Tonight on MeTV- as so many of our viewers celebrate Christmas Eve, we thought we should add a light touch to our weekly horror movie with a fun feature! Following in the footsteps of last week’s “Invisible Agent”, our title character heads down a road that could lead to redemption- or insanity!
It may not necessarily help that he is aided and abetted by two guys whose sanity already may be questionable! See how a boxer fights to be cleared of a murder charge- while being perfectly clear- when “Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man” !
We first find Bud and Lou at a detective school (a school for detectives, not for defectives, though they would qualify) as they miraculously graduate-and go into private practice as private eyes. Their first case appears out of nowhere- he is Tommy Nelson, a pro boxer who has just escaped from prison! He claims that he has been framed for killing his manager, and needs the boys' help to prove he's innocent. The trio heads to the home of his fiancée Helen, whose uncle is a scientist working on a new version of the secret formula that Griffin, the original Invisible Man, utilized- which not only made him invisible, but also drove him mad! Tommy has an idea-he wants to be injected with the formula, since it would keep him unseen while he tries to find out who actually did kill his manager. He has some ideas of who might have done it, since the murder occurred right after he refused to throw a fight!
Recognizing the danger inherent to the formula, Helen's uncle refuses- mainly because he hasn't solved the problem of the formula driving its user insane and doesn't want Tommy to risk his sanity. The decision, however, gets made for Tommy, when the police show up at the home, figuring he'd head there to hide out- and the only way for Tommy to elude them is by injecting himself with the formula! The only one to get a last look at him is Lou- who sees Tommy vanish from sight!
Bud and Lou have a difference of opinion- Bud sees dollar signs (even if he doesn't see Tommy) if they turn the boxer in- while Lou is on Tommy's side, and wants to help him find the real culprit. Regardless, the boys head to the gym with Tommy, where they suspect that they will find some clues-and Lou infiltrates the fight game (thanks to Tommy's unseen pugilistic help)! The pudgy pugilist is climbing up the ladder of contenders, making him a target for suspicious mobsters- and the target of one specific gangster’s moll! Eventually, evidence reveals who really had it in for Tommy's manager- and those same thugs are planning a similar fate for Bud and Lou! But-will Tommy throw in the towel on sanity before he gets the chance to save his private eye pals and clear his name?
We get the same type of invisibility effects we've seen in previous "invisible man" films- and show you how some of them have been done. We'll review the cast appearing with Bud and Lou - featuring such well-known players as William Frawley and Sheldon Leonard- and point out some reused footage from “Invisible Man Returns”! Plus, we will bring you a Sven song and- since you viewers seem to love them- the gift of a batch of Sven screw-ups from "The Oops Files"! And, yes- you might just get a peek at Sventa Claus- if you are on the “nice” list (although Kerwyn isn’t)!
“Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man” appears on MeTV tonight at 8pm eastern/pacific, 7 central, or check local listings or the information at www.metv.com . You are invited to join in with the live-Tweeting during the program on Twitter- just make sure to use the hashtag #svengoolie. Meanwhile, in the Chicago area, viewers get one more look (?) at the "Invisible Agent" on our sister station, CW26!
Whether you will be joining us tonight on MeTV or not, we wish you a very happy holiday- be it Christmas or Hannukah!
2030 Comments
#@*# them!
W O W O_O
https://youtu.be/Ra1zwFJMrsY
Time to get ready for Sven Years Eve tomorrow!
Way to go Mikeyyy ~ ALL the better for Toons and Svengoolie viewing 👀
The Jewish snowman reminded me of this Hanukkah card:
*_*
Arthur Franz, who played Tommy Nelson, was, according to Wikipedia, was a B-24 Liberator Navigator during WW II whose plane was shot down over Romania. He was placed in a POW camp, from which he later escaped. In addition to last week's movie, his other genre credits include FLIGHT TO MARS and the original INVADERS FROM MARS, as well as BACK FROM THE DEAD, THE FLAME BARRIER, and, of course, MONSTER ON THE CAMPUS (which Sven has shown a couple of times on Me TV). And, yes, he was in several episodes of (surprise, surprise), PERRY MASON.
Veteran character actor Gavin Muir played Dr. Gray. Despite what sounded like a bonafide British accent, he was actually born in Chicago, although he was educated in England. Among his numerous film roles were several Universal Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce Sherlock Holmes, as well as THE SON OF DR. JEKYLL (which has been on Svengoolie) and NIGHT TIDE (a condensed version of which was lampooned recently on "Sventoonie").
Finally, the director, Charles Lamont, was another graduate of the Mac Sennett Studio, where he had started as a prop man and then became a short subjects director. He continued to direct comedy shoots for various studios throughout the 1930s before signing a long-term contract with Universal in 1942 to direct feature films. There, he had earlier directed Bud and Lou in one of their best comedies, IT AIN'T HAY, as well as a very popular series of musical comedies with Donald O' Connor and Peggy Ryan. Universal-International later assigned him to the bulk of Abbott and Costello pictures in the 1950s, as well as to several of the Ma and Pa Kettle movies. He also directed the last Francis, the Talking Mule film, FRANCIS IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE. According to Wikipedia, he directed over 200 feature films and wrote and directed scores more: a very prolific filmmaker, to say the least!
