Bury Me Dead (1947) introduces us to the prize fighter George (Greg McClure) who has been dating the neurotic Rusty (Cathy O'Donnell), but it looks as though he has been successfully seduced by her married sister Barbara (June Lockhart). This drives a wedge even deeper between the already estranged sisters.

Barbara's husband Rod (Mark Daniels) meanwhile seems to have taken an interest in his attorney's bathing beauty secretary Helen (Sonia Darrin). Through miscommunication & the apparent mutual faithlessness of Rod & Barbara, divorce is mentioned. Rod stands to lose the most, since he married into wealth.

Barbara had been seductive toward George only to prove to Rusty her boxer sweetheart was a womanizer. Rod, angered to be misjudged & manimplated, more from anger than serious interest, flirts with the secretary Helen, & so on round we go.

Behind the spoofy madcap relationships there's simultaneously a film noir mystery in play, although the punning & smart aleckiness of the script makes one slow to realize we should take very seriously the story's stalker psycho, a truly menacing fellow who started out seeming rather nice.

When the stable burns down & it's assumed Barbara was burned to death, there are plenty of suspects catching the attention of Detective Archer (Cliff Clark). Barbara attends her own funeral in disguise, unwilling to reveal herself because just about everyone could have been the one who tried to kill her. In solving the mystery we need to know not only who set the fire, but also who was the burned corpse?

There's a shortened version of the film in which George's role is mostly deleted, probably to increase the seriousness, but without him there are lapses of continuity, like how did Rod get the black eye. The film also includes some outright mistakes, like forgetting it's after midnight when the police call the office of family attorney Mike Dunn (Hugh Beaumont) expecting his secretary Helen to be there, & she was.

Despite the budgetary limitations & faults, this is an entertaining mystery tale not ruined by its humor, though a little schizophrenic in not knowing if it wants to be a screwball comedy or a severe tale of murder. The cast is good even though second-string, though fans of 1950s television will enjoy seeing Hugh Beaumont the dad from Leave it to Beaver & June Lockhart the from Lassie.

The director, who also did the intriguing B-programmer The Amazing Dr X (1948), is competent to his task even if no genius. But who knows what he might have filmed if McCarthy hadn't put the kabosh on his career.

copyright © by Paghat the Ratgirl