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Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein
I've had this brain for 30 years. It hasn't done me any good!
—Wilbur Grey
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This 1948 horror comedy film is the first of several in which Abbott and Costello, American comedy darlings of the '40s and early '50s, meet various characters from the Universal Pictures stable of monsters. This film was originally meant to be titled The Brain of Frankenstein and features no less than three "titans of terror": Count Dracula, the Wolf Man, and of course, Frankenstein's monster.

Though he was not officially credited, the playfully spooky opening title sequence was designed by Walter Lantz, co-creator of Woody Woodpecker.

In 2001, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein (the film's poster title) was inducted into the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress, who deemed it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." It's considered the last of the American golden age monster films.

IMAGE: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein original poster

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein theatrical poster

  • Credits

Title Designer: Walter Lantz (uncredited)

Music by: Frank Skinner

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Title sequence

  • Category

    Film
  • Styles

    1940s, black and white, cel animation, character animation, hand drawn, illustration, main title, typographic
Bud Abbott and Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein
  • Film Director

    Charles Barton
  • Release Date

    June 15, 1948
  • Aspect Ratio

    1.37:1
  • Studio

    Universal Pictures
  • Country

    USA
  • Language

    English
  • Reviews

    Reviews on Letterboxd
  • IMDb has full details

Article

  • Writer

    Lola Landekic
  • Published

    October 26, 2014

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