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Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff | |
|---|---|
 Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Theatrical Poster |
|
| Directed by | Charles Barton |
| Produced by | Robert Arthur |
| Written by | John Grant Hugh Wedlock, Jr. Howard Snyder |
| Starring | Bud Abbott Lou Costello Boris Karloff Lénore Aubert |
| Music by | Milton Schwarzwald |
| Editing by | Edward Curtiss |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | August 22, 1949 |
| Running time | 82 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $686,00 |
| Preceded by | Africa Screams (1949) |
| Followed by | Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950) |
| IMDb profile | |
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff is a 1949 comedy horror film starring Abbott and Costello and Boris Karloff.
Contents |
Amos Strickland (Nicholas Joy), a famous criminal attorney, checks into the Lost Caverns Resort Hotel. He is later discovered murdered by the bellboy, Freddie Phillips (Lou Costello). Casey Edwards (Bud Abbott), the house detective, tries to clear Freddie, but Inspector Wellman (James Flavin) and Sergeant Stone (Mikel Conrad) keep him in custody.
Seven of Strickland's former clients are also at the resort, and they are all suspects. The former clients are Swami Talpur (Boris Karloff), Angela Gordon (Lénore Aubert), Mrs. Hargreave (Victoria Horne), T. Hanley Brooks (Roland Winters), Lawrence Crandall (Harry Hayden), Mrs. Grimsby (Claire DuBrey), and Mike Relia (Vincent Renno). They all get together for a meeting and decide that they must keep their pasts a secret and that Freddie must take the blame for Strickland's murder. They make various attempts to get Freddie to sign a confession, including Angela trying to seduce him, and the Swami trying to hypnotize him, but every attempt fails.
Freddie and the two officers, in an attempt to lure the real killer, let everyone know that Freddie is in possession of a blood-stained handkerchief that was found at the scene of the crime. They feel that the real killer will make an attempt to recover that item. Soon afterwards, several attempts to kill Freddie are made, including booby trapping his room, and locking him in a steam cabinet. Eventually Freddie hears a voice that calls him to bring the handkerchief to the Lost Cavern. There he meets up with a masked figure who offers to save him from the hole he has fallen into in exchange for the handkerchief. Freddie makes the mistake of telling the mysterious figure that he left it in his room and he is left in the hole, but is eventually rescued by the two officers.
Back at the hotel, everyone has gathered together and Stone returns with some muddy shoes that belong to Melton (Alan Mowbray), the hotel manager, which proves that he was the one in the caverns with Freddie. His reason behind the murder was to blackmail Strickland's former clients, but it appears now to have failed. He attempts to escape through a window, but is caught by a booby trap that Freddie had previously set up.
- It was filmed from February 10 through March 26, 1949.
- The original script, titled Easy Does It, was written with Bob Hope in mind. However, Universal purchased the rights to it and reworked it for Abbott and Costello.[1].
- The role eventually played by Boris Karloff in the film was a female character named Madame Switzer in the final shooting script titled, Abbott and Costello Meet the Killers. However, five days before shooting began Karloff was hired and the character was changed to a swami.[2].
- In Australia and New Zealand, every scene with a corpse was removed prior to distribution. And in Denmark, due to the scene in the film where corpses play cards, this film was banned.[3].
- The full onscreen title is Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet the Killer Boris Karloff.
- After filming was completed, Costello was bedridden for several months due to a relapse of rheumatic fever, which he originally battled in 1943.
- It was re-released in 1956 with Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.
- Changing Room, where Costello keeps finding a dead body and when he trys to show it to Abbott (or anyone else) it is no longer there. This was first used in Hold That Ghost.
- Factual errors: Mr. Strickland turns over a bit when Freddy finds him after the murder.
- Movie title: Boris Karloff's character, isn't the killer of the movie, the manager Mr Smelton is.
- Bud Abbott as Casey Edwards
- Lou Costello as Freddie Phillips
- Lénore Aubert as Angela Gordon
- Gar Moore as Jeff Wilson
- Donna Martell as Betty Crandall
- Alan Mowbray as Melton
- James Flavin as Inspector Wellman
- Roland Winters as T. Hanley Brooks
- Nicholas Joy as Amos Strickland
- Mikel Conrad as Sgt. Stone
- Morgan Farley as Gregory Milford
- Victoria Horne as Mrs. Hargreave
- Percy Helton as Abernathy
- Claire Du Brey as Mrs. Grimsby
- Boris Karloff as Swami Talpur
- [The Swami tries to get a hypnotized Freddie to kill himself]
Swami Talpur: Perhaps you should choose the manner of your death. How would you like to die?
Freddie Phillips: Old age.
- Casey Edwards: Freddie, where did you that gun?
Freddie Phillips: I don't know.
Casey Edwards: Freddie! I am going to ask you for the last time. Where did you get that gun?
Freddie Phillips: I don't know.
Casey Edwards: Where did you get that gun?
Freddie Phillips: Hey, that's not fair. You said "for the last time". I answered it.
- Swami Talpur: [to Freddie] You're going to commit suicide if it's the last thing you do!
- Freddie Phillips: It's a booby trap.
Casey Edwards: For what?
Freddie Phillips: For boobs.
- Freddie Phillips: [upon escaping a steambox] I saw a hand turn around the corner, and he put on a lot of steam, all the steam he could put on, f-full force...I think somebody's trying to kill me.
- Freddie Phillips: Who's the culprit?
Casey Edwards: The culprit and the murderer are the same!
- Swami Talpur: [to Freddie in a hypnotic voice] You didn't see me...you didn't see me...you didn't see me...I wasn't here
[leaves]
Casey Edwards: [to Freddy] Ready to go?
Freddie Phillips: I didn't see him.
Casey Edwards: You didn't see who?
Freddie Phillips: The man who wasn't here.
Casey Edwards: What're you talking about?
Freddie Phillips: All I did was open the door, see if the coast was clear, my mind went blank.
Casey Edwards: You mind's always been blank.
- Freddie Phillips: I have a confession to make.
Angela Gordon: You did it?
Freddie Phillips: No, I mean that stuff [champagne]
Freddie Phillips: I don't drink that stuff, that's like drinking poison.
Angela Gordon: Oh come on...
Freddie Phillips: Oh stop it, the bubbles' is tickling my nose.
Angela Gordon: For little Angela...
Freddie Phillips: I wouldn't drink it for big Angela.
- Casey Edwards: [seeing one of Freddie's booby traps] That is the craziest thing I've ever seen.
Freddie Phillips: Oh yeah? Well let me tell you something, if the murderer comes in here alone, somebody else is gonna carry him out.
 |
- ^ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0
- ^ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0
- ^ Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). Abbott and Costello in Hollywood. New York: Perigee Books. ISBN 0-399-51605-0
One Night in the Tropics • Buck Privates • In The Navy • Hold That Ghost • Keep 'Em Flying • Ride 'Em Cowboy • Rio Rita • Pardon My Sarong • Who Done It? • It Ain't Hay • Hit The Ice • In Society • Lost in a Harem • Here Come The Co-Eds • The Naughty Nineties • Abbott and Costello in Hollywood • Little Giant • The Time of Their Lives • Buck Privates Come Home • The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap • The Noose Hangs High • Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein • Mexican Hayride • Africa Screams • Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff • Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion • Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man • Comin' Round The Mountain • Jack and the Beanstalk • Lost in Alaska • Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd • Abbott and Costello Go to Mars • Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde • Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops • Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy • Dance With Me Henry • The World of Abbott and Costello
Lou Costello solo film: The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock