Slapstick humor of Abbott, Costello still holds up well

Comedy tonight! The old comedy movies here are hit and miss, but they're all far better than the one 21st-century film in this batch.

• "The Best of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, Volume 3" (Universal, not rated, $26.98, two double-sided discs).

— "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948) is often cited as the best of A&C's films, and it's still awfully good, with the boys being chased by Dracula (Bela Lugosi), the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney Jr.) and, of course, Frankenstein's monster (Glenn Strange). One complaint: The bonus features on the original DVD release are not included here for some reason.

— "Mexican Hayride" (1948) gets its biggest laughs when Costello dances every time a samba is played. He's in Mexico to get back money from crooked Abbott.

— "Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer" (1949). The posters say " . . . Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff" — but he's not the killer! Good spooky fun in a hotel, with Karloff as a phony fortune-teller.

— "Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion" (1950). The title tells it all; the best sequence has the boys hallucinating in the desert.

— "Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man" (1951) is a very good A&C monster mash, with the boys trying to help a boxer who becomes invisible.

— "Comin' Round the Mountain" (1952), a disappointing hillbilly yarn, has one funny scene, as Costello and a witch (Margaret Hamilton, the Wicked Witch of the West in "The Wizard of Oz") stick pins in dolls.

— "Lost in Alaska" (1952), another weak A&C effort, has them mixed up with a sad-sack prospector (Tom Ewell). (This is the first film with Abbott in his mustache.)

— "Abbott and Costello Go to Mars" (1953) is perhaps weakest of all as the boys board a spaceship and land on, not Mars, but Venus! (Look for Anita Ekberg among the beauties they encounter.)

OK, now what? Universal has only "Abbott & Costello Meet the Keystone Kops" and "Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy" left . . . unless you count "It Ain't Hay," which was not in "Volume 2" due to a dispute over music rights. "Mummy" is available on a solo disc — but what about "Kops"?

Extras: Full frame, trailers, text production notes, subtitle options (English, Spanish, French), chapters.

• "If a Man Answers" (Universal, 1962, not rated, $14.98).