Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) As I stated a few pages earlier, this is my favorite A&C film. I was just going to run the Ben M comments, then decided to watch the animated opening, then the scene in the museum, then, the whole thing.
I thought the demise of both the Wolfman & Dracula was odd; knowing it takes silver to kill W, and requires a stake through the heart to destroy D. But, here, both just fell off the balcony, and into the water!?
Oh, & the Monster, Junior, as C calls him, is trapped on the dock by a wall of flames. What does he do? walks right into them!? Hmm., this seems unlikely behavior, as he fled fire in the fist Frankenstein film.
8/10
The Wolfman (1941) Bela Lugosi is TCM's man of the month, & I used TCM's streaming to watch the comments on the films from 10/02. Once I realized how short the film was, I watched it also. Less than 75 minutes, including the comments before & after.
So, Lugosi's role is small, but tough; sometimes that happens.
Lawrence "Larry" Talbot (
Lon Chaney Jr.) was away in America for over a decade, & returns home to Wales, and has no idea what will happen. He had just met a lovely young woman,
Gwen Conliffe (
Evelyn Ankers), and though she has a boyfriend, she and her friend Jenny Williams (
Fay Helm) go out with him. There just happens to be a group of travelling gypsies in town, & just for fun, they go to have their fortunes told. Bela (
Bela Lugosi), is the one who does the fortune-telling, & Williams his 1st customer, and what does he see when he examines her palm? A pentagram! Soon, he will transform into a werewolf, & rip out her jugular vein; Talbot will beat him to death with a silver-tipped cane; but not before Bela bites him. He is now the Wolfman!
Supporting cast/characters:
Sir John Talbot (
Claude Rains); Dr. Lloyd (
Warren William); Captain Paul Montford (
Ralph Bellamy); Maleva, the Romani sorceress (
Maria Ouspenskaya).
The part I had forgotten is that once Talbot accepts that he is a wolfman, he cannot convince anyone of it. His own father thinks he has been deluded by the gypsies. The same element was in
A&C Meet F.
9/10