You won't be disappointed!

Just perfect...

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The great special effects regarding the "Invisible Man" "gags" are outstanding and almost over-power the entire movie. Costello is quite a bit thinner here than he is was in 1948, in their "Frankenstein" monster classic. Typical A&C routines abound. As usual, almost everyone thinks Costello is "seeing things" and is imagining an invisible man. As always, Lou is taken advantage of by the "pretty woman" and Bud gets ignored completely. The film is so well-cast that it is superior to many Bud and Lou movies. Supporting actors include: William Frawley, Sheldon Leonard, and Arthur Franz. A lot of fun for all. Cute ending, as Lou disappears for a short time and re-appears with his feet on backwards.(Note: no playback problems in this 2015 four movie re-issue.)

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE INVISIBLE MAN (Universal-International, 1951), directed by Charles Lamont, continues the tradition with the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello meeting up with someone and taking it from there in regards to story, situations and comedy. Following their enormous success where Abbott and Costello met Frankenstein (1948), along with Dracula and the Wolf Man from that same movie, it seemed natural that they should eventually get to meet up with past Universal monsters. While meeting "The Mummy" came later, much later, 1955 to be exact, the team followed their Frankenstein encounter with a worthy follow-up meeting with an Invisible Man three years later. Not actually a monster nor a mad scientist, and with no actors from previous efforts reprising their roles, it involves a prizefighter accused of murder using a remedy that makes him invisible in order to clear his name.As for the plot, the scenario opens quite amusingly as Bud Alexander (Bud Abbott) and Lou Francis (Lou Costello) are introduced as 1951 class graduates from the Dugan Detective Training School (Lou: "This is the greatest thing that ever happened to me. How did I ever graduate?" Bud: "I slipped the instructor twenty bucks"). No sooner after setting up their own detective agency, Bud and Lou (the latter sporting Sherlock Holmes hat and smoking pipe) acquire their first client, Tommy Nelson (Arthur Franz), a middleweight champion boxer wanted for the murder of his manager, O'Hara. Having just escaped jail, he wants to clear himself of the murder charge. Instead of getting Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson, Tommy gets the next best thing in regards to amateur detectives. However, it is Lou who believes Tommy innocent while Bud makes every effort to collect $5,000 reward for his capture. Tommy has Bud and Lou drive him to 823 Maple Street, the residence of Helen Gray (Nancy Guild), his fiancée, and Dr. Philip Gray (Gavin Muir), her scientist uncle working on a serum for invisibility which was passed over to him by the original invisible man, John Griffin (Claude Rains, whose photo is seen hanging on the wall). When Detective Roberts (William Frawley) and the police arrive with a search warrant, Tommy injects himself with the serum, whose disappearance into thin air being witnessed by none other than Lou himself. When asked how Tommy got away, Lou replies, "In installments." Because his story is so unbelievable, Lou is taken to Dr. James C. Turner (Paul Maxey), a psychiatrist, to be analyzed. As Bud and Lou team up to assist the invisible man, Tommy has Lou posing as champion boxer "Louie the Looper" while Bud acts as his manager, in order to learn whether or not mobster Morgan (Sheldon Leonard) and Boots Marsden (Adele Jergens) had anything to do O'Hara's murder.Released at the time during their declining years at Universal's top comics, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET INVISIBLE MAN is not only a pleasant surprise, but one of the team's finer efforts of the 1950s. What's even more surprising is seeing how Costello, still playing a dopey guy, at one point stepping out of character by seriously punching out one of the bad guys for throwing a knife on Tommy. Aside from the team's well written verbal byplay and some in-jokes (Lou looking through his magnifying glass and getting a close-up on Tommy Nelson's face, telling Bud he saw Frankenstein), the gags involving invisibility work quite well with the story, thanks to David Horsley in the special effects department. Great comical moments find Lou in the Bubble Room restaurant attempting to eat his spaghetti dinner while strings of it end up over the direction of his transparent client; Boots convincing Lou to "take a dive" through her love making; and the highlight set in the boxing ring where Lou's punches never hitting his opponent, Rocky Hanlon (John Day), but by an invisible fist of Tommy Nelson. This scene is well staged and quite amusing. The only debit in general is where Lou finds himself walking the wrong way because his feet are on backwards. Don't ask.Unlike the last installment, THE INVISIBLE MAN'S REVENGE (1944), this edition is actually consistent with both THE INVISIBLE MAN (1933) and THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS (1940), in fact, a partial remake to the 1940 sequel involving an innocent man (Vincent Price) becoming invisible to clear his name with the help of a scientist but minus the assistance of a couple goofy detectives.Distributed on video cassette by MCA Home Video in the 1990s, and later on DVD a decade later, ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET INVISIBLE MAN had its share of cable TV revivals, notably on the Comedy Channel (1990s), American Movie Classics (2001-2002) and Turner Classic Movies (2004-2005). Though a worthy conclusion to "The Invisible Man" series, this is not the finish of Abbott and Costello meeting somebody, something or just simply anybody. Their next horror spoof was them meeting "Jekyll and Hyde" (1954) featuring Boris Karloff. While Abbott and Costello were recently failing to recapture their success from the early 1940s due to weak and tired material, their encounter with The Invisible Man is certainly no disappointment by any means. (***)

Very funny in spots ("How did I ever graduate?" - "I slipped that guy 20 bucks!"), slow-going in others (despite the complete and welcome absence of any musical numbers), "Abbott and Costello Meet The Invisible Man" is probably not one of the duo's best films from a purely comedic standpoint, but it is nevertheless fascinating, if only for its amazing special effects. Clever, elaborate photographic, editing and other tricks are employed to achieve such effects as the invisible man removing his bandages from his head which is completely transparent while the rest of his body is not ("There is no reason to lose your head over this", observes Lou) - effects that in our digital age would probably be achieved by pressing some buttons in a computer. That's why you have to appreciate the effort and creativity that went into making such things happen. (**1/2)

Oddly designed as a sequel to Universal's 1933 The Invisible Man itself—there's even a recapitulation (complete with photo of Claude Rains) of the original story—this emerges as a fairly amusing Abbott and Cistello vehicle. True, the climax once again features Lou in his familiar turn as a sure-gone loser in a knockabout prize fight, but this time with some delightful variations. In fact, the whole movie is quite cleverly handled. The boys themselves are in fine form and they are handed some great gags to work with—both verbal and visual. A wonderful support cast—Lou's scenes with Paul Maxey's psychiatrist are a real joy—add further luster to the movie.I always expect George Robinson's photography to be imaginatively atmospheric—which it certainly is! Perhaps too atmospheric. Just about the whole film action takes place at night, which is most unusual for the standard comedy movie, although Abbott and Costello had used this approach before in The Time of Their Lives and Meet Frankenstein. Whatever, the picture definitely has an attractively out-of-the-norm look about it. What's even more important, director Charles Lamont has risen to the challenge with scene-setting that is far more flavorsome and stylish than his usual endeavors. But perhaps best of all are the special effects—some admittedly obvious and even amateurish, but many very ingenious indeed.