Scared Stiff *** (1953, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Lizabeth Scott, Carmen Miranda) – Classic Movie Review 6611

Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis star as nightclub lounge singer Larry Todd and his soppy busboy friend and partner Myron Mertz fleeing from a murder charge and washing up on a creepy Caribbean island recently left to husky heiress Mary Carroll (Lizabeth Scott) who tries to help them. It turns out that on the rather lively island there is hidden treasure, a ghost, a zombie, and a mysterious killer.

Director George Marshall’s daft, desperate-to-please 1953 Paramount comedy-thriller is a reasonably jolly blend of japes and chills in an effective remake of Bob Hope’s 1940 The Ghost Breakers, already remade as Scared Stiff in 1945 with Jack Haley and Ann Savage. It is one of Martin and Lewis’s better vehicles.

As Carmelita Castinha, Carmen Miranda lends her unique talents in enjoyable co-starring support. Bob Hope and Bing Crosby make guest appearances, repaying their debt from when Martin and Lewis appeared in cameos in Road to Bali.

Also in the cast are George Dolenz as Mr Cortega, Dorothy Malone as Rosie, William Ching as Tony Warren, Jack Lambert as Zombie, Paul Marion, Tom Powers, Tony Barr, Leonard Strong, Henry Brandon, Hugh Sanders, Chester Conklin, Percy Helton, Frank Fontaine, Billy Daniel, Joe Grey and Earl Holliman.

It runs 107 minutes, is written by Herbert Baker, Walter DeLeon, Ed Simmons and Norman Lear, is shot in black and white by Ernest Laszlo, is produced by Joseph H Hazen and Hal B Wallis, is scored by Leith Stevens and Joseph J Lilley, and is designed by Hal Pereira and Franz Bachelin. The screenplay is based on the stage play The Ghost Breakers by Paul Dickey and Charles W Goddard.

RIP Jerry Lewis, who died on August 20, 2017, age 91.

RIP Dorothy Malone, who died on January 19, 2018, age 93.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6611

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com