It was amazing. Both films are over 3/4 of a century old, yet they both still retained their power to make an audience laugh and cry. Yes, the dancing breadrolls scene in Goldrush had me blubbering like a baby. Not only is this one of the most iconic of all scenes in cinema, but one of the most beautiful too.
I am thinking of going back to the Astor next week. On Saturday they have the Sound of Music playing whilst on Sunday it’s Forbidden Planet/The Time Machine. I am definitely going in August to see Vertigo and Rear Window.
Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein was one of my favourite films as a kid. It was a film that I found to be both scary and funny in equal parts. I really loved this movie so much that I just had to order it from Amazon because I could not find it for sale anywhere in Australia, and I desperately wanted to see it again. I just wanted to know if the film held up as well now as it did back when I was a kid.
I popped the DVD disc into my Sony DVD player the other day and found that the film really lived up to my expectations. Whilst I no longer find the film as scary as I did as an eight year old there were still a few heart pounding moments, especially the scene when Lou is unknowingly being stalked by the Wolfman in the hotel room. (See picture below) Also, like most seventy year old comedy films, the humour has dated quite a bit, but there are still a few chuckles to be had, especially the look of fright on the Frankenstein Monster’s face when he first lays his eyes on Costello. It’s funny to see the Monster being so afraid as someone as harmless as Lou.
It is probably true that this film was probably the beginning of the downward spiral in A&C’s popularity even though they did have a few box office hits after this film. Their popularity really waned as Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis became the #1 Hollywood comedy team, and A&C started to go back to the same ideas again and again (ie; going back to the team ups with Universal’s monster icons). They really weren’t known for their innovation, especially as they really only liked to use gags and routines that they had honed to perfection by performing them thousands of times on the vaudeville circuit. Still A&C Meet Frankenstein is a classic and a movie that I recommend for anyone who likes both classic comedy and classic monster movies.
The animated titles at the start of the film were animated by Walter Lantz of Woody Woodpecker and Andy Panda fame. He also animated Dracula’s transformations.
July 3, 2011
Millsie
Blah Blah Blah 2.0 