Directed by Charles
Lamont, written by Lee Loeb and John Grant, inspired by the novella by Robert
Louis Stevenson
Starring Bud Abbott, Lou
Costello, Boris Karloff and Helen Westcott
1953
Two recently-fired London
cops try to get back on their boss’s good side by tracking down the “monster”
responsible for a string of murders. Little do they know the “monster” is none
other than Mr. Hyde, the seemingly-good Dr. Jekyll’s evil alter ego.
Every Universal monster
eventually ended up meeting Abbott and Costello, but the funny thing about Mr.
Hyde is that he was never really a Universal monster. The most famous Mr. Hyde
was from a Paramount flick. But, here he’s played by a name synonymous with
Universal, Boris Karloff. That is to say, Dr. Jekyll is played by Boris Karloff
– once he’s turned into Mr. Hyde there’s enough of a mask/makeup to make him
unrecognizable, so that’s where Eddie Parker takes over.
The thing that always
drives me to distraction is how annoying it is that while Boris Karloff showed
up in 2 Abott and Costello movies (this one and the one from last Horrorfest,
MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF) he did NOT show up in the best of the series,
ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN. If he had, we would have finally had
Lugosi, Karloff and Chaney all in one movie at one time as each of their
respectively most famous monsters. But no. Instead, he shows up for this. Which
is not very good, but not as bad as THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF.
The funny thing about
this take on Jekyll and Hyde is that this time around Jekyll is basically
openly villainous. He becomes Mr. Hyde to carry out his crimes without being
held accountable, but openly and villainously schemes even when he’s the “good”
doctor.
As far as the comedy is
concerned, pretty much the funniest thing about this movie is the fact that
Abbott’s character is named Slim and Costello’s is named Tubby, when at this
point in their careers, Abbott’s getting chunky and Costello’s slimming down.
Go figure.
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