As a major fan of Bud, Lou and Boris, I have tried to enjoy this film on numerous occasions over my lifetime. It never works for me. It's not the worst thing Abbott & Costello ever did, but it's certainly not one of their best; and it's easily one of Karloff's least if you're interested in catching it just for him.
Abbott plays a detective in a hotel who investigates dimwitted bellboy Costello, who gets tangled up in a murderous web of events. Boris is on hand as one of the would-be suspects, but there's very little quality screen time allowed him and he's sorely wasted in a nothing role. The story is too hotel-bound most of the time and the laughs are not plentiful, especially when the favored "gag" of the picture is repeated so many times that it quickly becomes monotonous: Lou keeps finding dead people popping up all over the place. Karloff should have donned his old monster get-up when they did MEET FRANKENSTEIN instead.
Abbott plays a detective in a hotel who investigates dimwitted bellboy Costello, who gets tangled up in a murderous web of events. Boris is on hand as one of the would-be suspects, but there's very little quality screen time allowed him and he's sorely wasted in a nothing role. The story is too hotel-bound most of the time and the laughs are not plentiful, especially when the favored "gag" of the picture is repeated so many times that it quickly becomes monotonous: Lou keeps finding dead people popping up all over the place. Karloff should have donned his old monster get-up when they did MEET FRANKENSTEIN instead.