ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN (1951)
Ten years! It's been 10 years almost to the day since the last entry in my Universal Classic Horror blog series. According to a list, available then but now gone from Wikipedia, there are 51 films in the classic Universal Horror film series, starting with THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1921) and ending with THE MOLE PEOPLE (1956). I watched and reviewed 36 of those films between 2008-2011, when LiveJournal was still a thing.
Then I ran out of gas! The quality of the films slumped starting in the early 1940s, when the storied franchise became a shared universe of crossover pictures made ever more quickly and cheaply. The studio was sold. Production values deteriorated. And in 1948, Abbott and Costello took over the franchise to make four comedy/horror hits, running slapstick routines literally over Bela Lugosi's coffin (at least in the first one). In 2011, these movies were hard to cheaply source, and after watching one, I decided I was done.
Now I'm back. I dislike unfinished business... but my real reason is I'm reading a terrific book, The Lady From the Black Lagoon (2019) by Mallory O'Meara. Subtitled "Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick," it tells the story of the first woman to create a monster. Milicent Patrick designed The Creature from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954). She was also one of the first Disney animators, and worked on FANTASIA (1940). Hollywood was an unfair business then in a world that was very unfair to woman; not much has changed and O'Meara uses the biography as an launching point to reflect on the sexism she herself has experienced. It's very good. My greatest regret, since I was watching in chronological order, is that I did not get as far as CREATURE on the last run. Now I want to watch the film before I continue on to Chapter 8, which begins to detail Patrick's experience working on the picture.
Which means I have three Abbott & Costello movies to slog through. MEETS THE INVISIBLE MAN is actually pretty good... if you like this sort of thing. I laughed out loud a few times in the second half. The story is that a boxer has been framed for murder and uses Dr. Griffin's invisibility serum to hide from the police. Abbott and Costello play private detectives who get caught up in the mayhem, including a major set piece where Lou poses as a boxer and gets in the ring with a real middleweight, counting desperately on his invisible friend to fight for him, protecting him from uppercuts and the mob, which wants him to lie down in the fifth round. I think I remember seeing this as a kid. The physical comedy is ingenious.
But Abbott and Costello are not for me. A documentary included on the DVD I received for Christmas proclaims their comedy to be timeless. Really? Nah. Not even in the day! The team made 35 films between 1940 and 1955 and their career together was over. Bud was a great straight man, though, and they have a very confident film presence. History on screen.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K
Then I ran out of gas! The quality of the films slumped starting in the early 1940s, when the storied franchise became a shared universe of crossover pictures made ever more quickly and cheaply. The studio was sold. Production values deteriorated. And in 1948, Abbott and Costello took over the franchise to make four comedy/horror hits, running slapstick routines literally over Bela Lugosi's coffin (at least in the first one). In 2011, these movies were hard to cheaply source, and after watching one, I decided I was done.
Now I'm back. I dislike unfinished business... but my real reason is I'm reading a terrific book, The Lady From the Black Lagoon (2019) by Mallory O'Meara. Subtitled "Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick," it tells the story of the first woman to create a monster. Milicent Patrick designed The Creature from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954). She was also one of the first Disney animators, and worked on FANTASIA (1940). Hollywood was an unfair business then in a world that was very unfair to woman; not much has changed and O'Meara uses the biography as an launching point to reflect on the sexism she herself has experienced. It's very good. My greatest regret, since I was watching in chronological order, is that I did not get as far as CREATURE on the last run. Now I want to watch the film before I continue on to Chapter 8, which begins to detail Patrick's experience working on the picture.
Which means I have three Abbott & Costello movies to slog through. MEETS THE INVISIBLE MAN is actually pretty good... if you like this sort of thing. I laughed out loud a few times in the second half. The story is that a boxer has been framed for murder and uses Dr. Griffin's invisibility serum to hide from the police. Abbott and Costello play private detectives who get caught up in the mayhem, including a major set piece where Lou poses as a boxer and gets in the ring with a real middleweight, counting desperately on his invisible friend to fight for him, protecting him from uppercuts and the mob, which wants him to lie down in the fifth round. I think I remember seeing this as a kid. The physical comedy is ingenious.
But Abbott and Costello are not for me. A documentary included on the DVD I received for Christmas proclaims their comedy to be timeless. Really? Nah. Not even in the day! The team made 35 films between 1940 and 1955 and their career together was over. Bud was a great straight man, though, and they have a very confident film presence. History on screen.
Universal Classic Horror Blog Series Rating:
4 - For everyone
3 - For horror fans only
2 - For classic horror fans only
1 - For Pete's sake
0 - Paging MST3K