THE ADDING MACHINE (1969)
Article 2884 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-31-2009
Posting Date: 7-6-2009
Directed by Jerome Epstein
Featuring Milo O’Shea, Phyllis Diller, Billie Whitelaw
Country: USA / UK

A man who has made a career of adding totals discovers he is going to be replaced by an adding machine. He kills his boss in a fit of rage, and, when he is arrested and convicted, finds his life is coming to an end.

When I first watched this movie, I thought it was probably going to be a comedy about a computer, since I saw Phyllis Diller’s name in the credits. She’s in it, all right, but, despite top billing, she’s in a supporting role and only appears in the first half of the movie as a shrewish wife. It is something of a comedy, but I think it’s more of a drama. The fantastic content comes in the second half of the movie when the man who kills his boss enters the afterlife.

The movie itself is based on a stage play of the twenties called “The Adding Machine” by Elmer Rice. It’s an interesting and unique movie, but, to my mind, not a successful one. Despite the fact that it’s been adapted for the screen, it still feels very much like a stage play, and is full of theatrical touches that fall flat on the screen; we have characters essentially stepping out of the reality of the moment to deliver monologues and innermost thoughts, for example. Furthermore, the dialogue is extremely dated (and probably was in 1969 as well), and the New York accents are distracting in the extreme. As a result, the movie never really rings true; it seems mannered, artificial and pretentious, despite its desperate attempt to seem colloquial. It’s a shame; there’s some interesting ideas in here, but the movie’s style prevents me from really enjoying them. The movie is a curio.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE MUMMY (1955)
Article 2883 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-30-2009
Posting Date: 7-5-2009
Directed by Charles Lamont
Featuring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Marie Windsor
Country: USA

Two Americans get tangled up with a murdered Egyptologist, a sacred medallion, and a mummy.

This marks the final entry in my coverage of the Abbott and Costello monster movies, and possibly of my coverage of Abbott and Costello altogether (unless someone has classified WHO DONE IT as horror). This one is often dismissed as the weakest of the series, and I can see why; it feels cheaper and more rushed than the others, the timing isn’t quite as sharp as it used to be, and for those who like the horror elements, they’re sorely lacking here and the monster is lame. Still, I have a sneaking affection for it; it gives Bud and Lou a wider variety of humorous situations than they usually got in their horror comedies, and in some ways it’s more similar to the non-horror comedies of the duo. I have favorite bits; I like Lou’s encounter with a French dancer who manages to give him every chance to pick her up while acting offended, I also like the duo’s attempt to get rid of the cursed medallion in the restaurant, and the “pick and shovel” routine is an abbreviated example of the type of verbal humor that made them famous in the first place. Unfortunately, there’s also the tiresome moments where they try to milk humor from Lou being scared, and some of it seems particularly desperate this time. It also reprises other types of gags, including the old “bodies disappearing and reappearing” shtick. The script is fairly clumsy; they’re given character names, but constantly refer to each other as Bud and Lou. The team was on its last legs here; they had one more movie together before the breakup.

At heart, I don’t think movies really caught the duo at their best; their verbal routines developed in vaudeville were their forte, and despite all the movies they made, they will probably be best remembered for the “Who’s on First” routine. Still, I’m glad they made the movies; without them, they would probably be largely forgotten nowadays. At least many of the high points of their career can be relived in the various clips from the movies.

ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1953)
Article 2882 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 3-29-2009
Posting Date: 7-4-2009
Directed by Charles Lamont
Featuring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Boris Karloff
Country: USA

Two American policemen are booted from the London police force for incompetence. They decide that if they can capture the monster that is terrorizing London, they can get back on the force.

I think one of the strengths of the Abbott and Costello horror comedies was that they were full of authentic horror atmosphere, and this one is no exception in that regard; with the good use of music and mist and a good performance from Boris Karloff, there’s enough here to keep horror fans satisfied. However, the comedy was often uneven, and most of the humor here involves slapstick or acting scared, neither of which really catch Bud and Lou at their best. There’s some fun moments and touches; I’ve always had a fondness for John Dierkes and his glowering craggy face, and he shows here that he can make for a memorable mad doctor’s assistant. A couple of the comic sequences do keep me amused, and these are the ones surrounding Lou’s accidental transformation into a giant mouse. A friend of mine argues that this movie gives us a Dr. Jekyll that is truer to the original story than the other versions, and though I have no real opinion about that, I do feel that Mr. Hyde here is more of a werewolf-style monster than anything having to do with the Robert Louis Stevenson story; he can’t even speak. And though I do find the comedy disappointing overall here, it does have one gag that has netted the biggest laugh from me from any of the Bud and Lou monster comedies; it involves a baby carriage and the line “Does he look like you?”