Scared To Death (1947)

Starring Bela Lugosi, George Zucco, Nat Pendleton, Molly Lamont, Joyce Compton
Directed by Christy Cabanne
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

The dead body of a woman recalls the last hours of her life, trapped in an institution run by her husband and his father, and haunted by a fear of something hidden in her past.

The only color film of Bela Lugosi is possibly one of his worst movies, with a nonsensical script and poorly written characters.  Lugosi, Zucco, and Cabanne have all made much better movies, so I can only presume that they were desperate for work to sign on to this turkey.  It's not completely awful- Lugosi and Zucco take their parts seriously, such as they are, and it's good to see them together, but when they both vanish from the film for long sequences, we're left with Nat Pendleton's bumbling cop and Douglas Fowley's annoying reporter to carry the story, who both would have been far better in much smaller doses.

The Thin Man (1934)

Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell
Directed by W.S. Van Dyke
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

Retired detective Nick Charles is convinced by his wife Nora to help a young woman whose father has disappeared after the murder of his mistress.

MGM delivers a classic mystery with many laughs courtesy of the charming team of Powell and Loy, whose dialogue throughout the picture is sparkling and a lot of fun.  Based on a story by Maltese Falcon author Dashiell Hammett, the mystery is a good one but secondary to the comic scenes involving the leads and their terrier Asta.  It's interesting to see Pendleton, nearly always cast as a dimwitted but lovable type, playing it straight as the police lieutenant on the case, and there's many solid character turns by actors like Edward Ellis, Cesar Romero, and Edward Brophy.  It's a credit to their performances and that of the rest of the cast that when Powell invites all the suspects to a dinner so he can expose the murderer that we know everyone around the table without confusion.  Followed by five sequels, the popularity of the film is a testament to the chemistry between the stars.

The Mad Doctor Of Market Street (1942)

Starring Una Merkel, Lionel Atwill, Claire Dodd, Nat Pendleton, Richard Davies
Directed by Joseph H. Lewis
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

After a failed experiment that ends in murder, a reckless scientist flees the police aboard a doomed cruise ship, and is stranded with his fellow passengers on a South Seas island. 

An entertaining horror-adventure film from Universal, with Atwill in fine form as his typical sinister man of science, the picture also features a wonderful supporting cast, playing an amiable lot of characters stranded with Atwill.  Merkel and Pendleton in particular lighten up the proceedings with their usual comedic shtick.  It may not be a great film, but it's more than representative of the fun potboilers Universal was putting out for the better part of the decade.