The Cat and the Canary is a 1939 American horror comedy film directed by Elliott Nugent starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. It is a remake of the 1927 silent film The Cat and the Canary, which was based on the 1922 play of the same name by John Willard. Universal Home Entertainment released the film on DVD in 2010 as part of the Bob Hope: Thanks for the Memories Collection and again in 2011 individually as a part of their "Universal Vault Series" on Amazon.com. Kino Lorber released it on Blu-ray on September 15, 2020. The film's copyright was renewed in 1966. Plot Cyrus Norman was a millionaire who lived in the Louisiana bayous with his mistress Miss Lu (Gale Sondergaard). Norman died ten years previous, and now an American Indian man (George Regas) paddles the executor of Norman's estate, Mr. Crosby (George Zucco), through alligator-infested waters to Norman's isolated mansion, where his will is to be read at midnight. At the mansion, Crosby meets Miss Lu, who lives there with a large black cat. When he removes the will from a safe, he discovers that someone has tampered with it. Crosby and Miss Lu are joined by Norman's surviving relatives: Joyce Norman (Paulette Goddard), Fred Blythe (John Beal), Charles Wilder (Douglass Montgomery), Cicily Young (Nydia Westman), Aunt Susan Tilbury (Elizabeth Patterson), and Wally Campbell (Bob Hope). As the group gathers in the parlor to read the will, an unseen gong rings seven times. According to Miss Lu, this means that only seven of the eight people present will survive the night. Norman's will has two parts. The first indicates that Joyce will inherit the entire estate, under one condition: concerned about a streak of insanity in the family's blood, Norman stipulated that his heirs must remain sane for the next 30 days. If Joyce loses her sanity during that time, the heir will be determined from the second part of the will. This arrangement raises concerns about Joyce's safety, since other family members can increase their chances of inheriting by murdering her or driving her insane. After the reading, Crosby informs everyone that they will have to stay overnight; Miss Lu warns them of spirits in the house; and a security guard found prowling outside claims that a murderer called "The Cat" has escaped from the nearby insane asylum. In the parlor, Crosby tries to warn Joyce about