BY FRED BLOSSER
In
Paramount Pictures’ 1939 comedy-thriller “The Cat and the Canary,†six
distantly related people converge on a creaky old mansion in the swamps. You know the kind. Secret panels in the walls, hidden
passageways, dour oil portraits that watch you with real eyes, flickering
lights. The six have gathered to hear
attorney Crosby (George Zucco) read the will of eccentric Cyrus Norman, who
died ten years before. There isn’t much
family warmth in the group, since each person has fingers crossed that he or
she will be the sole beneficiary of Uncle Cyrus’ rumored fortune. The spooky housekeeper Miss Lu (Gale
Sondergaard) ratchets up the tension by claiming that the place is
haunted. Meanwhile, a guard from a
nearby mental institution shows up to report that a deranged murderer, “The
Cat,†has escaped from his cell and lurks in the vicinity: “He’d just as soon
rip you open as not.†Night is coming
on, and there’s no transportation off the bayou until the next morning.
What
could possibly go wrong?
Originally
a popular 1922 Broadway play, “The Cat and the Canary†had already served as
the basis for two films, “The Cat and the Canary†(1927) and “The Cat Creepsâ€
(1930), before Paramount crafted its remake as a vehicle for two of its rising
stars, Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. It
marked Hope’s seventh film for the studio and it was a critical and commercial
hit. Moreover, it served as the template for many of the comic actor’s roles to
follow. Wally Campbell, Hope’s
character, captures the affections of vivacious Joyce Norman (Goddard) even
though he’s openly nervous about the creepy goings-on around them, admitting,
“Even my goose pimples have goose pimples.†A radio comic and former vaudeville headliner (already, Hollywood was
tailoring its scripts to Hope’s real-life resume), Wally channels his
trepidation into a running stream of one-liners. Thanks to Hope’s razor-sharp delivery,
they’re still funny even if the frame of reference will escape younger
viewers. On the way by canoe to the
Norman mansion through the ‘gator-infested marsh, Wally cracks a joke that
fails to amuse his poker-faced Indian guide (Chief Thundercloud). “What’s the matter, don’t you get it?†Wally
asks. “Um,†the guide responds. “Heard it last year. Jack Benny program.â€
The
Benny allusion leads you to expect that Wally will riff on the “Crosby†name
when he arrives at the mansion and meets Zucco’s character. The quip almost writes itself: “Hey, when
they said Crosby was here, I thought they meant Bing.†But no, the name is coincidental. No Bing jokes in Wally’s repertoire. The comedian and the crooner had not yet
teamed up on their iconic “Road†movies. Hope shares several droll scenes with veteran actress Nydia Westman, who
serves alternately as the star’s comic foil and junior partner, much like
Martha Raye and Phyllis Diller in other Bob Hope features and skits over the
years. Like Hope, Westman had a long
career in films and TV. For those of us
who knew her as a familiar, fluttery presence on 1960s sit-coms, it’s somehow
comforting that she’s equally recognizable now to our grandkids. Decades later, they’re watching endless
reruns of the same shows on cable channels and streaming platforms.
The
debut of “The Cat and the Canary†on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber Studio Classics
presents the movie in the standard 1.37:1 screen aspect and richly defined
black-and-white. The sharp image is especially
welcome as endangered Joyce walks through the secret passageways of the Norman
mansion with the Cat ready to pounce from the shadows. The old TV prints were usually murky,
blunting the intended suspense of those scenes. Special features on the disc include the theatrical trailer and
instructive audio commentary by Lee Gambin.
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(Fred Blosser is the author of "Sons of Ringo: The Great Spaghetti Western Heroes". Click here to order from Amazon)