Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

The world of freight handlers Wilbur Grey (Lou Costello) and Chick Young (Bud Abbott) is turned upside down when the remains of Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange) and Dracula (Bela Lugosi) arrive from Europe to be used in a house of horrors. Dracula awakens and escapes with the weakened monster, who he plans to re-energize with a new brain. Larry Talbot, the Wolfman, (Lon Chaney, Jr.) arrives from London in an attempt to thwart Dracula. Dracula's reluctant aide is the beautiful Dr. Sandra Mornay. Her reluctance is dispatched by Dracula's bite. Dracula and Sandra abduct Wilbur for his brain and recharge the monster in preparation for the operation. Chick and Talbot attempt to find and free Wilbur, but when the full moon rises all hilarity breaks loose with the Wolfman, Dracula, and Frankenstein all running rampant.

Trivia: Glenn Strange was playing the Frankenstein monster, but during shooting one day he tripped over a camera cable and broke his ankle. Lon Chaney, Jr. (playing the Wolf Man) wasn't working that day, so he put on the Frankenstein makeup/outfit and filled in for Strange in one scene where Dr. Mornay gets thrown through the window. So Chaney wound up playing two monsters in this movie. Ian Keith, the original choice for Count Dracula in Dracula (1931) , was originally considered for Dracula in this film. Bela Lugosi wasn't considered at first because the studio thought he was dead. When they learned Lugosi was alive, Lugosi's agent shamed the head of the studio into getting him the role by saying, "He is Dracula! You owe this role to Lugosi!" During the final chase scene, when Wilbur and Chick are standing in front of a door and the Frankenstein monster punches through it, Costello was off his mark and got hit on the jaw. The scene in which Wilbur is unknowingly sitting on the Frankenstein Monster's lap required multiple takes. The scene allowed Costello to improvise wildly, which caused Strange to constantly break up laughing during the takes. Although he would play similar vampires in other films since Dracula (1931), this would be only the second, and last, time that Bela Lugosi would play Dracula in a feature film. Three actors in this film had previously played the Frankenstein Monster. Aside from Glenn Strange who actually plays the role again, both Bela Lugosi and Lon Chaney Jr. had experience under the flat top as well. This was the final Universal film to feature Frankenstein's Monster, Dracula and the Wolfman, until Van Helsing (2004).

The Wolf Man gets no respect. In Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man he is the star of the movie but get second billing, this time he doesn't even make it into the title. Cracula also gets snubbed. Frankenstein has the smallest role of the three. In this movie Universal seemed to stack the deck as it were by pairng their three most famous monsters with the comedy team of Abbot and Costello. It was pretty fun to watch, Abbott and Costello are one of the funniest teams in movies, and teaming them with the monsters was a perfect fit.