ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF

Percy Helton flirts with Lou in drag as a maid

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KILLER, BORIS KARLOFF  (1949). Director: Charles Barton.

Running out of monsters to exploit, Abbott and Costello simply decided to star in a comical murder mystery with Boris Karloff chief among the supporting cast. House dick Casey (Bud Abbott) and fired bellboy Freddie (Lou Costello) are up to their necks in intrigue when one of the guests at the hotel where they're employed is murdered. While Inspector Wellman (James Flavin) suspects Freddie because the dead man got him sacked, there are others who may have done the deed, including possible husband-poisoner, Angela (Lenore Aubert), Mike Relia (Vincent Renno), T. Henley Brooks (Roland Winters), desk clerk Jeff (Gar Moore), his sweetie Betty (Donna Martell), her father Crandell (Harry Hayden), and the sinister pseudo-swami, Talpur (Boris Karloff), who is fairly murderous but may not be the main killer of the story. Melton, the hotel manager (Alan Mowbray) is appalled by the whole business: "We don't permit murders at this hotel," he insists. Unfortunately, more dead bodies begin turning up in Freddie's bath tub and closet, and worse, they keep disappearing as well. There's an exciting climax in vast caverns with a bottomless pit, with impressive scenic design and special effects, but the second most memorable sequence has Great Old Movies favorite Percy Helton flirting with Freddie when he's in disguise as a maid! The boys are in fine form, as are Karloff, Helton, Mowbray and Flavin, and the rest of the cast seems to be having fun as well. This is a delightful black comedy and one of the team's best movies. Gar Moore later turned up in Curse of the Faceless Man and Lenore Aubert was in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein which was also directed by Charles Barton.

Verdict: Quite entertaining and often very funny. ***.

CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN

CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN (1958). Director: Edward L. Cahn.

This was one half of a double bill of two films directed by Cahn and written by Jerome Bixby (most famous for the short story "It's a Good Life," adapted on The Twilight Zone in 1961.) The other, much more successful feature was It! The Terror from Beyond Space, but Faceless Man is not without interest. Taking his cue from old Mummy movies, Bixby fashioned a story wherein an encrusted slave, Quintillus Aurelius, buried during the eruption of Vesuvius in Pompeii is unearthed and brought to a museum in the city (he is not actually a mummy but rather is covered with crusted mud). Radiation from the earth and from an X-ray machine bring the slave back to life, and - wouldn't you know it? -- the reincarnation of the woman he once loved (Elaine Edwards) is conveniently nearby, the fiancee of Dr. Paul Mallon (Richard Anderson). Also involved in the action -- what there is of it -- are Mallon's old girlfriend Maria (Adele Mara), her new boyfriend Dr. Ricci (Gar Moore) and her father Dr. Fiorillo (Luis Van Rooten), among others. The picture isn't terrible, but a lot of it isn't that well-staged, and it never quite comes to a full boil. The storyline is interesting, however, the acting sufficient, and Gerald Fried's music adds some excitement now and then.

Verdict: Disappointing but not awful cheapie creepie. **1/2.