A group of relatives converge on a decaying Louisiana bayou mansion for the reading of a will. With only one of the hopeful heirs, vivacious beauty Joyce Norman (Paulette Goddard), inheriting the entire estate, and the whole clan trapped in the gloomy building for the night, it isn't long before someone turns to murder. Easily spooked actor Wally Campbell (Bob Hope) does his best to solve the mystery that unfolds while trying to protect Joyce from the killer.
There may have been 'Old Dark House' films before The Cat and the Canary (including, of course, the 1927 silent version of the same story), but this 1939 murder mystery is the one that clearly defined the genre, knowingly presenting all the tropes one might reasonably expect, from the creepy housekeeper to the escaped lunatic to the house riddled with secret passageways—even the portrait in the library has eye-holes that allow the killer to observe unnoticed. It's all very 'Scooby Doo' but a whole lot of fun, with a great cast who go with the flow, and bags of atmosphere, aided no end by the delightfully creepy setting.
Even Bob Hope's rather dated, vaudevillian delivery of his glib one-liners doesn't spoil matters — there's just too much spooky silliness on offer to make the film anything other than a very enjoyable time-waster.
There may have been 'Old Dark House' films before The Cat and the Canary (including, of course, the 1927 silent version of the same story), but this 1939 murder mystery is the one that clearly defined the genre, knowingly presenting all the tropes one might reasonably expect, from the creepy housekeeper to the escaped lunatic to the house riddled with secret passageways—even the portrait in the library has eye-holes that allow the killer to observe unnoticed. It's all very 'Scooby Doo' but a whole lot of fun, with a great cast who go with the flow, and bags of atmosphere, aided no end by the delightfully creepy setting.
Even Bob Hope's rather dated, vaudevillian delivery of his glib one-liners doesn't spoil matters — there's just too much spooky silliness on offer to make the film anything other than a very enjoyable time-waster.