Libramedi Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 1955 by Universal-International. No recorded New York opening. U.S. release: June 1955. U.K. release: July 1955. Australian release: 17 November 1955. Sydney opening at the Lyceum as the lower half of a double bill with Foxfire. 79 minutes. Cut to 63 minutes in Australia. Alternative title: Meet the Mummy.SYNOPSIS: Abbott and Costello play two Americans who are stranded in Egypt. They hope to return home with an archaeologist. But he is murdered by members of a secret society. NOTES: The last of the twenty-nine pictures Abbott and Costello made for Universal. A studio press release notes that for their first movie, One Night in the Tropics (1940), the comedians were each paid $8,750. This had now increased to $100,000 each, plus a 25% each share of the profits. The studio felt that Abbott and Costello's popularity was now on the wane and that a 50% share of dwindling profits was no longer worth the trouble of keeping the comics on the payroll. Accordingly, their contract was dissolved-a move the studio was later to bitterly regret. Although MCA will not disclose actual figures, it is estimated that the corporation has grossed more than $60 million over the years for licensing A&C movies to domestic television alone. In other words, more than $2 million per film.COMMENT: Entertaining A&C comedy, but not one of their best! Charles Lamont's direction hovers around the routine mark, John Grant's screenplay often amounts to self-plagiarism and producer Howard Christies's budget is not as lavish as usual), but the boys are still happily in good form and they receive adequate support (though Richard Deacon is sadly miscast as the High Priest). Attractive photography by ace cameraman George Robinson proves another big asset.OTHER VIEWS: Abbott and Costello signed off from Universal in reasonable style with some typical verbal and slapstick routines in a fairly well produced, atmospherically photographed and competently directed vehicle that cleverly combined laughs with screams in line with many of their earlier successes. A great support cast helped too. Needless to say, Messrs A&C come across as delightfully incompetent boobs. However, Bud Abbott, the perennial straight guy, looks as if the wealth he's accumulated over his past thirty-plus pictures, has all gone to his stomach. He'll have to watch out or he'll soon be mistaken for his chubby partner. In the supporting cast, villainess Marie Windsor proves quite effective; but singer Peggy King seems to lack vocal power.Summing up: Satisfyingly shuddersome.

GL84 Overhearing an expedition to a new tomb, Egypt-based archaeologists come across a cult of worshippers intending to keep a secret regarding the resurrection properties and must return the secret to the mummy's tomb before other parties get a hold of it.While not the travesty many claim it is, it is still one of the better ones Abbott and Costello have done. Like so many of their efforts, a lot of this one is based on the hilarity that ensues when mixing their brand of slapstick comedy and wordplay around the classic monster mayhem as there are a lot of gags in here that do work. The early dead-body discovery is a gut-buster, the amulet in a hamburger- switch sequence is a justifiable classic routine and other similar silly scenes are spread throughout the movie that are just as hilarious, including several snake-charming scenes and some humorous physical gags at the beginning. The usual humor of the team is on full display here, and it should be pleasing for fans of the group. There is quite a rapid pace to this, and it flies by without any real problems here with the gags come at a nice enough pace so that it never really slows down. The ending is complete madcap insanity, and provides some great laughs as well as being one of the best creative series of sequences in their history. It's one of their most impressive scenes, and is the highlight of the movie with everything coming together with a couple of nice suspenseful scenes mixed along for a little horror to the comedic proceedings. This isn't as bad as it could've been, though there's a few flaws here. Most of what's wrong here is mostly just budgetary concerns. The sets look cheap and small, the locations are pretty much hampered by lack of design, and most of the time it looks dreary. When everything should look big and grand, they instead come as looking like cheap sets on a back-lot that were hastily filmed to get it out in a hurry as there's never a sense anywhere that they're at a large place. The mummy costume as well looks incredibly bad as it's a far cry from the wonderful look of the original and isn't scary in the slightest looking exactly like moldy bandages wrapped up. They don't even cover his entire body, as there are several spots missing that weren't covered. It only elicits laughter when viewed and doesn't even get featured as often as it really should've with so much of the film spent on their madcap adventures instead of the horror. That causes this to spend a large portion of time waiting around to actually get to the tomb with it spending all this time on their antics instead. Still, this one is a lot of fun.Today's Rating/PG: Violence.

Rainey Dawn Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955) is a spoof on the Kharis films. Instead of the mummy Kharis, Abbott and Costello will meet the mummy Klaris - a single letter change makes all the comical difference in the world. I don't think you will ever see a cuter mummy movie than this one.If you enjoy any of the Abbott and Costello films and love Universal Monsters or simply love comedy-horror in general then this film should tickle-your-fancy. It has all the things that you would ever want for a good mummy story and a comedy-horror.The funniest part of the film comes towards the end where there are three, yes three, mummies! I won't tell you why or how you'll have to watch the film to find out.If you want a fun day I would recommend A&C Meet the Mummy along with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951).9/10

MartinHafer Starting in 1948, Abbott and Costello began appearing in several films where they were paired with monsters from the Universal Studios repertoire. The first film, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN was the best and actually featured this monster as well as Dracula and the Wolf-Man. Next, they did a film where they were featured with the Invisible Man. Then, they did a send up of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Now, in their second to last film, they did their final monster-themed film. ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY is certainly the least of the four films but considering the other three are so much better than a typical Abbott and Costello film, this still means that the film can be a very good one.Klaris the mummy is about to be stolen...and brought to life by some strange cult headed by....Richard Deacon?!?! To get it, his cult members kill without remorse. Talk about strange casting--Deacon seems about as Egyptian as Bill Cosby! At the same time, a rich adventurer (Marie Windsor) is seeking a cursed amulet, as she hopes it will lead her to treasure...and she's very willing to kill to get it. So, in the midst of a fanatical cult and amoral adventuress come our two stupid heroes, Bud and Lou. At first, the police think Bud killed the Doctor (the man who had the amulet and Klaris), but later they discover the real killer. In addition to either of them killing Bud and Lou, now that Klaris has come to life, they are as good as dead. Is there any way that they'll escape and this will have a happy ending? See the film yourself to find out the answer.What's to like about the film? Well, most importantly there isn't all that much singing (a serious problem in most Abbott and Costello films) nor is there an irrelevant romantic subplot. Also, while it's all pretty silly, the mummy sequences are pretty cool and the film actually does make you laugh.There are some cheesy moments in the film, such as the "giant lizard" and the skeleton that is chained up in the crypt. Oddly, this "skeleton" is fully articulated and you can see the little screws holding it together!! This is one of my favorite dumb clichés, as in real life, once the tissue has been eaten away, a skeleton has nothing holding it together. Fortunately, such scenes are the exception in the film, not the rule.Overall, a very good film. Sure, Bud and Lou are looking a bit old, but it's a nice way for the team to say goodbye to Universal Studios--there home for most of their previous films and where they got their big break.