''Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff'' is a 1949 horror comedy film directed by Charles Barton and starring Abbott and Costello and

Boris Karloff William Henry Pratt (23 November 1887 – 2 February 1969), known professionally as Boris Karloff () and occasionally billed as Karloff the Uncanny, was a British actor. His portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in the horror film ''Frankenstei ...

. In 1956, the film was re-released by Realart Pictures as a

double feature The double feature is a Film, motion picture industry phenomenon in which theaters would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which the presentation of one feature film would be followed by various short subjec ...

with '' Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein''. The film is set in a hotel. Following the murder of a prominent lawyer within the hotel, the hotel's bellboy is kept in custody at his room. The other suspects in the murder case manipulate him into signing a false confession, and then try to eliminate him. Meanwhile, the corpses of two more victims are found hidden in the bellboy's closet.

Plot

Prominent criminal attorney Amos Strickland checks into the Lost Caverns Resort Hotel. His murdered body is later discovered by the bellboy, Freddie Phillips, who is implicated in the crime. Casey Edwards, the house detective, tries to clear Freddie, but Inspector Wellman and Sgt. Stone keep him in custody at his hotel room 'on the state'. Strickland's secretary Gregory Millford and seven of Strickland's former clients happen to be at the resort, and they are all suspects. These former clients are Swami Talpur, Angela Gordon, Mrs. Hargreave, T. Hanley Brooks, Lawrence Crandall, Mrs. Grimsby and Mike Relia. The former clients gather for a meeting and decide that they must conceal their pasts and that Freddie must take the blame for the murder. They trick Freddie into signing a confession, and then want him dead. Angela tries to seduce him, but the police stop her when they fear she has poisoned the champagne, then the Swami attempts to hypnotize him into committing suicide but his stupidity saves him. The bodies of Relia and the secretary Gregory Millford are found in Freddie's closet, and he and Casey try to move them and hide them. Freddie and the two police officers, in an attempt to draw out the real killer, inform everyone that Freddie is in possession of a blood-stained handkerchief found at the murder scene. Soon afterwards, several attempts to kill Freddie are made, including gunshots at the window of his booby-trapped 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 just fallen into in exchange for the handkerchief. Freddie makes the mistake of telling the mysterious figure that he left it in his room. He is left in the hole, but is eventually rescued by the two police officers. Back at the hotel, everyone has gathered together and Sgt. Stone returns with some muddy shoes that belong to Melton, the hotel manager, which proves that he was the one in the caverns with Freddie. His motive for the murder was that he and Millford, Strickland's secretary, were blackmailing the owner, Mr. Crandell. What the blackmail was for is never explained. When Strickland found out he came to investigate, so Melton killed him with a gun he stole from Relia. Millford then sent down the former clients to use as decoys for the police, but Melton killed Relia and Millford to cover it all up. He attempts to escape through a window, but is caught by a booby trap previously set by Freddie, the latter forgetting it was previously there.

Cast

Production

It was filmed from February 10 through March 26, 1949. The original script, titled ''Easy Does It'', was written with actor-comedian

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

in mind. However, Universal then purchased the rights and reworked it for Abbott and Costello.Furmanek, Bob and Ron Palumbo (1991). ''Abbott and Costello in Hollywood''. New York: Perigee Books. The role eventually played by

in the film was originally a female character named ''Madame Switzer'' in the final shooting script which was then titled, ''Abbott and Costello Meet the Killers''. Five days before shooting, Karloff was hired and the character was changed to a swami. After filming was completed, Costello was bedridden for several months due to a relapse of rheumatic fever, which he originally battled in 1943. As a result, the duo would not make another film together until one year later, 1950's '' Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion''. Boris Karloff's inclusion in the title of the film seems evident from the movie poster, which includes a comma between the words "Killer" and "Boris Karloff", but the actual credits in the film show no such distinction and could be interpreted as "Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer", followed by the co-star credit "Boris Karloff."

Alternate versions

In Australia and New Zealand, every scene with a corpse was removed prior to distribution. The film was banned in Denmark due to the scene where corpses play cards.

Routines

The Changing Room'':'' where Costello keeps finding a dead body and when he tries to show it to Abbott (or anyone else), it is no longer there. This comic device was first used in ''

Hold That Ghost ''Hold That Ghost'' is a 1941 American horror comedy film directed by Arthur Lubin and starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello and featuring Joan Davis, Evelyn Ankers and Richard Carlson. It was produced and distributed by Universa ...

'' (1941).

Home media

This film was released twice on DVD, on ''The Best of Abbott and Costello Volume Three'', on August 3, 2004, and again on October 28, 2008 as part of ''Abbott and Costello: The Complete Universal Pictures Collection''.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbott And Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff 1949 films 1949 comedy horror films 1940s comedy mystery films 1940s crime comedy films 1940s parody films Abbott and Costello films American comedy horror films American comedy mystery films American crime comedy films American black-and-white films American crossover films American detective films 1940s English-language films Films directed by Charles Barton Films about hypnosis American parody films Universal Pictures films 1940s American films Boris Karloff Films set in hotels Films about murder English-language comedy horror films English-language crime comedy films English-language comedy mystery films Crossover films