The Cat and the Canary & The Ghost Breakers (1939/1940) (Blu-Ray Review)

The classic horror set-up of a group of strangers finding themselves stranded together on a dark and stormy night at a spooky gothic mansion is one as old as the genre itself. A staple of the stage and screen, the concept of the “old dark house” has endured for over a century since its inception; some may scoff at these kinds of tales as cheesy and cliché, but it’s hard to ignore the timeless charms of a grand haunted hall full of moving bookcases, trapdoors and hidden passages – not to mention a skeleton in every closet.

As the shadow of war in Europe began to loom large over the United States, all but killing off Hollywood horror for the decade to come, the old dark house made a comeback on the silver screen – perhaps out of nostalgia for a bygone age of classic cinematic terror. The two most notable titles to come out of this wave – 1939’s The Cat and the Canary, and its follow-up, 1940’s The Ghost Breakers – are linked by, and in part owe their success to, the chemistry between their leading comic double-act; award-winning American comedian Bob Hope, and Oscar-nominated actress Paulette Goddard.

Adapted from the 1922 Broadway play of the same name by John Willard, The Cat and the Canary is essentially the blueprint for all haunted-house mysteries of its ilk. The story follows the Norman family, the majority of whom have never met before, as they gather at an island mansion in the Louisiana bayou for the reading of the will of the family’s long-dead eccentric patriarch. The atmosphere of the reunion becomes decidedly more chilly after the guests receive a supernatural warning that one of their number will be dead before sunrise – not helped by the news that a vicious animalistic murderer known as “the Cat” has escaped from the local insane asylum during the night, and may unknowingly be among their number. It’s a fairly straightforward hybrid of whodunit and haunted house chiller, and yet it rarely fails to entertain with its simple spooky thrills. It helps that the production design of the film, with its foggy New Orleans swampland and cobwebbed decrepit manor hallways, is absolutely exquisite, and lends the picture a perfect atmosphere of frightful fun. It’s a film which knowingly applies all of the codes and conventions of its subgenre, and in many ways aims to be a throwback to its predecessors from the ‘20s and early ‘30s – which is extremely fascinating, given our current age wherein reboots and nostalgic throwback movies are considered the norm in Hollywood.

Hope charms as an actor and prospective heir Wally Campbell, the lead funny-man of the film – and, indeed, he is funny. Not every joke lands in The Cat and the Canary, but there’s something about Hope’s demeanour and delivery which is inherently humorous and makes it easy to see why he was such a success as a comedian. It’s an enlightening experience to watch Hope perform his routines and one-liners and realise just how influential his style was, and still is, to countless American comedians that followed him, not least in his willingness to poke fun at himself in both this film and The Ghost Breakers. Most surprising of all are the genre-savvy witticisms that he spouts in regards to murder mysteries throughout the film, presaging Scream’s Randy Meeks by a whole 57 years. Also memorable is his co-star, Goddard, who plays off Hope’s Campbell tremendously well as heiress and leading lady Joyce Norman. Celebrated theatre actress Gale Sondergaad lends some serious horror acting chops to the film as the shady psychic housekeeper Miss Lu, complete with a truly adorable pet black cat that always seems to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The film’s follow-up and spiritual successor, The Ghost Breakers, is admittedly the lesser of the two films – although they’re both solid. This time around, Hope is a radio host on the run after accidentally getting caught up in a mob murder, and Goddard plays another imperilled heiress who, through a wacky series of events, ends up smuggling Hope (whose character is named Lawrence Lawrence, just so you all know) all the way to Cuba in her luggage. The Ghost Breakers has less focus and restraint than its predecessor, and its haunted house antics only come into play during the final 20 minutes, the rest being a slightly convoluted yet rather enjoyable crime caper, yet it still manages to charm and entertain in spite of its rough edges.

I can’t help but commend the sheer variety of ghouls and ghosts that the film attempts to pack into its final act, successfully or not; zombies, spectres, voodoo curses and a vault full of mummified corpses all feature at one point or another. Also of note is Willie Best as Lawrence’s black valet, Alex – for better or worse; essentially playing the comedy sidekick ethnic stereotype that has persisted for generations, I still can’t help but commend Best’s performance and comic skill in the role, and bittersweet or not, it’s nice to see the prominent appearance of a black actor in a Hollywood film as old as this one. The light, largely safe tone and humour of The Ghost Breakers contrasted with some of its uglier jokes which are largely unacceptable from a 21st-century perspective is a rather bizarre juxtaposition, one I’m sure is not exclusive to The Ghost Breakers – which isn’t me excusing the racist content and stereotyping in the film, but rather simply me wondering whether this may just be one entry in a long line of lighthearted goofy horror-comedies from the ‘30s and ‘40s with similarly uncomfortable elements.

The picture quality of the films is, as is typical of distributor Eureka, nigh-flawless. With both titles making their debut on Blu-Ray in the United Kingdom, the glow-up that these titles have received is phenomenal – with The Ghost Breakers even being presented in a brand-new 2K master from Universal. Impressively, the pristine copy of The Cat and the Canary included here sparkles with its sharp, clear, spotless visuals whilst not losing a single bit of the hazy, dreamlike vibe of the film’s cinematography in the swamp sequences. In addition to the two classic Bob Hope titles, the disc is also packed to the brim with extras and special features, including a 1949 radio adaptation of The Ghost Breakers, as well as extended musings on the heyday of the old dark house subgenre from the ever-insightful Kim Newman.

The Cat and the Canary & The Ghost Breakers