Lou Costello : Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

What was Abbott & Costello's last great movie?

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I'd say it was Comin' Round The Mountain in 1951. It was their last film written by Lees/Rinaldo. Some may disagree and say Lost In Alaska (which isn't bad). When they do A&C Go To Mars that's the beginning of the end, IMO.

When you spot your flower, you can't let anything get in your way.
Adaptation

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?



Nope for me, their last great film was Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein back in 1948. After that, A&C films went downhill, although A&C Meet The Invisble Man has it's moments.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

You know I'm not that crazy about A&C Meet Frankenstein anymore. Unfortunately it signaled the beginning of the A&C Meet series. Plus I hate the fact that Universal didn't make it in color. I'll never forgive them for that. I'll ad 5b4 mit it's their most popular film but not their best by a long shot IMO. Actually I enjoy A&C Meet The Killer and Meet The Invisible Man much more. For some reason a lot of fans don't care for Comin' Round The Mountain. I like it a lot and rate it as one of their best, though it does end rather abruptly.


America is addicted to speed. Hot, nasty, bad ass speed. Eleanor Roosevelt

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

As a mutual Abbott & Costello fan, I respect your diverse opinion, but Abbott & Costello Meets Frankenstein is held in very high regard by the majority of A&C fans and even by film critics that aren't A&C fans themselves. That Film has the most quotable funny lines than any other A&C film the boys ever made. Most film critics put that A&C film in the same respective status as other horror comidies like Young Frankentein, Shawn Of The Dead, Ghostbusters and The Fearless Vampire Killers Or Pardon Me But Your Teeth Are In My Neck. What happened is that because of the success of that film, Universal wanted the boys to continue doing horror comidies and the ones that followed weren't as well directed or written as the Frankenstein one. I don't agree that A&C Meet Frankenstein would be better in color, since except for 1943's Phantom Of The Opera & The Climax, Universal didn't do their horror films in color and besides, their horror films look more atmospheric in black & white. As for Comin Round The Mountain, in my opinion the boys were much better and funnier in Ride Em Cowboy & The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap which were similar in theme to Comin Round The Mountain.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I took another look at A&C Meet Frankenstein over the weekend and while it's not my favorite, I have to admit I enjoyed it. I bought that dvd set that they released a few weeks ago but for some reason this film had that Realart thing at the beginning and the end. Realart (as you probably know) was used when they would re-release their films. I don't know why they would have used that instead of the original Universal opening and closing titles. I've only looked at a couple of films but this is the first time I've seen Realart.

I think the thing that I have against Meet Frankenstein is that the monsters overshadow A&C IMO. Costello spends most of the film being frightened or trying to convince Bud that he's seeing monsters and Bud thinks he's seeing things. According to that A&C In Hollywood book (among the best film books on anyone), it said Lou was very dissatisfied with the script and I can see why he might have that opinion. It's not your typical A&C film. My favorites are more along the lines of Buck Privates, Who Done It, Hit The Ice, Here Come The Coeds, Wistful Widow, Time of Their Lives and Buck Privates Come Home to name a few. I'm not that crazy about their early stuff when Universal seemed to be just cranking them out. Pretty much anything that Lees/Rinaldo wrote. The ones I absolutely hate are It Ain't Hay, In Society, Mexican Hayride and that one where they're on a riverboat. I'm not too crazy about their 3 MGM films either or their later A&C Meet series(Dr. Jekyll, Mummy, Keystone Cops). Anything from A&a 111c mp;C Go To Mars onward.

Like I've been posting for years, this board is VERY inactive. You'd think there'd be more A&C fans.


America is addicted to speed. Hot, nasty, bad ass speed. Eleanor Roosevelt

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?


Well. it looks you and I have similar tastes in A&C films, since I'm also a fan of the A&C films written by Lees & Rinaldo like A& C Meet Frankenstein, Buck Privates Come Home, The Time Of Their Lives(Costello's best performance in my opinion!) and Hold That Ghost. I also like the films the boys did either with director Charles Barton or Arthur Lubin, but I don;t like the films the boys did with director Charles Lamont or Jean Yarborough which were done in the late 40's thru the mid 1950's. As for A&C Meet Frankenstein, Lee & Rinaldo wrote the
script to have a perfect balance between comedy and horror and that's why the
writers left the comedy to the boys and had the monsters play their scenes straight without parody. In my sincere opinion as a lifelong A&C fan, that's why this film works so well and is my favorite A&C film. This film for me wouldn't work as well as it does, if they had the Universal monsters doing double takes and pratfalls to the antics of the boys. That perfect balance between A&C humor and Universal horror is what makes that film a classic and a wonderful end to the Universal classic horror series of the 30's & 40's.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I honestly loved watching all of their films because it was a time when comedy was a lot better than todays comedies. I think some of todays comedians need to learn how do comedy from the Kings of Comedy.

Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans! http://www.usaupallnight.webs.com

Post deleted

This message has been deleted.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I loved all of the Abbott and Costello comedies because back when I was a kid they would show these films on the weekends as a family entertainment. I especially remember WGN out of Chicago had Family Movie Classics which was hosted by one of the people that was on Bozo Th 2000 e Clown Circus. I grew up watching Bozo The Clown. I feel sorry for todays youths because they will not get to grow up with that. My parents and I would sit and watch all of the films that they would show on Abbott and Costello. Shoot even a station out of St. Louis, Mo. had their own family evening entertainment. I live in Central Illinois which we get some programming mainly from Champaign, Springfield, and Bloomington, Illinois because they are a larger cities than Decatur and have several different stations that sends their programming.

The reason why people worship so much the service comedies is because you forget to remember what we were in at the time when those films were made. That was the time of World War II. and both Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were very patriotic for their country. Uncle Sam asked them to get into helping to sell war bonds and what a better way than to do it by creating some service comedies. People of World War II. love those comedies or what I mean is people who grew up around that time find it very special. It is sad that the IRS went after both Bud Abbott and Lou Costello though due to them helping in promoting what they needed to do for the time of the war.

Dedicated to USA UP ALL NIGHT and the fans! http://usaupallnight.webs.com

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I really enjoy Lost in Alaska, although it's hard for me to say it's GREAT.

Go To Mars is definitely the step off the cliff.


I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

Lost In Alaska has its moments. I just looked up some of the writing credits for some of their films and it says that Lees/Rinaldo wrote Comin' Round The Mountain. I think it was the last film they did together. I remember reading somewhere that they had a fallin 111c g out with Costello (which was probably typical). I don't think they wrote anything after Meet Frankenstein til Comin Round The Mountain for them. I was a little surprised to see that. I just assumed they also did Meet The Killer and Invisible man for them too.

I have my nitpickings with Universal but one thing I have to admit is that they never made the A&C films too long. An hour and twenty minutes or so and they're done. I remember seeing a Martin & Lewis film and sometimes there films are just too long. I can't take it for an hour and 40 minutes. I think Here Come The Coeds stretches to 90 minutes with that creepy woman singer who sounds like a man. There was too much singing in that one for my taste and yet it's one of my favorites. I especially liked it when Lou was playing basketball. Now Time of Their Lives could have used an additional 10 or 20 minutes because it was so good.


America is addicted to speed. Hot, nasty, bad ass speed. Eleanor Roosevelt

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I remember the "Let's Play House!" number from Coeds making my skin crawl, haha.

Some of the musical numbers are pretty good though, I love the "Hot Time in the Igloo" from Alaska.

I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one day at a time.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

Comin' Round the Mountain is my least favourite A&C film. I'd have to say Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man is their last great film. Meet the Mummy is all right but Meet the Invisible Man is hilarious.


RIP Eraser Lady (4/10/05 to 11/5/08)
The Lord of the Rings movies suck.

Post deleted

This message has been deleted.

Post deleted

This message has been deleted.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I like most of their movies that I've seen, with the exception of

One Night in Tropics
Little Giant
Mexican Hayride

And I'll agree with grape, that Invisible man is one of their best.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I have seen "Lost in Alaska" and I didn't really care much for the movie either, the only sequence I thought was funny was when they were taking turns at going to bed

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

Lost in Alaska is easily the worst film they ever appeared in, and probably the worst project any member of the crew was ever involved in. The direction and editing are not only bad but incompetent, Abbott's timing is abysmal, and Costello looks bored. It also features the most shoddy production values of any of their films. Their last notable achievement was also their last film for Universal - Meet the Mummy. I'm quite fond of the post-Frankenstein vehicles, and that's one of their most inspired efforts. Meet the Killer, Foreign Legion, Comin' Round the Mountain, and The Keystone Kops are all among their finest as well.

If I could drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive.

Post deleted

This message has been deleted.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I have never seen "A&C Meet Captain Kidd" before but I have heard it was a mediocre film and I don't think it's a movie I wanna watch again, I also thought "A&C Meet Jack & the Beanstalk" was one of their mediocre films as well

Post deleted

This message has been deleted.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I have seen both "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Lost in Alaska" and I thought they weren't very good films, I know A&C's popularity was declining during that time, I would like to check out "A&C Go to Mars" since I can picture me liking outer space movies from the 1950s, I have seen "A&C Meet Keystone Kops" and I thought it was a good film but not one of their best, I have yet seen "A&C Meet the Mummy".

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

A&C Go to Mars and A&C Meet the Mummy aren't bad, and have some really funny scenes. If you're an A&C fan, I think that you'll like them enough.

But then again, I actually don't mind both, Jack and the Beanstalk and Lost in Alaska. But I won't even put on the three that I mentioned above.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

I think their last true classic was A & C Meet Frankenstein, but I think the rest of their movies had their moments, and I actually can't get enough of Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy when it comes on, I just am fascinated by that movie, and that one golden moment, of the shovel and pick routine, is just sublime.

Interestingly, while the movies may have taken a bit of a downturn in the 50's, the first season of their series was just amazingly awesome, and even the not as good second season has it's moments. And it's FANTASTIC to see their Colgate stuff and how they interacted so well with an audience, and how performing live just brought out the best in them.

Even though I think Meet Frankenstein was their la 5b4 st truly great classic, I also think Meet the Killer is almost there, I think the ending in particular of that movie is AWESOME, just about perfect, and there's some pretty great stuff in Meet the Invisible Man, Meet Jekyll and Hyde, Meet the Keystone Kops, and Meet the Mummy.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

The last great Abbott and Costello film must have been ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN [1951]. 1951 was the last year that Abbott and Costello would appear on the top ten box office list. COMIN' ROUND THE MOUNTAIN was also released that year, but I don't think it was a hit.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN, though ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY was an honorable way for them to end their Universal contract. One thing that hurt most of their Fifties comedies was that John Grant had attached himself to Martin and Lewis, and Bud and Lou themselves were saving their enthusiasm for television. After their meeting with the Invisible Man, they were mostly just picking up paychecks and phoning in their movie work.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

..also like the Mummy film..a lot

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man is their last great one IMO. But I still like certain parts of their very last, poorer movies.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

All A&C movies have their moments, but Meet Fr 5b4 ankenstein was clearly their last "great" film.

Unfortunately most of their later films do drag in spots, have poor scripts or a weak supporting cast. (Was anyone ever more objectionable than that god-awful Dorothy Shea and her boring, interminable songs in Comin' Round the Mountain?)

In my opinion, after 1948 their best films (though none qualifies as "great") were Meet the Invisible Man (probably their best), Meet Captain Kidd and Go to Mars. I know a lot of people knock those last two but I think both have many good moments. I like the sci-fi aspects of the misnamed Go to Mars, and of course Kidd has Charles Laughton and the unusual (for A&C) aspect of color. (Jack and the Beanstalk is actually not bad and has a mix of color and sepia.)

But the fact is most of their best work was pre-'48. My faves include the service comedies from '41, Ride 'Em Cowboy, Who Done It?, Pardon My Sarong, Hit the Ice, In Society and their best or near-best, The Time of Their Lives. The Naughty Nineties isn't bad but it does have the full-length Baseball Routine, which makes it a must.

I agree, their MGM films aren't all that great. MGM was too stolid and formulaic. The boys thrived on the fast-moving anarchy encouraged by Universal.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

..in Kidd, Laughton had a blast w\the boys;


apparently, Chas just laffed 'n laffed thru the film.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

Yes, at first he seemed a bit bewildered by it all, until Hillary Brooke, who had worked with A&C, told him to just relax and go with it. Laughton did and had the time of his life. (You can actually see his demeanor shift as the film progresses.)

Typical of the best actors, Laughton was willing to do something completely foreign to him, just for the experience and to broaden his talents. He never considered this somehow "beneath him" the way some actors would. In fact, when he surprised his agent by accepting the offer to reprise his role as Kidd (he had portrayed him in the 1945 movie Captain Kidd), he explained that among other reasons, he had never known how to do a "double-take", but that by working with Lou Costello he could learn how.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

In terms of box office popularity it would be ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN [1951]. Abbott and Costello reached the peak of their popularity that year.

Re: Last great Abbott + Costello movie?

Abbott and Costello reached their peak in 1942. They were number 1 at the box office that year.
Top