Probably the best A & C movie though not, funnily enough, the funniest - it has laughs, to be sure, but not as many as some of their other, hokier movies. The greatness in this one lies in the cast and performances, and atmosphere and story - you can watch it again and again and never get sick of it.The quality of scripts used in A & C movies shot up markedly once Charles Barton started directing their films and its no surprise he's in charge here; the story is a very good one, and would be good enough on its own to serve as one of those Universal Dracula/Frankenstein/ Wolf Man sequels of the 40s (indeed, its a lot more logical and thought out than most of the later ones): Costello is being groomed by a femme fetale on behalf of Count Dracula,who wants to transplant his brain to Frankenstein's monster in order to make the latter more docile.
There are some lovely moments where Bela Lugosi lovingly taps Costello's head, and Costello gets strapped to the operating table; it's also hilarious to have all these women chasing after Costello, to Abbott's consternation. The film even skilfully incorporates a love interest subplot into the action - a female investigating insurance officer and a doctor who innocently works for Dracula (both serve the plot and add a little romance). The atmosphere is appropriately spooky - a chamber of horrors, Dracula's island, a laboratory.
Lugosi is in good form as Dracula, a very good straight man (he's so much more charismatic in the part than John Carradine, why didn't Universal give him another go in one of the sequels?); Lon Chaney is terrific as always as the tragic Wolf Man (one of the all-time great monster death scenes with him leaping out of the window grabbing Dracula in bat form); Glen Strange is fine as the Monster; all the support actors are good.
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