After intrepid working girl Mary Carter becomes the new owner of a reputedly haunted mansion located off the Cuban coast, a stranger phones warning her to stay away from the castle. Undaunted, Mary sets sail for Cuba with a stowaway in her trunk—wise-cracking Larry Lawrence, a radio announcer who helps Mary get to the bottom of the voodoo magic, zombies and ghosts that supposedly curse the spooky estate.
Acting
Hope's cowardly hero routine is peak mid-century wit.
Production
Fog-drenched Cuban castle sets are gloriously atmospheric.
Writing
Punchlines land harder than the scares.
Director
George Marshall
Bob Hope
Larry Lawrence
Paulette Goddard
Mary Carter
Richard Carlson
Geoff Montgomery
Paul Lukas
Parada
Anthony Quinn
Ramon Mederes / Francisco Mederes
Willie Best
Alex
Pedro de Cordoba
Havez (as Pedro De Cordoba)
Virginia Brissac
Mother Zombie
Noble Johnson
The Zombie
Tom Dugan
Raspy Kelly
Paul Fix
Frenchy Duval
Lloyd Corrigan
Martin
James Blaine
Police Sergeant (uncredited)
David Durand
Bellhop (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hope and Goddard starred in The Cat and the Canary two years prior, making this their unofficial horror-comedy reunion.
The film's 'voodoo zombie' mythology draws more from White Zombie (1932) than actual Haitian tradition, cementing Hollywood's exoticized Caribbean tropes for decades.
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