The Cat and the Canary

Ten years after the death of wealthy Cyrus Norman, his relatives are summoned to his gloomy Louisiana mansion for the reading of his will. The lawyer Crosbie informs the gathered family that Joyce Norman is the sole heir, but a clause in the will would strip her of the fortune should she be judged insane. Since madness has run in the family before, the other five relatives have a strong motive to see Joyce declared unfit, and their scheming grows more dangerous when word arrives that a violent mental patient has escaped from a nearby asylum. The timid radio performer Wally Campbell, who is fond of Joyce, tries to protect her as the night brings unexplained deaths.

Elliott Nugent directed this comedy-mystery, the first of the two titles listed among his directing credits, from a screenplay by Lynn Starling and Walter DeLeon, produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr. for Paramount. Bob Hope stars as Wally alongside Paulette Goddard as Joyce, with John Beal, Douglass Montgomery, Gale Sondergaard and Elizabeth Patterson in supporting roles. The film runs 73 minutes and blends comedy, horror and mystery. On IMDb it holds a 7.1 rating from around 4,200 votes, while on TMDB it stands at 6.9 from roughly 87 votes. The much larger vote count on IMDb suggests a longer-standing and broader audience for the title there, while the smaller TMDB sample points to a more limited group of viewers.