Wacky hijinks abound when hotel detective Casey Edwards (Bud Abbott) and bellboy Freddie Phillips (Lou Costello) investigate the murder of a crooked lawyer. This comedy, which is one of the famous duo's best, starts when the pair's investigation blossoms into an attempt to solve a series of murders that have all occurred at Lost Canyons Hotel. Director Charles Barton keeps the mystery going until the finish. One of the best bits is when Boris Karloff, barely disguised as the sinister mystic Swami Talpur, tries to get Freddie to commit suicide under hypnosis while screaming "You're going to commit suicide if it's the last thing you do." Inspector Wellman (James Flavin) finally does track down the killer but it's not who you would suspect. The farce flows freely from the story by Hugh Wedlock and Howard Snyder who penned the screenplay with the help of John Grant. Fake Svengali Karloff pops around many a corner, giving the boys quite a scare as they bungle their way to the bottom of the mystery.

release year: 1949

star(s): Boris Karloff