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Scared Stiff (1953) More at IMDbPro »

Overview

User Rating:
6.3/10   522 votes
MOVIEmeter: ?
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Director:
George Marshall
Writers:
Herbert Baker (writer)
Walter DeLeon (writer)
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Contact:
View company contact information for Scared Stiff on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
27 April 1953 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy | Horror | Musical | Mystery more
Tagline:
They're making a spook-tacle of themselves!
Plot:
Fleeing a murder charge, a singer and a busboy (Martin & Lewis) wind up on a spooky Carribean island inherited by heiress (Scott). full summary | full synopsis
Plot Keywords:
more
NewsDesk:
Indie filmmaker reveals Family Secret
 (From Fangoria. 3 September 2009, 11:04 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
OK remake - OK Martin-Lewis vehicle! more (12 total)

Cast

  (Complete credited cast)

Dean Martin ... Larry Todd

Jerry Lewis ... Myron Mertz
Lizabeth Scott ... Mary Carroll

Carmen Miranda ... Carmelita Castinha
George Dolenz ... Mr. Cortega
Dorothy Malone ... Rosie
William Ching ... Tony Warren
Paul Marion ... Ramon Cariso / Francisco Cariso
Jack Lambert ... Zombie
Tony Barr ... Trigger
Leonard Strong ... Shorty
Henry Brandon ... Pierre
Hugh Sanders ... Cop on Pier
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Additional Details

Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parents
Runtime:
108 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Black and White
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
3 Channel Stereo (Western Electric Multi-Track Magnetic Stereophonic) | Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Certification:
West Germany:12 (re-rated) | West Germany:16 | Australia:G | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:Btl | USA:Unrated
Company:
Paramount Pictures more

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
When he looks around the gloomy gold mine, Dean Martin says, "Reminds me of my hotel room in Steubenville." Martin's real-life home town was Steubenville, Ohio. more
Goofs:
Revealing mistakes: At the club Mary receives a note from Larry that he can't make the date, she writes on (what looks like a show bill) three words (two on top line one on bottom) quickly scrawled but when we see a close up its written very clearly it reads: "Forgive me for running away-" more
Quotes:
Mary Carol: Larry, why are you so nice to me?
Larry Todd: I don't know, I guess I've always been a sucker for girls named Mary Carol.
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981) more
Soundtrack:
Bongo Bingo more

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User Comments

   (Comment on this title)
5 out of 6 people found the following comment useful.
OK remake - OK Martin-Lewis vehicle!, 3 November 2006
6/10
Author: Benoît A. Racine (benoit-3) from Toronto, Ontario, Canada

I'm a Jerry Lewis fan and I think Bob Hope's «The Ghost Breakers» (1940) was technically way ahead of its time as a funny/scary Old Dark House comedy. This thirteen-years-later remake feels like it was hatched together as a quickie Martin-Lewis vehicle in the «scary» mode (they made four films that year). It reuses the same director (George Marshall), most of the dialogue, most of the situations, most of the special effects, all the stock footage and even one song from the original. The sets have also been recreated and the jokes «updated». If the remake works at all, it is due to the extreme quality and originality of the first film. Comedy writer Norman Lear (of TV fame) did his best in adapting the Bob Hope/Willie Best routine to the particular talents of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis.

Where the story starts to creak though is in the scary scenes. They have lost their suspense and mystery and that undefinable mix of editing, timing, lighting, photography, acting, pacing and music called «atmosphere», which «The Ghost Breakers» had in spades.

The casting is also lacking: Lizabeth Scott is no Paulette Goddard. She may look good in a bathing suit but her comedy is stilted, her romantic moods are too entranced and her dramatics don't convince. William Ching is no Richard Carlson, Paul Marion is no Anthony Quinn and George Dolenz is no Paul Lukas either. The zombie character is also a special disappointment all its own. Out of a misguided sense of political correctness, the original Black zombie (Noble Johnson) has been replaced by a nondescript White (!) cowboy villain (!!) (Jack Lambert) who actually looks like an ordinary Joe (!!!) without makeup (!!!!) from a distance. His entrance actually causes crickets to start chirping.

All in all, I appreciate this film as a kind of homage to the original, for its numerous Jerry Lewis set pieces, in which he exhibits a supreme self-confidence, and for the Dean Martin songs - despite the near-obscenity of the «Enchilada Man» number (you can imagine but don't ask!)... The less said about the Carmen Miranda numbers the better (this was her last film).

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