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Scared Stiff
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27 April 1953
Dean Martin's performance of "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine" was the influential version of the song, which became Elvis Presley's second Sun single in 1954.
When Jerry Lewis and I were big, we used to go to parties, and everybody thought I was big-headed and stuck up, and I wasn't. It was because I didn't know how to speak good English, so I used to keep my mouth shut.
Dean Martin
Scared Stiff (1953) is a comedy film starring the team of Martin and Lewis. The musical comedy was released on April 27, 1953 by Paramount Pictures and directed by George Marshall.
Larry Todd (Dean Martin), and Myron Mertz (Jerry Lewis), cross paths with a gangster named "Shorty" when Larry hits on Shorty's girl. After fleeing from Shorty, they meet an heiress (Lizabeth Scott) who is sailing for Cuba. One unexplained murder and threatening note later, Larry and Myron sail with her to the island. Once there they cross paths with a zombie and other mysterious happenings. Eventually they discover the person behind the mystery and rid the island of him. The movie ends with a cameo appearance by Bing Crosby and Bob Hope.
The team's ninth picture, Scared Stiff is a remake of Paramount's previous effort, The Ghost Breakers, a 1940 "scare comedy" starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard, also directed by George Marshall. Martin and Lewis had appeared as 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.
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.
Scared Stiff was filmed from June 2 through July 17, 1952. It was the first film of the team's available in 3-track, stereophonic sound. Some reviews at the time commented on the soundtrack's use of stereo enhancing gag sequences. The stereo tracks for this film are now considered lost. As with most films of team's work, it garnered a re-release in 1958 on a double bill with another Martin and Lewis picture, Jumping Jacks.
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.
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George Marshall also directed the earlier version of this film (The Ghost Breakers (1940)).
Cameo: [Bing Crosby] a skeleton.
Cameo: ['Bob Hope'] a skeleton. Hope appeared in The Ghost Breakers (1940), of which this film is a remake.
The last film of Carmen Miranda's career.
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.
The previous year Martin and Lewis had made an uncredited gag appearance in Bing Crosby and Bob Hope's "The Road to Bali." Hope and Crosby return the favor with a cameo in this film.
Feature film writing debut for 1970's television mogul Norman Lear.
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