Watch Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein For Free

That was an excellent one.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Yes, I know this movie is silly and simple and dated, but I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. It was one of my favorites when I was a kid. This is a great film for any classic-horror lover, and it's a fun Halloween movie to watch with the family.

Copyright 8 September 1949 (in notice: 1948) by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. New York release at Loew's Criterion: 28 July 1948. U.S. release: July 1948. U.K. release (through J. Arthur Rank's General Film Distributors): 7 November 1949. Australian release: 25 November 1948. U.S. length: 83 minutes. U.K. length: 79 minutes. Australian length: 5,642 feet. 63 minutes. U.K. and Australian release title: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE GHOSTS.SYNOPSIS: Two bungling shipping clerks (helped? by the Wolf Man) tangle with Count Dracula and Frankenstein's Monster.NOTES: Negative cost: $800,000. Some sources cite the U.S. running time as 92 minutes. This is incorrect. The TV print which seems in every way complete runs 83 minutes. The film was cut in both the U.K. and Australia by their Film Censors, both of whom also insisted on the title change. "Frankenstein" was a dirty word in Australia in 1948 as all so-called "Horror films" at that time were completely banned. COMMENT: It's amazing how few contemporary critics appreciated Abbott and Costello. They were generally dismissed with a sneer. The fact that some of their films had quite novel plots ("The Little Giant", "The Time of Their Lives") as well as a high level of verbal and visual wit was usually overlooked or disregarded. Abbott and Costello were irredeemably "lowbrow". Even at the conclusion of an otherwise favorable review of "Meet Frankenstein", a contemporary critic, Lionel Collier, can sum up that the comedians provide plenty of entertainment "if you are unsophisticated enough to enjoy them."Fortunately, very few movie-goers took any notice at all of critics back in the 1940's. "Meet Frankenstein" actually restored Abbott and Costello's flagging careers, putting them right back with the top ten money-making stars.Today "Meet Frankenstein" is justly regarded as one of their best films — if not their masterpiece. For once director Charles T. Barton (a longtime friend and former assistant of William A. Wellman) has really risen to the occasion, handling both the comedy and the horror so effectively as to rouse the ire of both the U.K. and Australian censors. Exactly twenty minutes were lopped from Australian prints. "Meet Frankenstein" must hold the record for the most mutilated Hollywood film ever put into Australian theatrical release.Today, many critics regard "Meet Frankenstein" as one of the best satires on horror movies ever made. I agree!Production values are absolutely first-class. It is not only Barton's deft direction that keeps the laughs and the thrills coming at a marvelous pace, but the skilled film editing, atmospheric photography, creepy sets, and the mood-enhancing music score by Frank Skinne. Abd even by today's standards, the make-up and special effects are often stunning.For another fascinating Abbott and Costello offering, I recommend "Hold That Ghost".

For me this is A&C's best film, with HOLD THAT GHOST a close second. For many years serious minded horror fans tended to chastise this flick - how dare Universal duff up their own monsters??? To me they missed the point. The monsters here ADD to the fun rather than being the source of the mockery. What is really being burlesqued are the old mad-scientist tropes so often featured in horror movies of the 30s and 40s.And this is also the only Universal monster rally where our heroes actually interact. We have Bela Lugosi (back at last as Dracula - hurrah!) Lon Chaney's Wolfman and Glen Strange's Frankenstein Monster all lumbering about and scaring Lou witless. We even have a vocal cameo from Vincent Price as The Invisible Man at the end. He'd played him in Invisible Man Returns, of course.So what's to gripe about? Sit back and enjoy the comedians antics as they fall foul of the terrible trio. And laugh at some great lines - "What we need is young blood....and brains." and of course: "At night, when the moon is full, I turn into a wolf." "You and twenty million other guys!"

Bela's back and Abbott and Costello have got him! Not that they want him, because Lugosi is playing Count Dracula for the first time on screen in 17 years! Of course, he had played the blood sucking creature of the undead on stage, but those were mostly second rate theaters where the quality was lacking.Utilizing all the trick that made his movie performance as Dracula so perfect in the first place, we'll go see appears to be much younger than he actually was. In a sense this is also an end to the whole horror series of Dracula, Frankenstein's monster and the wolf man which had seen many sequels over the years never sent their original appearances.Wildhorse Karloff would go on to appear in 2 Abbott and Costello films, he does not repeat his role of the Frankenstein monster. That goes to glens strange, who only speaks one line and is basically a minor character. Other than Abbott and Costello, the main characters are Dracula and Wolfman, as well as a female scientist who uses chubby little Lou to get ahold of the casket containing the monsters bodies.This isn't a light from start to finish, and even the most devoted of classic horror movie fan will temporarily forget that Lupo he was replaced by other actors as Dracula during the 17 year interlude. Only slightly juvenile in spots, this is a film in adult audiences can enjoy over and over again. There is a great gag in the last scene that sums up all that is right with this film.