ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN

Franky (Glenn Strange) goes after Lou Costello

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948). Director: Charles Barton. 

Wilbur (Lou Costello) and Chick (Bud Abbott) work for a shipping company and are told to bring two items to a House of Horrors without fail. One item is a coffin that contains the living Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi of The Corpse Vanishes) and the other is a crate that holds Frankenstein (Glenn Strange), whom the vampire has under his control. Meanwhile Sandra (Lenore Aubert of The Catman of Paris) romances Wilbur because she wants to put his simple-minded brain in Frankenstein's body so that the monster will be more easily manipulated. Two other people get involved in the frenzied, comical action: Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), who turns into the Wolfman when the moon is full and warns the boys about what's going on with Drac and Franky; and Joan (Jane Randolph of The Mysterious Mr. M), an insurance agent for the shipping company. Will poor Wilbur become subjected to a brain transplant?

Gruesome twosome: Bela Lugosi and Lenore Aubert

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is practically a textbook case of how to do a spoof the right way. The trick is that everyone pretty much plays it straight except for the two stars, who by this point were old hands at their comical schtick. The movie is not only consistently funny, but even exciting and suspenseful at times, and is also very well-produced. Frank Skinner's excellent score makes the most of every sequence. Other cast members include Frank Ferguson as the testy owner of the House of Horrors (whose exhibits turn out to be alive), and Charles Bradstreet as the handsome Professor Stevens, who works with Sandra but has no idea what she's really up to. 

Verdict: Classic comedy with the fellows in top form and a very adept and enthusiastic supporting cast. ***1/2. 

THE CATMAN OF PARIS

Who is the Catman?

THE CATMAN OF PARIS (1946). Director: Lesley Selander. 

Charles Regnier (Carl Esmond) is a well-regarded French writer who has come out with a controversial novel based on a famous murder case, a book that has the authorities nervous. Therefore, he is not that surprised when he becomes the suspect in a series of strangulations where the victims are clawed as if by a cat. Inspector Severen (Gerald Mohr) is convinced the murders are the work of a man and not an animal. Charles' friend Henry (Douglass Dumbrille) suggests that Charles should get out of Paris and take his lady love, Marie (Lenore Aubert) with him. Then the Catman strikes again. 

Fritz Feld and Gerald Mohr

The Catman of Paris is a low-budget horror flick from Republic studios, and it does boast some period atmosphere and interesting settings. Carl Esmond, in a rare starring role, is okay as the author, but the picture is stolen by Dumbrille. Fritz Feld plays a dramatic part for a change as the Prefect of Police, and is as good as ever. Aubert and Adele Mara as Charles' cast-off fiancee are perfectly decorative and adept and even Mohr makes his mark as a French policeman (!). Charles shows little concern over the victims in the story. The Catman's make up is well-done, but the movie itself is completely unexceptional. Once you find out who the Catman really is, a sequence concerning a murder in a coach is utterly impossible the way it's played. 

Verdict: Fair to middling Republic horror. **1/4.