The Cat and the Canary (1939 film)

The Cat and the Canary is a 1939 film about an eccentric family who meets in their uncle's remote, decaying mansion on the tenth anniversary of his death for the reading of his will, murder and madness follow. The film is a remake of the 1927 film The Cat and the Canary, which was based on the 1922 play of the same name by John Willard.
 * Directed by Elliott Nugent. Written by Lynn Starling and Walter de Leon.

A CHILL-AND-CHUCKLE CHASE!...A FORTUNE AT STAKE AND A MONSTER AT LARGE! (taglines)

Wally Campbell

 * [on the deceased] He was so crooked that when he died they had to screw him into the ground.

Dialogue

 * Cicily: It's awful spooky down here. Do you believe in reincarnation?
 * Wally Campbell: Huh?
 * Cicily: You know... that dead people come back?
 * Wally Campbell: You mean like the Republicans?


 * Cicily: Don't big empty houses scare you?
 * Wally Campbell: Not me, I used to be in Vaudeville.


 * Miss Lu: There are spirits all around you.
 * Wally Campbell: Well, could you put some in a glass with a little ice? I need it badly.

Taglines

 * A CHILL-AND-CHUCKLE CHASE!...A FORTUNE AT STAKE AND A MONSTER AT LARGE!
 * Who is THE CAT? His movements soundless, his approach unnoticeable, his vengeance swift! Who will feel his horrible, hairy grasp next?
 * Through it all...Bob Hope at his wise-cracking best, laughing his way through hilarious heroics...hoping a gag's as good as a gun to get ghosts on the go!
 * Stalked by a wild, crawling thing...balked by a blind passage! Groping, desperately hoping for a way out!

Cast

 * Bob Hope - Wally Campbell
 * Paulette Goddard - Joyce Norman
 * John Beal - Fred Blythe
 * Douglass Montgomery - Charles Wilder
 * Gale Sondergaard - Miss Lu
 * Elizabeth Patterson - Aunt Susan
 * George Zucco - Mr. Crosby
 * Nydia Westman - Cicily
 * John Wray - Guard Hendricks
 * George Regas - Indian guide
 * Milton Kibbee - Photographer
 * Charles Lane - Reporter
 * Chief Thundercloud - Indian guide