leplatypus
Sure the story is a bit loose and not very believable! But it's the real monsters played by their iconic cast and for a comedy, it's really funny! One more time, we must understand than we are not that brilliant today because just 70 years ago, "old" people have already create hilarious jokes! This movie is so good for fun that i realized now that Fufu vs Fantomas in Scotland plays all the same tricks: one guy sees paranormal and creatures everywhere while his entourage is blind! In addition, the lines are chiseled with genius and for one time, nobody can be afraid of the terrible Wolf-man as he becomes so ridiculous! The production is really lavish, especially the Gothic mansion on the lake! It's the 1st time i saw this classic duo: for sure, i have in mind the other, with Laurel & Hardy and it's hard to rate the two because they are not that similar: Costello is the funny guy while Abbott stays always serious. At last, the classical effects with animated bats and time lapse make-up are so crafty that they breathe life and nostalgia that CGI will never match!
Prichards12345
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!"
mike48128
Originally to be titled "The Brain of Frankenstein". A high-budget film with an an almost flawless script and some of the best dialog and performance of Lou Costello's entire film career. Here, the monsters play it straight, not for laughs. The Wolfman tries to be the hero, but his curse prevents it. Only the second time that Bela Lugosi played Dracula for Universal Pictures. (He has even played "Frankenstein's Monster".) They did such a terrific job with Glen Strange as the monster and he played it very well. He was 6-ft.-six. He often was cast in westerns, and he was Sam the Bartender in the "Gunsmoke" TV series. Look for the "goofs" next time you watch it: Dracula's reflection. "Frankie" stumbles a few times. An operating table starts to fall before it is pushed over by the monster. Pretty-good effects animation by Walter Lantz Productions (Famous for Woody Woodpecker) Great sets, crisp photography. A legendary film score. (Too bad they re-used it at least 3 other times.) On the AFI's list of the 100 best comedies of all time. A film never equaled and it never will be. What a cast! When I was a kid, the brain operation scene scared me to death, even on a TV! What a startling, nasty sound the electricity makes! The monster that burns up at the finale has a cast-wax head, from the original "mask". I had the opportunity to see this film on a big screen, at a Saturday matinée in the 1950's. I was 5. Of course, Vincent Price is the famous voice of the cigarette smoking Invisible Man. Best quote of the film is by Lou Costello: "The next time I tell you that I saw it, you believe me that I saw it" Next best: Wolfman: During a full moon, I turn into a wolf... Lou: "Yeah, you and 20 million other guys". A bit of flicker on the opening titles, but otherwise a great copy in the 2015 re-issue.
pyrocitor
Sometimes all you need is a good laugh, complexity be damned. Sometimes all you want is a warm bath of familiarly, dually titillated by belly laughs of the most finely honed, classic slapstick, while shivering in reverence (maybe even in fright, if you're of the right disposition) at some of Universal's finest monster mayhem. Which is why, sometimes, you can't do any better than romp around with Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, and their meeting with Frankenstein (and friends) is arguably the most purely joyful escapist fun any of their monster mashes have to offer. In terms of poduction-values, it's hard to knock three monsters for the price of one (Dracula, Frankenstein's Creature and the Wolf Man would never again reassemble until - shudder - 2004's Van Helsing), and the story actually does a decent job of weaving all three in without seeming too gratuitous, though an opening sequence in a wax museum house of horrors does poke fun at the constructed artificiality of monster scares. Additionally, Universal's classy treatment of their tentpole horror monsters, even in parody form, is always nice, as the mayhem is built around them, but never resorting to crass, embarrassing gags at their expense (few contemporary filmmakers do parody and pastiche so respectfully). Of course, the plot is ludicrously thin - it's never even explained why Dracula seeks to reinvigorate Frankenstein's Creature (naturally, with Costello's brain), the central point of conflict - and the dramatic irony of Costello being terrified, only for the spectre in question to vanish before a bemused Abbott can lay eyes on it is exploited to the point of pushing limits of patience. Meanwhile, monster nitpickers will grumble that the title is a misnomer, as Bud and Lou only meet Frankenstein's creation, not the mad scientist himself (though we do get a glimpse at his helpfully specific lab notes, apparently published in book form...). Ultimately, it's all in good fun, and such quibbles feel increasingly besides the point in the face of such a wall of laughs. What is the point is howling at Bud and Lou's priceless chemistry, hysterical physical slapstick, facial expressions, and immaculate wordplay ("I saw what I saw when I saw it" being the takeaway quote of choice here), and lapping up the joy of their tried-and-true personas - Abbott the curmudgeonly straight man, Costello the adorably dimwitted crybaby-cum-lothlorio - typecasting be damned. The Universal vets are more than willing to dive into the fun, and their commitment to character helps the silliness fly. Bela Lugosi (amazingly, in his only time reprising Count Dracula!) is as good as they come, slinking around with eerie-eyed menace undercut by a hefty undercurrent of silky charm, Glenn Strange makes for a fantastically gruesome, shambling Frankenstein's monster, while Lon Chaney Jr.'s wooden melancholic delivery as the world-weary Lawrence Talbot wins almost as many laughs as the headliners, just as his snarling, contorting Wolf Man is as fearsome as ever. Lenore Aubert and Jane Randolph also get in on the fun, both maintaining class and credibility and stealing some of the best laughs despite being largely treated like set dressing by the customary playful misogyny of the time. Dracula's castle also makes for a sumptuously Gothic set piece, and its labyrinth of secret swivelling wall panels, cobblestones and stockades makes for the perfect playpen for Bud and Lou. You pretty much get what it says on the tin with Abbott and Costello - and Meets Frankenstein, by privileging big recurring gags over zingers, isn't even their sharpest work in their oeuvre - so those aspiring for smarter or more substantial screwball frivolity would do best to bolt for the door (ideally screeching "CHIIIIIIIIIIICKKKKKK!!!" like Costello). But, for those willing to leave their brains at the door (and Dracula gratefully accepts your kind donation), Meet Frankenstein is their wildest, zaniest, and, arguably, flat-out funniest cinematic work. It's tightly paced, chock-full of all the gags and big reveal monster moments you can shake a vampire bat at, and the whole gang - spooks and funny men - are so cheerfully committed to entertaining, it's near impossible not to have a deliriously good time. Just remember not to go on a double-date with Costello, or you'll end up with nothing but a spookily fun story to tell. -9/10
