MovieChat Forums > Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949) Discussion > Can someone explain this to me?

Can someone explain this to me?

posted 11 years ago by IMDB_Vits
8 replies | jump to latest

Throughout the movie, we always know who's guilty. At the end, they arrested the wrong person. Or didn't they?

[–] dustinthewind25 11 years ago

(spoilers) I think throughout the movie, the makers of this film are purposefully trying to get you to think Karloff is the killer, but at the end, we realize we've been mislead, and it was the Alan Mowbray character all the time.

[–] IMDB_Vits 11 years ago

But throughout the movie he says he's the killer. And we see him doing things. Or am I wrong (I saw this months ago)?

[–] dustinthewind25 11 years ago

Hey Vits, here's a link to the plot synopsis, it's a pretty good overview of the story and how the characters fit together.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbott_and_Costello_Meet_the_Killer,_Boris_Karloff

The Karloff character doesn't seem to be above committing murder, that's for sure, but in the storyline, he's not THE killer.

[–] IMDB_Vits 11 years ago

Oh! So, he WAS a criminal but didn't commit the murder? And everything he did was so FREDDIE could be blamed, because that's what some people do in panic situations like that?

[–] dustinthewind25 11 years ago

Exactly. That whole crew of suspicious people, including Karloff, and the Angela character, didn't murder Strickland, but they were afraid they'd be the obvious suspects, because of their previous connection with Strickland, so they were trying to pin it on Freddie.

[–] oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx 11 years ago

Lets not forget that this is a movie where pheasant on the half shell is ordered.

It's clearly Karloff in the cave, you can make out his accent. Then when they're back in the hotel they say they've found the killer because of the mud. Then it turns out it's not Karloff, which doesn't make sense.

I think the movie is just crazy. Which is why I like it.

[–] IMDB_Vits 11 years ago

I think the movie is just crazy.

Or maybe, like with most comedy teams of the era, the script writers thought "People just want to see an excuse of a plot so that they can do an extended vaudeville routine".

[–] dustinthewind25 11 years ago

I think the makers of the movie wanted us to think it was Karloff as the killer the whole time, and the voice of the villain in the cave is muffled but sounds just enough like Karloff's for us to think it's him, but leave some room for doubt, so they can spring the Alan Mowbray character on us at the end as the murderer.