Scared Stiff was Carmen Miranda's final film appearance, as she died two years later in August 1955.
Plot
Mary Carroll inherits her family's ancestral home, located on a small Caribbean island off Cuba. Despite warnings and death threats, she decides to sail to Havana and take possession of the reputedly haunted castle. She is joined by nightclub entertainer Larry Todd who, believing he has killed a mobster, flees New York with a friend, Myron. Once on the island the three enter the eerie castle and, after viewing the ghost of one of Mary's ancestors and fighting off a menacing zombie, find the key to the castle's treasure.
Martin and Lewis had a cameo in Hope and Bing Crosby's Road to Bali the previous year as part of a "comedy trade" between the two teams. In turn, Hope and Crosby appear for a cameo in Scared Stiff. Both shared a common producer, Cy Howard, who produced Martin and Lewis' first two My Friend Irma pictures and That's My Boy. A few years later, Martin and Frank Sinatra appeared in the final scene of the final Hope and Crosby road picture, Road to Hong Kong.
According to Lewis, both he and Martin were against making the picture, as they found the original to be satisfactory. However, because the film was a Paramount property that producer Hal B. Wallis felt was one that could be successful in the comedy team's hands, he held the two to their contract for the film.[3]
Scared Stiff was filmed from June 2 through July 17, 1952. It was the first of the team's films available in 3-track, stereophonic sound. Some reviews at the time commented on the soundtrack's use of stereo to enhance gag sequences.[4] The stereo tracks for this film are now considered lost. As with most films of the team's work, it garnered a re-release in 1958 on a double bill with another Martin and Lewis picture, Jumping Jacks.
Norman Lear was credited with "additional dialogue". It was his first writing credit on a Hollywood film.
Scared Stiff turned out to be the last film for Carmen Miranda who died two years later, shortly after completing an episode of The Jimmy Durante Show on TV. In the film, Jerry Lewis impersonates Miranda and lip syncs one of her signature numbers, "Mamãe Eu Quero".[5]
Home media
Paramount released Scared Stiff on home video in November 1992.[6] The film was included on an eight-film DVD set, the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Collection: Volume One, released on October 31, 2006.[7]
Reception
Bosley Crowther of The New York Times wrote, "The nonsense herein contrived is not an inspired presentation of the comic qualities of the two boys."[8]Variety wrote that Martin and Lewis "provide a free-wheeling round of slapstick hilarity".[9] Writing in The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia, academic Peter Dendle called the film an annoying remake that "mostly sticks to the original except for the addition of several bad song and dance numbers and even worse comedy routines".[10]
On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a rating of 71% based on 7 reviews, with an average rating of 5.83/10.[11]
References
^"The Top Box Office Hits of 1953", Variety, January 13, 1954.
^ abNeibaur, James L. and Okuda, Ted: Jerry Lewis Films, The: an analytical filmography of the innovative comic, pp. 62–72. McFarland & Company, Inc, 1995.
^"Paramount Offers Zany Comedy Team", Oakland Tribune, Oakland, CA. June 12, 1953, p. 39.
