Dotsthavesp I wanted to but couldn't!

Smartorhypo Highly Overrated But Still Good

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Dana An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

JohnHowardReid Copyright 26 June 1953 by Universal Pictures Co., Inc. A Universal-International picture. No New York opening. U.S. release: August 1953. U.K. release: March 1954. Banned in Australia, the film has never been shown theatrically in that country although, oddly enough, it has frequently been broadcast on TV. 6,884 feet. 76 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Dr Jekyll decides to kill his ward's lover as he wants to marry her himself.COMMENT: It's hard to believe that this wonderfully entertaining spoof received such lukewarm and even negative reviews. The boys are in their element as a couple of earnestly lame-brained bobbies, hilariously blundering their way from one tautly risible situation to the next, finally capping their chucklesome efforts with a delightful climax of doubly mirthful mayhem. Their comic endeavors are appealingly assisted by Reginald Denny - as stupidly choleric a detective inspector as they come - and John Dierkes as a lumbering menace. And there's a great support cast including Clyde Cook and John Rogers as a couple of argumentative drunks, and Arthur Gould-Porter as a disbelieving bartender. Boris Karloff is deliciously suave as the not-so-good doctor, while Helen Westcott makes a vivaciously pretty heroine. The stunts and special effects are exciting enough for an "A" feature. We love the sets and atmosphere. And as for the direction with its stylish camera angles and tight compositions, we are amazed to report that it's a long way above Mr Lamont's usual more humble standards.OTHER VIEWS: One of the best A&C features, thanks to a very funny script, slick film editing, superbly low-key photography, excellent acting, marvelous make-up and special effects, and startlingly imaginative direction. All the principal players with the exception of Craig Stevens (who is capable, but not outstanding) are to be especially commended. I found the scene in the wax museum so hilarious, my ribs hurt from alternate laughter and fright. The climax is likewise breathtaking. -- JHR writing as Charles Freeman.In this remarkable adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, Abbott and Costello do much better by the book than Hammer Films were to do in a similar attempt (The Ugly Duckling - 1959) to turn it into a musical comedy. For one thing, Abbott and Costello's scriptwriters have thoughtfully retained the period as well as the milieu, and many of the dramatic incidents are played perfectly straight while the comic potentialities of the central idea are fully exploited. - JHR writing as George Addison.

TheLittleSongbird Not one of their absolute best and inferior, with the feminist subplot being unnecessary and slowing things down a bit and it does try a little too hard for laughs towards the end. It is however one of their better declining years outings and one of their livelier ones as well. It looks handsome and atmospheric, especially the sets though the film is very competently shot as well. The score is appropriately eerie and jaunty, fitting with the creepier and comedic elements very nicely. The dialogue is witty and the gags on the most part do work especially with in the wax museum and rooftop chase scenes. As well as having comedy, there are some foreboding moments too especially with Karloff as Mr Hyde. The film is solidly directed, and the performances are good. Helen Westcott and Craig Stevens are just okay, but Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are still a great double act and their performances are appropriately pitched. Boris Karloff manages to be both hammy and menacing and most effectively, not everybody can succeed in some way making Dr Jekyll almost as sinister as Mr Hyde but Karloff does and remarkably. Overall, very entertaining and while not Abbott and Costello at their best it is worthy. 8/10 Bethany Cox

bkoganbing Watching Abbott&Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde the only thing that struck me wrong was the casting of Craig Stevens and Helen Westcott as the young lovers. Both are completely American and have absolutely no trace of English speech pattern for a story set in Victorian London. Even Bud and Lou's presence in the film is explained that they are Americans studying English police methods. Which begs the question, what police force in America would hire them?The cultivated Dr. Henry Jekyll is played by Boris Karloff, but his Jekyll is not the scientist that we saw Fredric March and Spencer Tracy play. He's well into his experiments that now have him change without warning into Mr. Hyde. Unlike with Tracy and March, Hyde does not speak he just grunts and growls the way Karloff's Frankenstein monster does.Westcott is Karloff's ward whom he has raised since childhood, but those aren't fatherly glances he's giving her now. Especially since young reporter Stevens has become interested in Westcott after covering her at a suffragette rally. It doesn't take much to get his inner Hyde going. As for Bud and Lou none of their patented burlesque routines are featured here, but they still get plenty of laughs. Unfortunately for the film, their best moments are as London Bobbys trying to break up the suffragette rally where the women do get the better of them which is at the beginning of the film.Of course at the end Costello gets jabbed with some of Karloff's Hyde serum and goes off on an inner Hyde journey of his own. Reginald Denny has a fine role as the English Scotland Yard Inspector driven quite crazy like Herbert Lom by this pair of American Clouseaus.Not the best of A&C, but the boys still had a lot of good humor still left for their audience.

Neil Doyle While not quite in the same league as A&C MEET FRANKENSTEIN (the top fright flick in the duo's career), ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE does manage to have the stars cavorting in Victorian London while trying to unmask the respectable Dr. Jekyll (BORIS KARLOFF in a delightfully underplayed role) as the mad killer Hyde.HELEN WESTCOTT and CRAIG STEVENS play the romantic leads in standard fashion but the suffragette sub-plot is really an unnecessary distraction to the overall plot. Some of the sight gags are funny but toward the last segment of the story they're overplayed for whatever laughs can be drawn from the over-the-top situations.Best segments of the well staged and handsomely mounted film are the scenes involving a wax museum which give the film some of its creepiest moments. The first chimney top chase is well done too and even more effective than the silly final chase which depends so heavily on the comic timing it gets from Stevens, Karloff, Abbott and Costello.All told, it's got enough plot elements to keep your attention riveted on the story--everything from a sinister laboratory to hidden passages and bookcases that hide Jekyll's sinister experiments. The gaslit Victorian era with fogbound streets is well realized on Universal's studio sets.Not the best of the A&C comedies, but certainly among the better mirth and fright films they did in the late '40s and early '50s. CRAIG STEVENS plays his role straight, as does Westcott, and together they and Karloff give the story whatever gravitas it has in the realm of boosting the suspenseful elements.