Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein1948

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The Review

By 1948 Abbott and Costello were a fading act, kept on at the newly merged Universal-International but no longer the draw they had been. Producer Robert Arthur’s idea was to throw them in with the studio’s monsters, which had been getting their own team-up pictures for five years. The script began as The Brain of Frankenstein. According to Arthur, Costello’s first reaction was that his daughter could write a better script and surely they weren’t serious about making it. They were.

The setup is simple. Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.) phones a Florida railway station from London to warn about two crates bound for McDougal’s House of Horrors, but the moon rises mid-call and baggage clerk Wilbur (Costello) takes the growling for a prank. Wilbur and his partner Chick Young (Bud Abbott) deliver the crates themselves; one holds Dracula’s coffin, the other Frankenstein’s Monster (Glenn Strange). Dracula (Bela Lugosi) revives the Monster and spirits him away to the island castle of Dr. Sandra Mornay (Lenore Aubert), who has been romancing the hopelessly smitten Wilbur for a reason. Dracula wants a new brain for the Monster, one simple and obedient enough to take orders. Wilbur’s is ideal.

What Works

• The monsters are played completely straight. This is the film’s masterstroke. Lugosi, back as the Count for the first time since 1931, is every inch the elegant predator, and he insisted publicly there was no burlesque in the part for him: his job was to frighten the boys, and his trademark would be unblemished. Chaney’s tormented Talbot is as anguished as ever. Because nobody in a cape or fur is winking, the scares are real, and the laughs come from Costello’s terror rather than from mocking the monsters.
• Costello is brilliant. His Wilbur is a quivering, squealing, utterly lovable coward, and his routines are comic gold: the coffin lid that only opens when Chick isn’t looking, the moving candle, and the moment he ends up sitting in the Monster’s lap. Abbott’s straight man, who never sees anything until it’s too late, is the perfect partner.
• It’s beautifully made. Charles Barton keeps the comedy tight and the horror atmospheric, with shadowy castle sets, a lively masquerade ball and a properly frantic laboratory climax. Frank Skinner’s score treats the monsters with full Universal grandeur, and a burst of animation turns Dracula into a bat.
• It’s a fitting farewell. It is widely seen as the last Universal outing for Lugosi’s Dracula, Chaney’s Wolf Man and Glenn Strange’s Monster. They go out not as tired retreads but as the stars of a hit.

What Doesn’t

• The plot is thin. Everything exists to get Wilbur onto the operating table, and the subplots, including Jane Randolph’s undercover insurance investigator, are mostly there to fill time between gags.
• The jokes are of their time. Some of Abbott and Costello’s slapping, shouting business wears thin, and viewers who don’t warm to the team’s style will find long stretches more noisy than funny.
• The Monster gets the least to do. Strange looks the part, but the Monster is mostly a heavy to be pointed at people. He is a set piece rather than a character.

On release the film was an instant hit, one of Universal-International’s biggest of the year and the most successful Frankenstein film since the 1931 original, and it put Abbott and Costello back near the top of the box-office lists. The trades loved it; Variety called it a rambunctious fracas that is funny and, at the same time, spine-tingling, while Bosley Crowther in the New York Times dismissed it as assembly-line comedy. Some horror purists blamed it for killing the genre, and Chaney himself later complained that Abbott and Costello made buffoons out of the monsters. History has sided with the fans. It is a genuine classic, and a gateway to horror for generations of kids.

Harper’s verdict: 4 ravens — the monsters play it straight, Costello screams, and everybody wins.

Trivia and Facts

• No Dr. Frankenstein. The “Frankenstein” of the title is the Monster. Dr. Frankenstein never appears; the villainous scientist is Dr. Sandra Mornay, and Dracula poses as “Dr. Lejos.”
• Lugosi’s last Dracula. Bela Lugosi played Dracula in a feature film only twice: in Dracula (1931) and here, seventeen years later. His other screen vampires were different characters.
• Chaney played the Monster for one shot. Glenn Strange was hurt filming the climax, in which the Monster hurls Dr. Mornay through the laboratory window, and Lon Chaney Jr., who had played the Monster in The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), put on the make-up and did that shot himself.
• Karloff promoted it without watching it. Boris Karloff refused to appear in the film or to see it, but he agreed to pose for publicity photos outside a New York theatre showing it.
• A surprise voice. In the final gag, the Invisible Man introduces himself from the boat, voiced, uncredited, by Vincent Price.
• Honours. The Library of Congress added the film to the National Film Registry in 2001, and the American Film Institute ranked it No. 56 on its 100 Years, 100 Laughs list in 2000.
• It started a cycle. The film’s success led to Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949), Meet the Invisible Man (1951), Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) and Meet the Mummy (1955).

Harper’s Extras

• Comedy Meets Monsters: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein — the full wiki file: the complete case file on the film.
• Bela Lugosi — the wiki file: the Count, seventeen years on.
• Lon Chaney Jr. — the wiki file: Larry Talbot’s final howl at Universal.
• House of Frankenstein — the wiki file: the 1944 rally where Glenn Strange first wore the bolts.
• House of Dracula — the wiki file: the 1945 film that brought the monsters together before this one.
• The Wolf Man — the wiki file: where Talbot’s curse began in 1941.
• Crank it: Frank Skinner’s score. Skinner gives the monsters the full Universal treatment, so the scares sound as serious as they look.

Where to Watch

As of November 9, 2026, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is listed as streaming in the US on AMC+, and you can also rent or buy it digitally on Amazon Video, Apple TV Store or Fandango At Home. Streaming availability can change.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Dr. Frankenstein in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein?

No. The “Frankenstein” in the title refers to the Monster, played by Glenn Strange. The mad scientist of the story is Dr. Sandra Mornay, who works with Dracula.

Who plays Dracula in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein?

Bela Lugosi, in his second and final feature-film performance as Dracula, seventeen years after Dracula (1931).

Does Boris Karloff appear in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein?

No. Karloff declined to be in the film, but he helped promote it. The Monster is played by Glenn Strange, apart from one shot played by Lon Chaney Jr.

Who is the voice of the Invisible Man at the end?

Vincent Price, uncredited. He is heard but never seen in the closing gag.

Until next time, fiends — never open a crate marked for a house of horrors, never trust a coffin lid that won’t stay shut, and if a charming doctor admires your brain, run. Harper will leave a lamp burning for you.