Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy ** (1955, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Kurt Katch, Marie Windsor) – Classic Movie Review 5,588

The 1955 American horror comedy film Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy is another fairly lively Bud and Lou movie series episode, their last of 28 Universal pictures.

‘A man’s best friend is his mummy.’

Director Charles Lamont’s 1955 American horror comedy film Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy is another fairly lively Bud Abbott and Lou Costello movie series episode, with good support actors, the expected plot and some decent jokes. It is the sixth and final film in Universal’s original Mummy series and Universal’s 28th and final Abbott and Costello film.

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.

The Mummy was called Kharis beginning with The Mummy’s Hand (1940) but in this film it is called Klaris. 

Eddie Parker, who plays the Mummy, had doubled Lon Chaney Jr in earlier Mummy films.

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 King 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 Gustav Zoomer, Michael Ansara as Charlie, Dan Seymour as Josef, 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.

It was shot from 28 October 1954 to 24 November 1954, and released on 16 April 1955.

Abbott and Costello are called Pete Patterson and Freddie Franklin in the script and the closing credits, but use their real names on screen.

Costello’s 16 year old daughter Carole Costello has a small part as a flower girl.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 5,588

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