The Cat and the Canary (1939)

Description

Comedy legend Bob Hope (My favourite Brunette, Road to Morocco) is at his very best in the hilarious comedy-thriller The Cat and the Canary. A decade after the death of an eccentric millionaire, his remaining relatives gather for the reading of the will at his abandoned mansion set deep in the Louisiana bayous. Tension builds after his niece Joyce (Paulette Goddard, The Ghost Breakers) is named the sole inheritor and it is revealed that one of the other relatives will get everything if the heiress goes insane within the next 30 days. The timid Wally (Hope) vows to protect Joyce who must spend the night in the haunted mansion along with her jealous relatives, a creepy maid and a homicidal maniac who has just escaped from a nearby sanitarium. An equal mix of both frights and fun, this unforgettable classic has become the gold standard for the horror-comedy genre. Directed by Elliott Nugent (Nothing But the Truth) and based on the classic John Willard (The Mask of Fu Manchu) play.