Abbott & Costello treffen Dr. Jekyll und Mr. Hyde

Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is directed by Charles Lamont and loosely based on the novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde written by Robert Louis Stevenson. It stars Bud Abbott, Lou Costello and Boris Karloff. Plot finds Bud and Lou as two coppers in old time London who become involved with the hunt for a monstrous killer. A hunt that brings them into contact with the mysterious Dr. Jekyll.

It would be the fourth from last movie the popular comedy duo would make together, and the latest to see them paired with a famous monster from 30's cinema. Although it's a touch weak in the comedy stakes, and it does kind of feel like they are winding down after such a fruitful career, the film holds up well as a polished picture. The writers have varied the Jekyll & Hyde legend by actually having Jekyll himself be evil, wonderfully essayed by Karloff, and a couple of sequences are genuinely laugh out loud funny: think mouse head, think hypodermic needle; while the involvement of the Suffragettes in the story gives it some historical interest. It's also good on atmosphere, be it the moody streets of London, or Costello alone in a wax museum, Lamont and photographer George Robinson give it a creepy veneer before the anarchy breaks out.

Unlikely to encourage new fans to their work, but a safe addition for those who enjoy the majority of their output. 7/10

After ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN this is my next favorite of their "meet the monsters" movies. Thankfully it offers an added treat by starring horror legend Boris Karloff in the part of Dr. Jekyll, though when he's running around London as Mr. Hyde it is actually a stunt man in a monster mask. Bud and Lou are "Slim" and "Tubby" (okay, so the names aren't very original), two Americans who are hired as bumbling police bobbies in England. It isn't long before they're thrown off the force for their incompetence, but they have a plan to try and get their jobs back by trying to apprehend the "monster" that's been loose and murdering people. This would be Mr. Hyde, the savage alter ego of Dr. Jekyll (Karloff). As portrayed in this film, Jekyll is not very innocent himself, as he is rather a schemer who is madly in love with his young ward (Helen Westcott) who is young enough to be his own granddaughter! The comedy of Abbott and Costello this time relies more on slapstick gags than their trademark verbal "routines". Both comedians look like they did during their television show, as this feature was produced at the same time. If you're a fan of Boris Karloff, this film puts him to far better use than he was given in 1949's ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER. It also works as a straight monster movie along with the jokes. *** out of ****

Two bumbling American cops (Tubby and Slim) hunt for the mysterious Mr. Hyde (Eddie Parker) in London, England.

For whatever reason, the more popular Abbott and Costello horror films seem to be with them meeting Frankenstein, the Mummy or "the killer". But this one is really exceptional, with great makeup and transformation scenes and plenty of humor. It also happens to be one of the few that could arguably called scary.

I have credit Eddie Parker as Hyde because he should be recognized. With all due respect to Boris Karloff, Parker made the role with his jumping around and acting the part of the monster. Parker was such a huge figure in Hollywood, but no one has ever heard of him. (Somebody please write a book about him.)

Whenever I see this I see it through Rose-tinted Spectacles: because I first saw it as a kid nostalgia kicks in and all faults are forgiven. There's quite a few of A&C's in that list, The Lost World (1960) springs to my mind as a different another. It certainly helps because in places this is laughably bad, but of course those bits were likely thrown in just for the kids! On the other hand there are some effective atmospheric moments, the set pieces usually work and the overall production values were good. You know the story - good cop bad cop. The classic 4-round-the-chimney routine still holds up, and the very last gag in the film should leave you smiling - unless you have watched this movie all the way through against your will.

Over here, it's fashionable and even de rigueur for film critics (and buffs) to denigrate the entire A&C canon as anything from utterly worthless to as unfunny as death (no kidding!) along with Britain's wartime box office no.1, George Formby. Without watching a single film sometimes. Pity the blinkered high brows as not being quite complete human beings, at always having to view such harmless fun in an Artistic light. Or maybe pity ordinary people who hate A&C but feel they have to force themselves to sit through this and then unload their bile.

Sure, times change (from innocent to cynical) - Jekyll/Karloff passionately says to Vicky that he'd loved her since she was a child - putting a whole new psychological slant on his persona. Has that been cut out yet? And any comedic aspect of animal experimentation has thankfully gone of course - hasn't it? A&C haven't changed, these are typical late performances from them, only with not so many memorable lines.

If you can see this simply as knockabout Jekyll and Hyde with 2 bumbling American policemen in London and nothing more you'll do OK like me.

Watching Abbott&Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde the only thing that struck me wrong was the casting of Craig Stevens and Helen Westcott as the young lovers. Both are completely American and have absolutely no trace of English speech pattern for a story set in Victorian London. Even Bud and Lou's presence in the film is explained that they are Americans studying English police methods. Which begs the question, what police force in America would hire them?

The cultivated Dr. Henry Jekyll is played by Boris Karloff, but his Jekyll is not the scientist that we saw Fredric March and Spencer Tracy play. He's well into his experiments that now have him change without warning into Mr. Hyde. Unlike with Tracy and March, Hyde does not speak he just grunts and growls the way Karloff's Frankenstein monster does.

Westcott is Karloff's ward whom he has raised since childhood, but those aren't fatherly glances he's giving her now. Especially since young reporter Stevens has become interested in Westcott after covering her at a suffragette rally. It doesn't take much to get his inner Hyde going.

As for Bud and Lou none of their patented burlesque routines are featured here, but they still get plenty of laughs. Unfortunately for the film, their best moments are as London Bobbys trying to break up the suffragette rally where the women do get the better of them which is at the beginning of the film.

Of course at the end Costello gets jabbed with some of Karloff's Hyde serum and goes off on an inner Hyde journey of his own. Reginald Denny has a fine role as the English Scotland Yard Inspector driven quite crazy like Herbert Lom by this pair of American Clouseaus.

Not the best of A&C, but the boys still had a lot of good humor still left for their audience.