ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY is the twenty seventh and final film Bud and Lou would star in at Universal Studios over a fourteen year period. It is the end of a pretty amazing run. While it would be fair to say that a lot of the films are interchangeable, just about all of them have moments of true hilarity and with maybe one or two exceptions, they’re at least good, with the top handful being great. Put on just about any Bud and Lou film and you’ll likely find some level of entertainment. ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY is no exception to this rule and also has a bit of notoriety over most of the others due to its link with the Universal Monsters. Funny how both The Mummy and The Invisible Man never really met Dracula, The Frankenstein Monster and The Wolf Man in the straight monster films and those same rules applied with Abbott and Costello. The Mummy was destined to live in its own world separate from the other monsters. Bud and Lou, as usual, are in fine form, but the horror element could stand to use a little improvement.
One thing about ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY is the old saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Like HOLD THAT GHOST, like ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN, Lou is frightened of something and through several different variations, tries to show Bud what is frightening him. By the time he shows Bud, whatever it is that is frightening Lou has been mysteriously removed. This routine worked in those two other movies and again works here, this time the object of Lou’s fright being a dead body. Watching Lou Costello’s scared reactions and Bud reprimand Lou never gets old the same way eating your favorite meal never gets old. These two men were made for this routine and it works just fine here. Other comic highlights include trying to pass off the cursed medallion to each other in the hamburger, Lou and the attractive woman who accuses Lou of asking her for a date while giving away all her vital information, any scene that involves a flute and snake charming and especially Lou’s tough guy act where he acts like a gangster into the microphone. The latter is quite funny, watching the way Lou goes from acting frightened and timid to acting like a tough guy on the drop of a dime and putting so much energy into it. Also, Lou eating the medallion and getting x-rayed with the threat of being cut open is very Three Stooges like. So yes, there is a lot of real funny Bud and Lou stuff throughout, these guys never lost it.
The horror element isn’t quite as in tune as Bud and Lou are. Universal hasn’t really made a Mummy film in eleven years at this point. The two things that are really missing are that one scene that truly paints The Mummy as a legitimate threat and good horror actors playing the roles of the people searching for the medallion. The comic Mummy stuff is fine and Eddie Parker looks the part, especially effective in the coffin with his mouth moving, pretty cool there. But I really would have liked to see one scene where he got a kill in. All the good Mummy movies had this and Lugosi got his scene as Dracula being hypnotic and lusting for blood when meeting Bud and Lou. The Mummy is missing his corresponding signature scene. I also found myself a tad bored watching the actors plot over the medallion and as a horror fan, I should not feel this way. There really needed to be actors playing the king part who specialized in stylized horror roles like Universal had in the forties. A George Zucco or John Carradine or Turhan Bey type was really needed here. Guys who weren’t stars but also filled in nicely in horror movies. Someone who could give the role more gravitas. The problem is by the 1955 there were no horror actors like this, everything was giant atomic bugs and that called for less horror actors.
The art direction of the film is just fine in the pyramid and the king’s court, though the one unfortunate part is Lou encountering the phoniest looking lizard ever. Universal made TARANTULA around this time, I’m convinced they could have done better. The business with multiple people dressing as The Mummy towards the end is all in good fun. Overall, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY is fine and familiar Bud and Lou and while for horror fans, of interest yet it could have been better. That being said, it’s good enough for a hopeless fan boy like me to overlook these things and enjoy. Farewell to Bud and Lou at Universal Studios and overall, we have one film left.
