Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy ** (1955, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Kurt Katch, Marie Windsor) – Classic Movie Review 5588

‘A man’s best friend is his mummy.’ Director Charles Lamont’s 1955 comedy is another fairly lively Bud Abbott and Lou Costello movie series episode, with good support actors, the expected plot and some decent jokes.

In this follow-up to Universal monsters parody Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) and to Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951), Abbott and Costello star as treasure hunters Pete and Freddie in a yarn about crooks after a hoard of gold in Egypt. After the duo find archaeologist Dr Zoomer murdered, a medallion leads them to a crypt where the Mummy revives and rampages.

The assets in this late entry in their comedy series are some OK par-for-the-course Abbott and Costello nonsense, amusing villainy from Marie Windsor and Richard Deacon as Madame Rontru and Semu, and a live Mummy called Klaris (Edwin [Eddie] Parker), who of course scares the pants off Bud and Lou.

Sadly, time has taken its awful toll: the 49-year-old Costello looks ill and the 60-year-old Abbott looks elderly and overweight. Costello died of a heart attack on 3 March 1959, aged 52. He was Louis Francis Cristillo, born in Paterson, New Jersey, to a father  from Calabria, Italy. Straight man Bud [William] Abbott died on 24 April 1974, aged 78.

Vocalist Peggy Lee sings ‘You Came a Long Way from St Louis’ and The Mazzone-Abbott Dancers and Chandra Kaly and His Dancers troupe in too.

Also in the cast are Kurt Katch as Dr Zoomer, Michael Ansara, Dan Seymour, Richard Karlan as Hetsut, George Khoury as Habid and Mel Welles as Iben.

It is written by John Grant from a story by Lee Loeb.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5588

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