Gianni e Pinotto e l'assassino misterioso

Abbott and Costello are one of the best comedy duos on film, and there are some great entries of theirs, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein being a contender for their best. Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff is not one their high-points, there are a few draggy spots, a rather standard story and while he is eerie and commanding Boris Karloff is underused(so much for the misleading title). The gags are well-timed and funny though, especially the dressing up in drag, Costello being hypnotised by Karloff and playing cards with a corpse. There is a very nice mix of zany comedy and suspenseful mystery elements, the dialogue is snappily written, the film looks good and is directed in a way that allows the stars to have fun and the story to breathe while not leaving things out of control. Abbott and Costello are still as funny as ever and their chemistry still sparkles even with contrasting personalities. The acting is solid enough from all, Karloff is still fine in his role, you just want to see more of him considering how great an actor he was and is. Overall, not among the greats with Abbott and Costello but makes for good fun regardless. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Fans of ABBOTT and COSTELLO should enjoy this entry, even if the title is a bit misleading--and even if BORIS KARLOFF doesn't get to be quite as menacing as you might want him to be. He does look distinguished in that turban as a Swami who tries to put Costello into a trance so he'll believe that he's the murderer, with negative results.

Most of the action takes place at a secluded hotel where a well-known lawyer has been found murdered. Suspicion points to bellboy COSTELLO, and in a script that has ABBOTT as a house detective, you can see that poor Lou is gonna have a hard time proving his innocence...especially when dead bodies keep popping up everywhere wherever he goes.

It's not as funny as WHO DONE IT? or HOLD THAT GHOST, but considerably better than some of the later stuff they did toward the end of their career.

Enjoyable enough nonsense for their fans.

A well-known attorney is murdered at the Lost Caverns Hotel. Murder evidence points to Freddie Phillips(Lou Costello), a bellhop. and his friend, Casey Edwards(Bud Abbott), is the hotel detective. Many murders are committed and casts more suspicion on the bellhop. Swami Talpur(Boris Karloff) tries to hypnotize Freddie into signing a false confession, and then killing himself. However, the bellhop's below average mentality prevents this from happening. Because of the great success of "Abbott & Costello" Meet Frankenstein the year before, Universal decided to team their former horror star, Karloff with their top comics. Boris Karloff played himself perfectly and with the great talents of Bud & Lou, it is a must see Classic Comedy. It is well worth viewing and owning!

We have here the excellent slapstick performances of straight man Bud Abbott and comic genius Lou Costello,combined with the always menacing Boris Karloff,though here he is much more lighthearted of course.Freddy Phillips(Costello)is suspected of murder.Of course we all know he didn't do it,and the hilarious journey to the real killer begins from there. While this is not Abbott and Costello's greatest effort,it is certainly good enough,and it is a great combination of murder mystery and comedy. Today's comedy writers and performers could learn a lot from A and C, as well as many others from their era.If you want to know what real comedy is all about,the films of Abbott and Costello are the way to go. Great stuff.

Much of Abbott and Costello's late 40s/early 50s output put them in parodies of various film genres--this one is a parody of murder mysteries. I saw this as a child and liked it, although I was let down that Boris Karloff had such an insignificant role. Now that it's out on DVD as part of the third A&C boxset, I'm seeing it again, and I still think it's quite funny. There are many well-paced comic set-ups and the boys don't look bored as they do in some of their later vehicles. No great analysis is needed for a film like this--it's just classic comedy and has held up very well.