Sunday, September 12, 2021

Sven- Abbott and Costello meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)

 

The fifth (out of six) film in Abbott and Costello meet some kind of monster (I am including Abbott and Costello go to Mars (1953) in here as well) and it is mildly entertaining.  Bud and Lou are Slim and Tubby, police officers on loan to London.  They get in a brawl at a woman's suffrage rally at Hyde Park.  Eventually they get involved with Dr. Jekyll, which inevitably gets them involved with Mr. Hyde.  By the end of the movie, Tubby gets an injection and becomes Hyde, Jr. 

There are some funny bits here, and it is always great to see Boris Karloff.  Bud and Lou had already met him in 1949's Abbott and Costello meet the Killer, Boris Karloff, but since this is set in Edwardian England, so they didn't recognize him.  Boris plays the part seriously, which does enhance the comedy bits.  His Jekyll seems to think of Hyde as a means to an end, so perhaps this Hyde is not the evil half, just another form of Jekyll. Tubby bites a bunch of bobbies at the end of the movie, somehow transferring the Hyde effect to them.  That was new!

Next week: Dracula (1931)!

No comments: