Cast
Bud Abbott Chick Young
Lou Costello Wilbur Grey
Lon Chaney Larry Talbot/The Wolf Man
Bela Lugosi Count Dracula
Glenn Strange The Frankenstein Monster
Lenore Aubert Dr. Sandra Mornay
Jane Randolph Joan Raymond
Frank Ferguson Mr. McDougal
Charles Bradstreet Dr. Stevens
Vincent Price The Invisible Man (voice)
Bobby Barber Waiter
Harry Brown Photographer
Joe Kirk Man at costume party in fez
Howard Negley Harris the insurance man
Carl Sklover Man at costume party
Helen Spring Woman at baggage counter
Paul Stader Sergeant
Clarence Straight Man in armor
Joe Walls
George Barton
Produced by Robert Arthur; Directed by Charles T. Barton; Screenplay by Robert Lees, Frederic I. Rinaldo and John Grant; Original music by Frank Skinner; Cinematography by Charles Van Enger; Film Edited by Frank Gross; Art Direction by Hilyard Brown and Bernard Herzbrun; Set Decoration by Oliver Emert amd Russell A. Gausman; Costume Design by Grace Houston (gowns); Hair stylist: Carmen Dirigo;
Makeup artists: Bud Westmore, Jack Kevan and Emile LaVigne; Production Manager: Henry Spitz; Assistant Director: Joseph E. Kenny; Sound Department: Leslie I. Carey and Robert Pritchard; Special Effects by
Jerome Ash, David S. Horsley and Fred Knoth; Stunts:
Eddie Parker and Helen Thurston (stunt double for Lenore Aubert); Still photographer: Glen Adams;
Camera operator: Robert Pierce; Animation by Walter Lantz studios; Orchestrator: David Tamkin; Script supervisor Betty A. Griffin.
Original title: THE BRAIN OF FRANKENSTEIN; Official title: BUD ABBOTT LOU COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN; Alternate titles: ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN; ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE GHOSTS (UK); BUD ABBOTT Y LOU COSTELLO CONTRA LOS FANTASMAS (Spanish); A + C TREFFEN FRANKENSTEIN (Germany); HUUU SA HEMSKT (Sweden); ABBOTT & COSTELLO CONTRE FRANKENSTEIN (France); IL CERVELLO DI FRANKENSTEIN (Italy); ABOT I KOSTELO TRAZE FRANKENSTAJNA (Yugoslavia).
PLOT:*
Chick Young (Bud Abbott) and Wilbur Grey (Lou Costello) work as baggage clerks in LaMirada, Florida. When they mishandle two crates belonging to MacDougal's House of Horrors museum, Mr. MacDougal (Frank Ferguson) demands that they deliver them in person so that they can be inspected by an insurance agent. MacDougal has boasted to Wilbur's girlfriend, Dr. Sandra Mornay (Lénore Aubert) that the crates contain "the remains of the original Count Dracula" (Bela Lugosi) and "the body of the Frankenstein monster" (Glenn Strange). Wilbur, however, realizes that they are very much alive, although Chick misses every opportunity to see them. Dracula manages to hypnotize Wilbur and spirit the monster, and his coffin, out before anyone else can spot them. MacDougal arrives with the insurance agent. Finding that the crates are empty, he accuses the boys of theft and has them arrested.
Dracula and the monster meet up with Mornay at a castle on a remote island. Sandra is a gifted surgeon who has studied Dr. Frankenstein's notebooks. She has been posing as Wilbur's girlfriend as part of a plot that involves her and Dracula replacing the monster's brutish brain with one more pliable—Wilbur's.
The boys are bailed out, and think that Sandra has helped them. However, it turns out that Joan Raymond (Jane Randolph), who also shows an attraction towards Wilbur, bailed them out. But Joan is working for the insurance company that is processing Mr. MacDougal's claim. She wants to stay close to Wilbur to find out what the boys know.
Meanwhile, Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) has taken the apartment across the hall from Wilbur and Chick. He has tracked Dracula and the monster from Europe, and knows that they're alive. Talbot asks the boys to help him find and destroy the ghouls. Wilbur is a true believer, but Chick thinks both of them are crazy. It doesn't help Talbot's credibility with Chick when he asks the boys to lock him in his room for the night because there will be a full moon.
The following night, Wilbur, Chick and Joan go to Sandra's castle to pick her up for a costume ball. Sandra had told Wilbur to come alone, and Joan's intrusion worries Sandra.
Waiting while the ladies powder their noses, Wilbur answers a phone call from someone wanting to speak to a 'Dr Lejos'. It is Talbot, who informs them that they're in Dracula's castle. After some reluctance, Wilbur agrees to search around the castle with Chick. Wilbur soon stumbles on an underground passageway, complete with boat and dock. Behind a secret revolving door, Wilbur again comes face to face with Frankenstein's monster, but can't drag Chick behind the wall fast enough. Once again, Dracula manages to get the monster out before Chick can see them.
Dracula, alias Dr. Lejos, is introduced by Sandra to the boys and Joan. He commends Sandra on her choice, massaging the ego of Wilbur, who does not realise the true context of the remark. Also working at the castle is the naive Dr. Stevens (Charles Bradstreet), who questions some of the specialized equipment that's arrived. Dracula manages to deflect Dr. Stevens' questions by pairing him with Joan. Sandra, however, says she suddenly has a splitting headache and won't be able to go to the costume ball. When Dracula talks with Sandra in private, she reveals that Dr. Stevens' questions, Joan's insurance credentials and Wilbur's wanderings have made her nervous, and wants to pull out. However, Dracula asserts his will by hypnotizing her and biting her in the throat.
At the costume party, the boys run into both Larry and Mr. MacDougal. Dracula and Sandra, now under the spell of Dracula, come along also. Dracula takes Joan out for a dance while Sandra lures Wilbur to a quiet spot. Just before she can take a bite out of Wilbur's neck, they're distracted and Wilbur escapes. In the meantime, Larry turns into the Wolf Man and attacks MacDougal. MacDougal, seeing that Chick is costumed as a werewolf, concludes that Chick attacked him for revenge (Chick being attired all but identically to Talbot doesn't help). Chick manages to slip away, but witnesses Dracula hypnotizing Wilbur. He too is mesmerized into a faint, while Wilbur and an entranced Joan are brought back to the castle by Sandra and Dracula.
The next morning, Chick is still on the run when he comes across Larry, who tells him that he was responsible. Chick, now finally convinced, agrees to go with Larry to rescue Wilbur and Joan. Wilbur is being held in a pillory. Sandra finally explains her plan to transplant his brain into the monster. She and Dracula leave him to prepare the monster for the operation. Chick and Larry arrive, unlock Wilbur, and head off to save Joan. Wilbur, meanwhile, is lured back to the castle by Dracula, who is able to override his mind and bring him back.
The operation begins. Sandra is about to open Wilbur's skull when Larry storms in and knocks Sandra out. However, just as he's about to untie Wilbur, he once again turns into the Wolf Man! Wilbur manages to kick his gurney away. Dracula arrives and has a tug-of-war with the Wolf Man over Wilbur's gurney. Dracula flees, pursued by the Wolf Man. Chick arrives to untie Wilbur just as the semi-restored Monster gets up from his table. Sandra tries to order the monster back, but he picks her up and tosses her out a window. The monster hunts the boys through the castle.
Dr. Stevens, meanwhile, has managed to find Joan and gets her to the boat. Dracula, in an attempt to escape the Wolf Man, turns into a bat. But the Wolf Man snatches Dracula and both fall over a balcony and into the rocky seas below. This brings Joan out of her spell. The boys, meanwhile, escape the castle and head to the pier, with the monster on their trail. Once again they run into Mr. MacDougal. If he still wants his exhibits, they tell him, "..here comes one of them now!" When the monster appears, Mr. MacDougal and the man who accompanied him jump off the pier. Chick and Wilbur climb into a rowboat and try to get away, but the boat is tied to the pier. The monster throws barrels at them, in a series of near misses. Wilbur finally unties the rope, freeing the boat. Stevens and Joan arrive and set the pier ablaze. The monster turns and marches into the flames, slowing and succumbing as the pier collapses into the water.
Just as Chick and Wilbur believe everything is over, they hear a third voice (Vincent Price) and see a cigarette floating in the air: "Allow me to introduce myself, I'm the Invisible Man!" The boys jump off the boat as the Invisible Man lights his cigarette and laughs.
PHOTOS ABOVE: (top row) newspaper ad and 8MM movie box art for ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN; (2nd-4th rows) the actors in costume and makeup having fun off the set of the film; last photo is behind the scenes shot of Charles Barton directing Lon Chaney (as the Wolf Man) and Lou Costello in a scenes from the movie.
BUD ABBOTT LOU COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (the movie's official title) received excellent reviews; read some of them at the Rotten Tomatoes website
