Movie Quote of the Day (Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein’s Monster)

[Trying to evade the monster, Wilbur puts on a black cloak over his face]
Wilbur Grey (played by Lou Costello): [imitating Dracula] “Back! Back!”
The Monster (played by Glenn Strange): “Yes, master.”
Wilbur: [takes off cloak and turns to Chuck, played by Bud Abbott] “He thinks I'm Dracula!”—Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948), written by Robert Lees, Frederic I. Rinaldo and John Grant, directed by Charles Barton

It’s fitting that this “Quote of the Day” features Victor Frankenstein’s monster and (implicitly) Dracula, for the two greatest monsters of the silver screen made their first appearances before film audiences in 1931. (I’m not counting F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent Nosferatu, which used the Bram Stoker tale without permission.) Earlier this year, I wrote about the anniversary of Dracula; today marks the 80^th anniversary of the wildly successful transfer to the screen of Mary Shelley’s 1818 shocker about the unintended consequences of scientific exploration.

Dyed-in-the-wool horror fans were probably disappointed that Lugosi and Karloff didn’t appear together in the Abbott and Costello comedy (Karloff had departed Universal Studios a few years before, feeling that the Frankenstein franchise was played out). But the two actors had, in any case, already appeared in eight films, with one of their best saved for last: The Body Snatcher (1945), Val Lewton’s adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic short story.

Though Karloff won enduring fame as the Frankenstein monster (a role that came to him, incidentally, only when Lugosi turned it down), his performance in The Body Snatcher is likely to linger longer in the minds of viewers. When we first see him, he appears to be a folksy, kindly Scottish coachman; by the end of the film, we know him as a grave robber and murderer whose smile is all the more sinister because he knows the worst secrets of the respectable medical establishment that pays him to do its dirty work.

By the way, I had a bit of a hard time coming up with this post. I wanted something that blended comedy and Frankenstein without resorting to the inevitable Young Frankenstein. Easier said than done.

Something about Dracula (Lugosi’s accent? The bloodthirsty count’s undisguised desire for wenches?) has made it a richer field for parody than Frankenstein. In fact, the only decent comedies that mine Frankenstein for laughs (a skit on The Carol Burnett Show, the Moonlighting episode “The Bride of Tupperman,” and even Young Frankenstein) end up looking for additional inspiration to its 1935 sequel, The Bride of Frankenstein. Maybe it’s the prospect of a female mate with such an unusual hairstyle that brings out the antic muse.