Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)

After 15 years of hit movies for Universal Studios, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello left the studio in the twilight of their partnership with the last of their monster comedies. Decked out in desert safari gear, the boys go looking for a job with an Egyptologist and wind up in the middle of a conspiracy concerning the murdered professor, an ancient mummy, and a magical medallion that, true to form, bumbling Costello manages to eat for dinner. Marie Windsor, the boss lady of a gang of treasure hunting crooks, dresses in a harem outfit to vamp for our chubby little hero, and the eternally stiff Richard Deacon hilariously plays the leader of an Egyptian mummy cult like a high school principal decked out for Halloween. Directed by longtime collaborator Charles Lamont, it's a typical Abbott and Costello farce with disappearing corpses, mistaken identities, and wacky word plays ("Take your pick" riffs on "Who's on first" with garden tools). While not as clever or spirited as their original monster mash Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, the vaudeville veterans are still masters of the double take and fast-talk patter, and the picture climaxes with a screwball chase that involves not one, not two, but three mummies skittering through the phoniest looking pyramid this side of community theater. You were expecting realism? The boys appeared together once more on film, in Dance with Me, Henry, and then split up. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com

Short on laughs

While in Egypt, Peter and Freddie (Abbott and Costello) get involved with a walking mummy, his cult followers, and a cursed medallion.

That's a pretty short summary, but honestly, that's all there is to this disappointing comedy. Abbott and Costello were past their prime in 1955 and the film shows it. The jokes aren't much unless you think endless punchlines with "mummy" instead of "mommy" and snake charmers with rubber snakes are funny. Abbott yells too much at Costello and they both are barely going through the motions; in fact, they call each other "Bud" and "Lou" throughout. The ridiculous casting of Richard Deacon ("Mel Cooley" in The Dick Van Dyke Show) and Michael Ansara (TV's "Cochise") as Egyptian mummy-worshippers makes the story even more far-fetched. It's about thirty minutes too long and plays like a bad SNL skit. Definitely not one of their best. October 4, 2008

Great Movie

I searched for this movie in local stores and found nothing. I don't know why I bother looking anywhere other than Amazon. September 29, 2008

Abbott and Costello Meet The Mummy

Movie is an excellent movie. Seller mislead as to which version she was selling. Received Papa John's free movie after paying a high price for what I thought was the movie company's dvd. August 12, 2008

a and c meet the mummy

very funny, a and c are my favorit actors,it is the best ,and i recommend it very highly January 14, 2008

Raiders of the Lost Cavern

The film begins in Egypt with a French Apache dance. [No, its not a prototype for the Jerry Springer Show.] A professor has found a mummy of Klaris and will ship it to America. But others work to prevent this. Pete and Freddie go to visit Dr. Zummer and find a dead body and a lot of trouble. [A stunt double is used for Freddie.] Note the new technology of a tape recorder and a Polaroid Land camera. There is a dance to entertain or pad out this film. Then the boys perform their comic skits. They return to Dr. Zummer's house to search for clues. They find more trouble, but escape. They find a willing buyer for the medallion. Then another threat.

After a song the boys repeat some of their old skits (using hamburgers). [They were funnier the first couple of times.] Freddie is captivated by Miss Renfrew, the villainess. A fluoroscope reveals the medal and its hieroglyphs. They reveal the location of a vast treasure of untold wealth. Freddie stumbles into a secret cavern. He hears about the plot. Later the boys fall into a secret room. The dancers perform again. Miss Renfrew's boys have a scheme, so do Pete and Freddie. This results in three mummies running around with comic confusion. It all ends in a blast. Show business triumphs in the end.

I found their earlier pictures to be better comedies. Pete and Freddie forget to use their script names.
January 6, 2008

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