Scared to Death (1947)

Director:

Christy Cabanne

Writer:

Walter Abbott (original story and screenplay)

Release Date:

1 February 1947 (USA)

Genre:

Mystery | Thriller

Plot:

From a slab in the morgue, a dead young woman tells the bizarre tale of how she got there, through a maze of murder involving a hypnotist...

Plot Keywords:

Mask | Morgue | Midget | Scared To Death | Public Domain

Cast

Bela Lugosi	...	Prof. Leonide
George Zucco	...	Dr. Josef Van Ee
Nat Pendleton	...	Bill 'Bull' Raymond
Molly Lamont	...	Laura Van Ee
Joyce Compton	...	Jane Cornell
Gladys Blake	...	Lilly Beth
Roland Varno	...	Ward Van Ee
Douglas Fowley	...	Terry Lee
Stanley Andrews	...	Pathologist
Angelo Rossitto	...	Indigo
Lee Bennett	...	Rene the Killer
Stanley Price	...	Intern

Also Known As:

Accent on Horror (USA) (working title)
The Autopsy (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

65 min | USA:68 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Hungarian

Color:

Color (Cinecolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Canada:G (Ontario) | Spain:13 | UK:A (original rating) | UK:U (video rating) (1996) | USA:Approved

Company:

Golden Gate Pictures

Trivia:

When Indigo the midget steps on Raymond's feet after he insulted him, Prof. Leonid (Bela Lugosi) shouts at the little man in Hungarian, which translation as "What did you do again? Now look at yourself! Sit down and stay there!"

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Angelo Rossitto's character name is "Inigo" (as in Inigo Jones) if you listen to Lugosi, "Indigo" if you listen to Nat Pendleton.

Quotes:

Terry Lee: Pardon me, Professor, but didn't I just see you outside baying at the moon?

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dracula: A Cinematic Scrapbook (1991)

Fun Movie

Scared to death is a fun movie. I really liked the character of Bill Raymond (played by Nat Pendleton), who was a detective sitting around a house waiting for someone to be murdered so that he could impress his superiors on the police force.

There were a great deal of fun turns in the movie. The bad guy was really a good guy and the person who was "murdered" really deserved it. As I mentioned before, the cop was there for no reason but to wait for a murder and the reporter was also there waiting for something to report. There was also a dwarf who seemed to just be hanging around to make the movie strange, a man who wanted a divorce and couldn't figure out how to get one, a doctor who never saw a single patient and a maid who sometimes seemed like she might be a nurse.

The plot was so silly and contrived that you couldn't take it seriously- so you have to just sit back and have some fun with it. It's not an expensive movie, I bought it on a DVD that also has 2 other Bela Lugosi movies on it- White Zombie and The Corpse Vanishes. It's not the best plot in the world, but it is a nice distraction for an hour of your time.