The Cat and the Canary (1939) – Review

When it comes to playing cowardly leading men Bob Hope is at the top of the list – Lou Costello is disqualified as he rarely gets the girl in the end – and with the 1939 remake of The Cat and the Canary, we have on hand one of the best horror comedies to date, a film that gives us the incredibly teaming of Bob Hope with the very talented and always beautiful Paulette Goddard.

You can’t get much spookier of a location than a decrepit antebellum mansion located in the Louisiana bayou and with The Cat and the Canary we not only get all the trappings of a classic horror movie but also the perfect blend of scares and comedy. The plot centers around the reading of millionaire Cyrus Norman’s will and the potential inheritors all gathering at his spooky mansion; we have Fred Blythe (John Beal), Charlie Wilder (Douglass Montgomery), Cicily Young (Nydia Westman), Aunt Susan Tilbury (Elizabeth Patterson), Joyce Norman (Paulette Goddard) and Wally Campbell (Bob Hope), a radio actor who is not all that comfortable with the frightening surroundings and is more than willing to forego any inheritance if it means not being eaten by an alligator.

Can you really blame him?

Cyrus Norman died ten years ago but it is only now that his lawyer Mr. Crosby (George Zucco ) has gathered together the man’s living descendants, which was one of several strange stipulations in the will with the others being that it be read at midnight and that the only ones to inherit his lands and estate are those with the surname Norman – Joyce being the only Norman present she will be the sole beneficiary – but another stipulation is that his heirs must remain sane for the next 30 days, which means if Joyce loses her sanity during that time, the heir will be determined from a second part of the will. Cue the scares and gaslighting as events unfold that would curdle the soul of even the stoutest heart.

Why would you even try to sleep in a situation like this?

The Cat and the Canary is a brilliant comedy spook show with Bob Hope illustrating that he was not only unrivalled in the manic scare category but also as a romantic lead and his chemistry with Paulette Goddard was amazing and as the two try to unravel the mystery – such as the murder of Mr. Crosby, an escaped lunatic from a nearby asylum – a murderous monster known as “The Cat” – as well as a riddle that will lead to a fortune in jewels, and with every horror trope imaginable being unleashed upon our stalwart heroes it seems like daylight is too far off.  It should also be noted that one of the film’s standout performances is that of the housekeeper Miss Lu (Gale Sondergaard) whose dedication to her late employer is only exceeded by her belief in the supernatural and it’s her “communicating” with the spirit world that really adds some flavour to this movie and Gale Sondergaard is more than up to the task of standing toe to toe with Bob Hope.

Now, when watching this movie with, all its secret panels, moving bookcases and paintings with roving eyes populating this “haunted house” one can’t help but consider this film a precursor to the Scooby-Doo mysteries and as the film ends with an unmasking, revealing the identity of the clawed and horrifying murderer “The Cat” as just one of the inheritors wearing a mask, it is even more apparent as it bears more than a striking resemblance to the episode “A Night of Fright Is No Delight” where Scooby-Doo had to stay the night in a southern style haunted mansion to earn his inheritance.

“Does this mean I’m Scooby-Doo’s father?”

Stray Observations:

• According to this movie most of the alligators infesting Louisiana bayous have their jaws strapped shut.
• Characters trapped in an isolated location with a killer stalking the halls echoes Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” which was published the following year.
• The creepy and foreboding housekeeper Miss Lu could be considered a precursor to the imposing Mrs. Danvers in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca.
• Bob Hope plays a radio actor in this movie but this was the actual profession that brought him fame and a contract at Paramount.
• Charles, Fred and Wally all seem romantically interested in Joyce despite being if quite distantly, all being blood-related to her.  So…Ewwww!
• This southern gothic setting may have inspired Walt when he came up with Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion.

This place is easily an “E” ticket attraction.

With Bob Hope’s fast-talking comedic patter and double-takes, there are lots of laughs to be had in The Cat and the Canary but this doesn’t stop the film from being a truly suspenseful entry in the horror genre as well, director Elliott Nugent and cinematographer Charles Lang created a truly haunting atmosphere with long shadows and creepy settings for our heroes to run through. Even if you guess the perpetrator early on that won’t stop you from enjoying a truly perfect example of the marriage of horror and laughs, making this a film I heartily recommend you track down.