including Monogram's Beauty and the Bandit (1946), Eagle-Lion's Frontier Fighters (1947) and two for Universal: Brute Force (1947) and another Abbott and Costello film, The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947).
Other actors were called back to reprise roles from previous Universal horror films, including Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolf Man. Chaney had been doing stage work on Of Mice and Men and Born Yesterday. Returning as Dracula was Bela Lugosi, who had not worked in a Hollywood studio since 1946 with Scared to Death. Universal-International had Lugosi, Chaney and Strange sign their contracts for the film on January 16, 1948. Lugosi spoke positively about the role during production, glad that the script was not "unbecoming to Dracula's dignity" and that "all I have to do is frighten the boys, a perfectly appropriate activity. My trademark will be unblemished".
Production began on February 5, 1948. According to Barton, Abbott and Costello were not happy with working on the project, noting that the two would "fight me like hell. But I stood my ground with them, and so did Bob Arthur". Barton continued that both the comedians would leave home several times during shooting the film, not show up, or spend about three days playing cards on set. Abbott and Costello improvised some dialogue in the film. Other script alterations were made in the film, such as a week within shooting when producer Robert Arthur decided to change the ending of the film to include a cameo by the Invisible Man.
The film had a new make-up department instead of the old one headed by Jack Pierce. Emile LaVigne tended to Chaney's make-up while Jack Kevan worked on Glenn Strange. Both Chaney and Strange required one hour each in the make-up chair each morning, although Strange's make-up was mostly a rubber mask.
An accident happened on set when Strange was supposed to throw Lenore Aubert through a window. An invisible wire was attached to her to help Strange lift her, but when she was thrown, she swung back into camera range. Strange tried to catch her, causing him to fall and break his foot. As Strange's injury was being treated, Chaney took to applying the make-up and portrayed the monster throwing Aubert through the window. By the end of February, the film's title had changed to one closer resembling its final release title. Filming completed on March 20, 1948. A new scene was filmed after production wrapped with Jane Randolph on April 9.
Post-production started immediately on the film. Frank Skinner, who had previously scored Son of Frankenstein (1939) and worked on the score of The Wolf Man, (1941) composed the original score for the film. Some effect shots were filmed in late March. Special effects for the film were developed by David Horsley and Jerome Ash and included the bats that could be seen in the eyes of Miss Aubert and the animation that transformed Lugosi into a bat.
Cast
Bud Abbott as Chick Young
Lou Costello as Wilbur Grey
Lon Chaney Jr. as Lawrence Talbot / The Wolf Man
Bela Lugosi as Dracula / Dr. Lejos
Glenn Strange as the Monster
Lenore Aubert as Sandra Mornay
Jane Randolph as Joan Raymond
Frank Ferguson as Mr. McDougal
Charles Bradstreet as Dr. Stevens
Vincent Price as the voice of The Invisible Man (uncredited)
