Scared to Death (1947)
Directed by Christy Cabanne

Film Review

Scared to Death may not be the worst of Bela Lugosi's films but it comes pretty damn close, a muddled intrigue in which the great icon of film horror is reduced to playing a redundant character that was presumably slotted in just so that its producers could include a 'big name' in the film poster.  Lugosi is not the only wasted asset here, the distinguished English character actor George Zucco is also pretty well squandered, buried in an ensemble that consists of mostly talentless actors who soon become tiresome.  A verbose, lumbering, tediously stagey mess of a film that can't decide whether it is a comedy or straight murder mystery, Scared to Death has nothing whatsoever to commend it, other than the fact that this is the only time Lugosi appeared on film in colour in a leading role.

Film Synopsis

As she lies dead and about to be subjected to an autopsy to establish the cause of her death, Laura Van Ee recalls the series of events that led to her tragic demise.  She remembers being unhappily married to a man named Ward Van Ee, the son of Dr Joseph Van Ee, an eminent psychiatric doctor.  Laura was convinced that she was being held against her will, but she refused to give her husband the divorce he wanted.  When a mysterious doctor, an acquaintance of Dr Van Ee showed up with a midget, Ward sought his help in exposing his wife's sordid past...