Scared Stiff (1953)

A remake of The Ghost Breakers, with the same director, and one of the same writers, behind the camera, Scared Stiff is a lot of fun, but only IF you can tolerate the whacky antics of Jerry Lewis, here doing his loud manchild schtick.

Lizabeth Scott plays  Mary, a woman who has just inherited a property on a small island near Cuba. That's all well and good, but the property is said to be highly haunted. Heading that way, she ends up joined by Larry Todd (Dean Martin) and his friend, Myron (Lewis). Todd is a nightclub singer who thinks he has shot a gangster. Myron seems to have no  main job role, other than to annoy his friend. Hijinks ensue.

I've always had a soft spot for Scared Stiff, having seen and enjoyed it before The Ghost Breakers, and I think it remains a great vehicle for Martin and Lewis. Their very first scenes play out in typical fashion, and the film premise allows them a good bit of room to play around (most notably in the amusing scene that has Lewis dressed up and miming to a Carmen Miranda song). Both the laughs and the spooky trappings are generally heightened here, compared to the 1940 movie, but it works well because the leads are equally bigger “personalities” than Hope and co. 

Walter DeLeon doesn’t need to change too much of the core of his script, and I am not sure if the way the material is adapted for the stars falls to him or co-writer Herbert Baker, who had already worked with Martin and Lewis, but it’s nicely transposed to something the same as The Ghost Breakers . . . but different.

Marshall directs the material as well as he did previously, with the longer runtime reflecting the extra moments that allow Martin and Lewis to step aside from the main thrust of the plot to get up to some of their familiar antics.

Maybe a bit harder to recommend than the previous version of this film, because it depends more on how you feel about the leads (particularly Lewis), but Scared Stiff stands up as a spooky comedy that delivers a wonderful mix of haunted house tropes and chuckles in the third act. I still like it, I still rate it as one of the better Martin and Lewis pairings, and I still urge others to at least check it out. 

7/10

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The Ghost Breakers (1940)

Bob Hope is Larry Lawrence in this spooky comedy that remains a great template for this kind of thing. Take some ghosts and ghoulies. Add a hero who can pretend to have courage for a moment, than ensure we all know how scared he is at all times. And have a criminal sub-plot that may or may not mean the supernatural elements are faked. 

One thing leads to another in a busy opening sequence, and Larry Lawrence thinks he has accidentally shot someone dead. Someone that has people who will in turn shoot him back. He ends up bundling himself into the travelling trunk of Mary Carter (Paulette Goddard). Mary is heading to an inherited property on a small Cuban island. It is allegedly haunted. And there is even a zombie living nearby. Hearing of this strange situation, and noting the insistence of someone wanting to keep Mary away, Larry decides to put himself forward as a man who can investigate such matters, and sets out to do so in the company of his servant, Alex (Willie Best). 

Adapted from a popular stage play, which had been adapted for the screen twice before (silent movies, both now considered lost), this stands out as a near-perfect blend of thrills, chills, and giggles for viewers. Walter DeLeon adapts the play well, making it a fine fit for Hope and his usual style of gaggery, and George Marshall directs it all at a nicely zippy pace. There are no huge set-pieces, but lots of small ones that flow into one another as the entertainment factor remains high throughout. 

Hope is at his easygoing best here, enjoying himself in a character that's about 50/50 when it comes to cowardice and courage, and Goddard is one of those classic leading ladies from this era who lights up the screen whenever she appears, so the banter between the two is very enjoyable. While his role is often just the comedy relief, certainly in the last third of the movie, Best proves himself to be just as amusing and entertaining as the leads, and makes this more than just a two-hander. Paul Lukas is suave and sneaky as someone advising against visiting the haunted property, Anthony Quinn is a possible villain, and Richard Carlson is the smooth and charming Geoff Montgomery.

Some of the jokes have aged worse than others, especially a number of exchanges between Hope and Best, and there is a slight creakiness to it all (everything creaks slightly when it is 80 years old), but this is one of those films that I think everyone should see at least once. It's a classic, in its own way. It just isn't the kind of classic included in most conversations that cover The Classics.

And how can you not enjoy a comedy that has the line "The girls call me Pilgrim, because every time I dance with one I make a little progress."? 

8/10

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The Blue Dahlia (1946)

While it's no classic, and certainly a rung or two below The Glass Key (a film sharing many of the cast members), there's some easy fun to be had with The Blue Dahlia, a film written by Raymond Chandler and directed by George Marshall.

Alan Ladd plays Johnny Morrison, a man who gets home from military service to find that his wife (Doris Dowling) hasn't exactly been sitting at the window with a lamp on, awaiting his return. She's been living it up, particularly enjoying the company of Eddie Harwood (Howard Da Silva). The husband and wife argue, the husband storms out, and later that night there's a murder. It looks like Johnny is the man the police desperately want to get a hold of, but his friends, played by William Bendix and Hugh Beaumont, don't want to see him imprisoned. Even if they suspect that he may have done it. Johnny also finds an ally in the shape of a woman (Veronica Lake) he doesn't realise is actually Mrs. Harwood.

The Blue Dahlia may not have the best script or the most thrills, but it's an enjoyable enough watch, thanks mainly to the characters populating the onscreen world. Ladd has always been more of a stoic than charismatic lead, but that suits just fine in a film such as this. Lake is always captivating, Da Silva is enjoyably slippery and nobody does the big lug quite like Bendix. Will Wright, Tom Powers and others all help to keep boredom at bay.

There aren't any surprises here, no twists and turns beyond those that fans of crime flicks will see coming a mile away, but everything moves along well enough. There's a final scene that ties up any loose ends, without spending more time than necessary on each detail, and every element onscreen is at least competent and satisfying, despite being unspectacular and a bit lacking in excitement. Still worth a watch though, especially for anyone who enjoys the movie stars of this era.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Film-Noir-Collection-Kirk-Douglas/dp/B000UWXM1C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1384710199&sr=8-1&keywords=film+noir+collection