Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

NIGHT 30

     "Young people making the most of life... while it lasts."

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) (also known as Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein) is a loose sequel to the Universal horror films. Toward the end of the run of monster movies the studio was willing to try anything to revive interest in the classic monsters and this film proved to be an instant hit.

Chick and Wilbur work as freight handling baggage clerks where they get a strange delivery that they have to personally deliver to a 'house of horrors', wax museum. Unfortunately for them, the horrors in these crates are very real.

One of the things I really like about this film is it has a very simple good story. Dracula wants to put Wilbur's brain into the Frankenstein monster to make him completely obedient and Laurence Talbert knows Dracula is up to something but can't turn him in and has to quietly follow him because of his own dark monster side. All the while Wilbur is one of the few humans to catch on that something is up, but Chick and the others just think he's a babbling idiot so they don't listen. It really is a great idea of how to blend an Abbott & Costello story and a Universal monster movie.

This film has some really great situational humor. Director Charles Barton was the main director of Abbot & Costello sketches through out their careers and this film is a fine example at how good they were with those. I love the way they incorporate the "horror movie-ism"s into some more classic Abbott & Costello style sketches like the revolving door with the trick candle and the part where they're trying to run away from Frankenstein's monster and Dracula at the same time and they end up and down the castle stairs and into and out of rooms and even barricading a door in a room only to have Frankenstein's monster just open it in the opposite direction. Also the fact that they have Bud Abbot dressed in just a black dress shirt and grey slacks with his costume that just consists of a wolf mask, and Lon Chaney is wearing the same thing before he transforms into the wolf man makes for some really smart and well planned out mistaken identity. It's brilliant and hilarious stuff.

As an audience today we're really not used to comedies like this anymore and some of the skits (like the ones mentioned above) can seem a bit long-winded when viewed today. I think the problem is we're so used to quick faster paced movies that when you watch a film like this where they spend ten minutes on a revolving door gag or even five minutes with Lou messing around with luggage our brains just kind of belittle the comedy in-front of us.

Probably my favorite thing about this film is its dialogue and verbal jokes. This film has some hilarious comedy via puns and jokes that crack me up every time. This is of course amplified by Abbott & Costello's mastery of comic timing and facial expressions. I love the running gags with Wilbur's inability to speak when he's frightened so he has to pantomime the Dracula and Monster walks.

And I gotta mention the performances of Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. This film is a must see for classic monster fans because of these two, they really just give it their all and really don't hold back even though this is just a silly comedy. Lon Chaney Jr. reprises his magnificent role as the troubled and tortured Wolf Man (1941) like it was yesterday for him and even though it had been far longer since Lon Chaney donned his cape and fangs you can still really see here why his performance is still considered one of the greatest adaptations of Dracula (1931). Both of these actors just loved the characters and there is no greater proof than their performances in this film.

While Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) may have just been a studio's grab at helping a dying franchise, it's proof to me that horror and monsters can be used in more ways than just to scare people. This is ever so proven in present day where we still get "monster mania" at least once a year.

4.5/5 Stars.

Happy watching!




Tomorrow is the final night of this year's 31 Nights of Macabre Movies! I'm gonna send it off right with a great animated zombie film from last year!

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The Haunted Palace (1963)

NIGHT 5

     "One becomes accustomed to the darkness here."

 

The Haunted Palace (1963) is an AIP horror film directed by Roger Corman and starring Vincent Price and Lon Chaney Jr. The film is considered part of Corman's series of eight films largely based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, dubbed the Corman-Poe cycle. Unlike the rest of the Corman-Poe cycle though, this film is actually based on a novella by H.P. Lovecraft entitled The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. This is actually the first film adaptation of an H.P. Lovecraft story ever made! As Roger Corman made more of these films he started to play with different things as he went on: Tales of Terror (1962) is an anthology film, The Raven (1963) is a comedy,  and The Haunted Palace only takes it's title from Edgar Allan Poe.

The story takes place in the town of Arkham where 110 years ago it's residents burned-alive a warlock by the name of Joseph Curwen. In present day Arkham a man named Charles Dexter Ward comes to town to inherit the property left to him. One problem, Charles Dexter Ward is the spitting image of his long dead ancestor, Joseph Curwen. And the people of Arkham do not want him to stay.

As with the rest of the Corman-Poe cycle the sets are great in this film, but dare I say they seem a bit more lavish in this one than rest of the series? I really dug the design of the mansion/palace sets here.

All in all, The Haunted Palace is a very fair adaptation of the H.P. Lovcraft story, It's not an exact telling, but they got the "gist" of the original story and worked from there. I think it works very well, Roger Corman did well to combine the spirit of the story with his already established style of the other Poe films he did.

Overall most of the acting is good, I could have done with better actors for the villagers but let's face it, they didn't have much of a role anyway. Debra Paget is particularly good as Ward's wife, Anne. And Lon Chaney Jr. is great as always, I only wish he had more of a role because essentially just a glorified henchman. He's effective though, he's got that "nice guy" charm that makes you believe whatever he says.

The biggest problem with this film is the loads of exposition needed to explain some of the finer aspects of the Lovecraft tale, and the details of the supernatural Cthulhu Mythos behind what's happening in the story. This film would have a hard time explaining it visually so it just has the characters lay out the necessary details which seems pretty awkward at points. And honestly, you'd be less truthful to the story but I'm not sure you need them to name the Great Old Ones and could have just said he's summoning a demon for all I care!

I also didn't understand why every single villager from one hundred years ago has a descendant that looks exactly like them, and remembers what the Warlock looked like 100 years ago. Come on, no one thought this through?

I really like the ending, but it is a very open ended scene to end on. Ending on that note actually makes it seem that the story isn't actually over in the slightest. I'm kinda surprised no one tried to make a sequel?

Vincent Price loves these kinds of roles and honestly he's the perfect guy for it too. It's hard to imagine this whole film working at all with a different actor playing those roles though so props to him. He plays both roles with a real level of conviction and it's not the "hammiest" role I've seen him in, but there's a bit of that too.

One thing I really loved was this story's focus on Ward's wife, Anne. They could have probably done more with her, because essentially she just does whatever her husband tells her... something I attributed to the timeframe this is supposed to take place in (but still we could have seen more struggle with obeying her husband). But letting the story focus on her (even partially) is an interesting move because as Charles gets wrapped up in the scheme, she's able to witness it all first hand. Kind of a cool idea.

The Haunted Palace (1963) is one of the better of the Corman-Poe films. If you're not into the big dark medieval horror epics like I am, you will probably find less to like here than I did, but it's in no way a horrible film and it's definitely very watchable.

4/5 Stars.

Happy watching!




The 31 Nights of Macabre Movies continue tomorrow with a far less successful Lovecraft adaptation, Die, Monster, Die! (1965).

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The Wolf Man (1941)

DAY 10

The Wolf Man (1941) is a classic monster film starring Lon Chaney Jr. as Larry Talbot, who returns home to his father in the wake of his brother's death and finds there's more going on in his home town than he remembers. Larry kills a ravenous wolf (only after being bitten) and finds himself suddenly the under suspicion for killing a man. Everyone suspects Larry is delusional or mistaken, but Larry knows he killed a wolf.

The story in The Wolf Man is actually really interesting, I can't think of many stories like this that that combine mystery with magical. The story plays out like a mystery but with fantastical elements and the horror of it actually comes from Larry Talbot's suffering and strife. I also liked how they work in some subtle but interesting statements on religion and class.

There are some odd plot holes or maybe not holes, so much as cracks that I saw. Primarily involving the pendant that the gypsy gives Larry. She says to "Always wear this over your heart," so what does Larry do? Larry looks to save the girl he think will be in danger and quickly gives this to her, which as a result will cause his own downfall. Now if this pendant (which ends up doing nothing in the film) actually could save the inflicted werewolf, why was the first werewolf a gypsy?! Did the Gypsy girl not want to give the pendant to the gypsy Bela for some reason? This really doesn't make sense at all. Then there's always the fact that the first werewolf Bela was actually a wolf (walking on four legs), and then for some reason he bites Larry who becomes a Wolf Man (that walks on two legs...?)

The other thing that bothered me was when the police are investigating Larry after the first incident, Larry's wound has healed magically and there's no dead wolf to be found, so they come to the conclusion he's crazy. But the investigator actually points out the fact that Larry came home he had a bloody jacket from a bite. I wouldn't have even thought of the physical evidence that would have left until the investigator actually points it out! After that, instead of checking the old clothes for proficient bleeding he just assumes that Larry imagined the whole thing! I...don't...understand!?

All in all I'm sad to report this is another film that hasn't weathered the ages of time too well. The beginning of the film spends a lot of time expelling tons of awkward exposition (note this is after the film opens on a page explaining what a werewolf is!) They say the poem of the werewolf, THREE TIMES. By the time they say it a third time it's just hilarious. That is not something easy to work in naturally. I found it interesting they try to work in a little bit of comedy like some of the other Universal horror films, with the assistant to the police being kind of a bumbling idiot. But unfortunately he has only two scenes and when they occur it's just kind of awkward in the midst of everything else that's going on. It's just so unnecessary. Also the film ends very abruptly, this isn't all necessarily bad it's just kind of awkward. Like the lead up wasn't fully paid off, it just seems like an old movie standard that just doesn't hold up today.

The acting in The Wolf Man is really something special. The cast is great with Claude Rains as the Senior Talbot, Maria Ouspenskaya as the gypsy Maleva, the wonderful Evelyn Ankers as the love interest Gwen and even Bela Lugosi in a small but memorable part as the gypsy werewolf who is fittingly named Bela. But above all the actor to see this film for is Lon Chaney Jr. Lon brings such a great range of emotion to the character Larry Talbot that there's no way you can not feel for his character. It's easy to remember his character as suffering and full of strife because he plays it so well but the film actually does an interesting thing by setting him up as a very happy skirt chaser without much care in the world, this make his transition even greater.

All in all The Wolf Man (1941) might seem a bit dated viewed today but the story is still good, the acting is amazing and the film just has a really nice charm to it. 3.5/5 stars.

Happy watching!







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