This tale of greedy relatives out to get a fortune had been filmed at least two times before Bob Hope took a crack at it, and the world is a better place for it.

Though not the perfect haunted house film, this is a very funny movie. One of the reason that this isn't perfect is that the wisecracks get in the way of the mystery, or if not the mystery, the suspense. Such is the danger of comedy thrillers, either its too funny so its not scary, or too suspenseful and the comedy destroys the tension at the wrong time, here its simply too much humor before it turns serious.

Fortunately here funny is good, so even if the suspense gets the short end of the stick, its still an enjoyable time at the movies. What more could you want, especially since it gives Bob Hope ample chance to do what he does best.

See this movie. Its a lot of fun. 8 out of 10.

After years of only reading about this-Bob Hope's first starring role in an A picture after a few years struggling in some B's-I finally got to watch this rare showing of The Cat and the Canary on YouTube. Long unavailable on TV and video, this was a very pleasurable experience with the mostly clear print I saw on the site. While director Elliott Nugent provides the right sinister atmosphere for this third film adaptation of this classic mystery play that takes place in New Orleans in my home state of Louisiana (by the way, Crescent City residents would not take kindly to the way George Zucco pronounces their city's name here),Bob Hope provides perfect wisecracks in his role of a radio actor who's one of several possible heirs to a man that's been dead for 10 years. Besides him, there's also the stunning Paulette Goddard as the woman Hope falls for and is willing to protect despite his admitted cowardice (though it's not too emphasized here). As the housekeeper who was long loyal to the late house owner, Gale Sondergaard provides her own haunting beauty to the fore. I was also pleasantly surprised by a couple of familiar character actors who would become recognized on TV: Elizabeth Patterson (later Little Ricky's babysitter on "I Love Lucy"),and Charles Lane (who appeared as Homer Bedloe on "Petticoat Junction" and is another player that is in my favorite movie, It's a Wonderful Life). Even today in this age of more explicit horrors, The Cat and the Canary is great fun to watch. Oh, and I have to mention that one of my favorite lines from Hope concerns dead people coming back. "You mean Republicans?" he asks.

"The Cat and the Canary" was made into a movie several times and I've seen the earlier silent and sound versions. This one isn't much different except that they've added Bob Hope for comic relief. And, overall, it's really pretty much the same thing all over again...for good or bad.

The film begins with a bizarro reading of a will. The will stipulated that it be read 10 years AFTER the guy's death! The fortune ends up being left to one relative...though apparently some other relative isn't pleased and plans on killing the woman (Paulette Goddard). So it's up to her and her friend (Bob Hope) to figure out who is stalking her before it's too late.

As far as the humor goes, there really isn't a lot. This isn't to say that Bob Hope is bad...but he isn't given a lot of funny stuff to say or do. This isn't really a complaint...just letting you know it's really not a comedy. Pleasant and enjoyable but if you've seen the earlier versions, you pretty much have seen this one. Well made but not exactly original.