Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)

Director:

Charles Lamont

Writers:

Hugh Wedlock Jr. (story) and
Howard Snyder (story) ...

Release Date:

7 March 1951 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Sci-Fi | Sport

Tagline:

AS PRIVATE EYES...they're getting an Eyeful!

Plot:

Two bumbling private eyes help a man wrongly accused of murder who has become invisible to help clear his name.

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Invisibility | Manager | Reference To Shakespeare | Boxing

Cast

Bud Abbott	...	Bud Alexander
Lou Costello	...	Lou Francis
Nancy Guild	...	Helen Gray
Arthur Franz	...	Tommy Nelson
Adele Jergens	...	Boots Marsden
Sheldon Leonard	...	Boots Morgan
William Frawley	...	Det. Roberts
Gavin Muir	...	Dr. Philip Gray
Sam Balter	...	Radio announcer (voice)
John Daheim	...	Rocky Hanlon (as John Day)
Paul Maxey	...	Dr. James C. Turner, Police Psychiatrist

Also Known As:

Meet the Invisible Man

Runtime:

82 min | Argentina:86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #15003) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15

Filming Locations:

Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal International Pictures (UI)

Trivia:

The picture in Dr. Gray's laboratory of Griffin, the inventor of the invisibility serum, is a photo of Claude Rains, who played the title role in The Invisible Man (1933).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Bud puts down the drink of the second bar guy, you can see the thin wires if you look very carefully.

Quotes:

Dr. James C. Turner, Police Psychiatrist: [hypnotizing Lou with a watch] Tick-tock-tick-tock-tick-tock...
Lou Francis: [gasps] You forgot to say the mouse went up the clock!

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Svengoolie: Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man" (2006)

Certainly one of the best in the series.

Our intrepid bumbling duo deliver the goods in one of the better offerings in their considerable CV, here they are freshly qualified Private Investigators thrust into a murder investigation with an invisible man. That alone should tell you that the fun flows at a very decent clip, so with that I just need to say that some of the sequences here are comedy gold, like a scene at a restaurant that is excellent, or Costello pretending to work the ball in the gym, but it's the final reel of a boxing match that really gets the laughter flowing. Watching these guys act as if with a real invisible man is wonderful, and of course the effects team to a dam fine job with the invisible man of the piece.

Not quite as good as...Meet Frankenstein, but it's darn near close, 8/10.