1939 - THE CAT AND THE CANARY, Bob Hope becomes a star

The third remake of the "murderer is on the prow in the scary house after the reading of the will" story. Paramount teamed Bob Hope with Paulette Goddard and added lots of humor to cover up the creakiness and melodrama of the original play. The film mixed comedy and scares in a professional approach that a major studio could bring to make an entertaining film out of dated material.

The director Elliot Nugent, was a Broadway playwright/actor/director who knew how to modulate and pace the performances of the actors to serve this material. By this film, Hope had perfected his cowardly smart ass personality, and his comments on the action throughout the film added to the fun. Paulette Goddard was very likable as the heroine being chased by a mysterious killer, and she did a good job of playing the "straight man" for Hope's comedy shtick. 

 

 Bob Hope isn't much remembered anymore, except as some weird golf playing Republican who appeared in some lame comedy specials on television in the 1960's. The TV specials usually involved him delivering a tired standup routine and then performing in some skits with an actress usually 20 years younger than him, it was all pretty embarrassing stuff. But in the 1940's, Hope was a very funny guy with killer comedic timing and the grace of a professional entertainer who had spent years acquiring the ability to deliver jokes through endless performances on stage, in movies and on the radio. Hope had an amazing physical and verbal dexterity with a joke or routine that is not really seen today. 

One of Hope's most famous accomplishments were his USO tours during World War II. He performed for servicemen over 150 times from 1942 to 1944 throughout the Pacific Theater of Operation. At times his USO show got very close to the actual fighting. He died at the age of 100 after a career which ranged from vaudeville to television. 

 

 Paulette Goddard was discovered by Charlie Chaplin and apparently had a long relationship with him, she starred in two of his films, Modern Times and The Great Dictator. She signed a contract with Paramount in the 1930's and went on to appear in some goofy films for Cecil B. DeMille. She did another horror/comedy with Hope, called The Ghost Breakers which was another big hit for the two of them. Her career petered out in the 1950's and incredibly enough she married Erich Maria Remarque, the author of "All Quiet on the Western Front". She died a very rich woman leaving 20 million dollars to New York University to fund an institute for European studies.

Written by Walter de Leon and Lynn Starling, the running time is 72 minutes.