Scared to Death (1946): Cast, Plot & Where to Watch

The film opens with a clinical report from morgue examiners: a beautiful woman has died, and the cause is described as death by fright. What follows is a measured, unsettling unraveling of how such terror could reach a fatal conclusion. At the center of the drama is Laura Van Ee, played by Molly Lamont, the wife of Ward Van Ee—the son of a doctor who runs a private sanatorium. The doctor’s private enterprise and the fragile bonds of marriage are put to the test as both the son and the doctor signal a desire to dissolve the marriage, while Laura herself resists the break, clinging to a past that may hold the key to the mystery.