Universal
In the 1940s and 1950s, the popular comedy team of Abbott and Costello made several movies that spoofed the classic Universal horror films of the 1930s. The premise of these pictures was the same, with Abbott and Costello "meeting" Hollywood's classic monsters.
In this one, directed by Charles Barton, and one of their best, Abbott plays Chick Young and Costello is Wilburn Grey, railway porters who deliver the "undead" bodies of Frankenstein's Monster (Glenn Strange) and Dracula (Bela Lugosi) to a wax museum where the corpses are revived.
Awakened, Dracula decides to replace the catatonic Monster's brain with dim-witted Costello's because it would make the beast easier to control. As Lawrence Talbot, Lon Chaney Jr. tries to help the team, but at night, when there is full moon, he turns into a Wolfman.
The movie, in black-and-white, was a huge box-office hot, encouraging Universal to launch a whole series of films.
Cast
Chick Young (Bud Abbott)
Wilbur Grey (Lou Castello)
Lawrence Talbot/The Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.)
Dracula (Bela Lugosi)
The Monster (Glenn Strange)
Sandra Mornay (Lenore Aubert)
Joan Raymond (Jane Randolph)
McDougal (Frank Ferguson)
Dr. Stevens (Charles Bradstreet)
Harris (Howard Negley)
Credits
Produced by Robert Arthur
Directed by Charles Barton
Screenplay: Robert Lees, Frederic I. Rinaldo, John Grany (based on the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley)
Camera: Charles Van Enger
Editor: Frank Gross
Music: Frank Skinner
F/X: David Horsley
Running time: 83 Minutes