utgard14 Despite the title of the movie, Boris Karloff isn't in it much. He's fun when he is, though. He was the one thing missing in Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, so it's nice that the boys could finally do a movie with him. The story here finds the duo working at a hotel. Abbott's the hotel detective and Costello's a bellboy who keeps getting into trouble. Suddenly dead bodies are popping up all over the hotel and all clues point to poor dumb Lou. Very funny comedy murder mystery. Lou seems to be having a great time in this one. Nice support from Alan Mowbray, James Flavin, Roland Winters, and Lenore Aubert. More Karloff would've been nice but the movie succeeds anyway.

Michael_Elliott Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) ** 1/2 (out of 4) A man at a hotel gets Costello fired from his job so Costello threatens him, which doesn't sit well later when that man turns up dead. Even though there are many strange characters at the hotel, including a swami (Boris Karloff), all the blame gets thrown towards the little fat guy. Apparently this film was intended to be a Bob Hope comedy but after the success of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein the studio wanted another "meet" movie. This film is certainly far from a classic and it isn't even one of the duos best films but it's not too bad if you want some light entertainment. For every joke that works there's one that doesn't, which makes the film rather hit and miss all the way through. There are some very funny sequences including one where Costello has to play cards with a dead guy and another sequence where Bud and Lou must try to hide a body but things keep getting in their way. Other scenes, like the one where Karloff tries to get Costello to kill himself, doesn't work as well as it should. All of this leads to a big chase at the end, which is pretty well handled. Both Abbott and Costello are in top-form with Costello once again stealing the film. Karloff on the other hand comes off rather stale and actually doesn't add too much to the film, although he can't take all the blame since his character is poorly written. Lenore Aubert is also on hand but her character is also poorly written.

Neil Doyle Fans of ABBOTT and COSTELLO should enjoy this entry, even if the title is a bit misleading--and even if BORIS KARLOFF doesn't get to be quite as menacing as you might want him to be. He does look distinguished in that turban as a Swami who tries to put Costello into a trance so he'll believe that he's the murderer, with negative results.Most of the action takes place at a secluded hotel where a well-known lawyer has been found murdered. Suspicion points to bellboy COSTELLO, and in a script that has ABBOTT as a house detective, you can see that poor Lou is gonna have a hard time proving his innocence...especially when dead bodies keep popping up everywhere wherever he goes.It's not as funny as WHO DONE IT? or HOLD THAT GHOST, but considerably better than some of the later stuff they did toward the end of their career.Enjoyable enough nonsense for their fans.

noyb cutshall Bud Abbott and Lou Costello star in this classic "who done it" movie. The team provides their usual funny pratfalls and mix-ups but along the way they manage to provide a classic theme to this movie. With Abbott and Costello, Karloff managing his way into the picture as the grueling possibility of the killer.This may be Abbott and Costello's best attempt to provide some new material into their excellent routines. Costello's character, Phillips is mainly accused of murdering a well known lawyer after they have a public disagreement.Phillips arrives at the lawyers hotel rooms to apologize but he finds that the lawyer has been murdered. Abbott goes far and above the the call of friendship to prove his friends innocents but who really did do it? Watch and see.