Spooky Movie Month Day #26 – Abbot and Costello Meet The Invisible Man

October 26th 

Today we thought a perfect follow up to last night’s Invisible Man would be “Abbot and Costello Meet The Invisible Man“. It continues to give Dragon a break from the super scary while continuing our historical horror theme this week!

Released in 1951, Abbot and Costello Meet The Invisible Man was directed by Charles Lamont, written by Hugh Wedlock Jr., Howard Snyder, Robert Lees. It starred Bud Abbot, Lou Costello, Nancy Guild as Helen Grey and Arthur Franz as Tommy Nelson, the Invisible Man.

Almost a sequel to the 1933 Invisible Man, this story follows Tommy Nelson, someone who knew of Jack Griffin’s experiment and wanted to use it to hide from the police after being accused of murder. After being encouraged NOT to do it due to what happened to Jack, Tommy takes it anyway and the plot is set.

Hilarious by the day’s standards in which it was made, it follows the story of two private eyes who barely make it out of school and are asked by a bandage-wrapped Tommy try to help clear his name of murder. It sounds pretty straight forward, only, the private eyes are idiots and the man trying to clear his name is not only a jerk, but also an alcoholic, gambling professional boxer.

All of those points are relevant, as each of them get the team into all sorts of silly trouble, but ultimately, the true killer is discovered, the boxer’s name is cleared, the invisible man is cured and all ends in laughs.

The kids thought it was silly and fun and enjoyed it. Lion and Dragon both loved how it contained elements from the original story and referenced it frequently and Dragon, especially, loved all the subtle physical comedy. I thought it was cute, but to be honest, I was busy creating digital images to use on our ballot boxes for the pageant, so I wasn’t 100% paying attention.

Four thumbs up, and on to the next!

Now I’ve gotta run – tomorrow night will be a no movie night because it’s the Forbidden Panel Zombie Pageant!! Check out what’s on the stage at The Mothership tomorrow where I’ll recap and share as many photos as I can. Be warned, there’s likely to be sappy mom gushing because my kid’s costume and character is AWESOME!