Deux nigauds contre Dr. Jekyll et Mr. Hyde

Have just sat down and re-watched this film with my 3 kids and can definitely say that they loved it. Although by this time in their careers Abbott & Costello's top movie double-act crown was being swiped by those new kids Martin & Lewis,this movie was a box office smash when first released and still holds up well today. The mixture of comedy and horror works a treat as it had done in " Meet Frankenstein" a number of years earlier and Karloffs performance adds real class to the tomfoolery on screen. Of course the Universal depiction of turn of the century London,( all fog shrouded streets and fish & chip shops ) leaves a lot to be desired,I think it adds to the films charm in much the same way as when used in the Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes mysteries of the same period. Bud and Lou carry off their roles well and the romantic subplot seems not to intrude as much as in the boys earlier wartime comedies. All in all a good little film to be watched on a rainy Monday afternoon.

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 ****

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.

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.)

Abbott and Costello started with Frankenstein in 1948, and then proceeded to meet all the great monsters. In this film, the cowardly, hilarious duo team up with the King of Horror, Boris Karloff, as the misguided, evil Dr. Jekyll and his counterpart as the malicious, psychotic Mr. Hyde. This is the next best horror-comedy film for the duo after Frankenstein. It has wonderful sets, funny moments, and fantastic makeup as various individuals turn into Hyde-like beasts and Lou turns into a giant mouse. Karloff somehow remains his ever so serious self, amidst the slapstick humour. You can all most look in his eyes and see him thinking he is above this, but he turns in a very nice performance nonetheless.