Deux nigauds chez les tueurs

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello star in this classic "who done it" movie. The team provides their usual funny pratfalls and mix-ups but along the way they manage to provide a classic theme to this movie. With Abbott and Costello, Karloff managing his way into the picture as the grueling possibility of the killer.

This may be Abbott and Costello's best attempt to provide some new material into their excellent routines. Costello's character, Phillips is mainly accused of murdering a well known lawyer after they have a public disagreement.

Phillips arrives at the lawyers hotel rooms to apologize but he finds that the lawyer has been murdered. Abbott goes far and above the the call of friendship to prove his friends innocents but who really did do it? Watch and see.

One of my favourite Abbott and Costello films, Abbott and Costello Meets the Killer tells about a series of murders that take place in a ski hotel near a large lost caverns. The impossible bellboy, played by Lou, is suspected of murder, and the house dick, played by Bud, is his friend and sometimes character reference. It seems that a lawyer was going to write his memoirs, and lots of people did not want that to happen. A menagerie of misfits and blatant suspects people the hotel. A woman who poisoned her lovers, deftly played by the sultry Lenore Aubert of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein fame, and a phony swami played by the ever affable but eerie Boris Karloff lead the cast of irregulars. Also along for the fun is serious character actor Alan Mowbray. There are a lot of hits and misses in this one, but definitely when the laughs hit, they hit hard! Lou dressed as a parlour maid and being hit on by that lovable character actor Percy Helton has to be one of the highlights as well as Lou in the lost caverns. Lots of good, old-fashioned fun!

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.

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!

Bud & Lou find themselves at the center of a murder mystery, the chief suspect? Why Lou Costello of course.

As a comedy, Meet The Killer offers nothing fresh to what we haven't seen before from the boys prior to this 1949 offering, not that the comedy doesn't deliver, because it does, very much so. Be it Freddie (Costello) being too stupid to be hypnotised by the shifty Swami (Boris Karloff), or a wonderful sequence of events down in the creepy caverns, it's fun and very diverting. However, the strength in "Meet The Killer" is that it works very well as a whodunit mystery, a ream of characters, all acting oddly, come and go to keep the viewer guessing right through to the cheery pay off. It's entertaining on two fronts and has a cast clearly having fun into the bargain. Super shadowy photography by Charles Van Enger as well. Enjoy!

Now, about that Tortoise? 7/10