The Cat and the Canary

How much farther?

Soon now.

Anyone else living round

the old Norman place,

besides Miss Lu?

Who?

That woman, the Creole who

was with him when he died.

Do you know her?

Hmm.

Anyone else living there?

No people.

There it is.

Here.

Come back for me

in two hours, hmm?

Uh-uh.

No more ride

for you tonight.

Tomorrow.

But listen...

Oh.

How do you do,

Mr. Crosby?

How are you, Miss Lu?

Are the others here?

Not yet.

Clock's fast.

It stopped when

the master died.

You let it remain just

that way for 10 years?

Nothing has been

changed here.

Everything is

just as he left it.

He would've

wanted it that way.

Yes, and everything will be

the way he wanted it tonight.

We'll read his will

in the library at midnight,

just 10 years

from the time he died.

But that's the end, Miss Lu. A dead

man can't stop the clock forever.

There'll be a change

from now on.

Yes.

You ought to be glad. It must've been

rather lonely here all these years.

I'm never lonely.

I've got my friends.

Friends?

Yes, my friends!

From the other world.

There are always murmurs.

The house is full of murmurs.

They tell me things.

Oh, you believe

in spirits, huh?

Well, have they told you that the

heirs and I have to stay here all night?

I've prepared for it.

Some of them

are coming now.

You've got

sharp ears, Miss Lu.

Why, it's not

at all involved.

We are second cousins

once removed.

Our great aunt Elizabeth

was very...

Well, how should I

put it, very, uh...

Prolific?

Well, at any rate,

she had a large family.

Twenty-nine.

Don't exaggerate,

darling.

Thirty.

What are you

talking about?

Crocodiles!

Alligators,

to you.

Why did old man Norman want

to live in this dismal place?

Well, of course, Cyrus

was somewhat eccentric.

What you mean

is plain cuckoo.

Young man, have you no

respect for a dead relative?

None whatever,

unless of course he happened

to make me his sole heir.

I doubt that.

Cyrus always professed

a great weakness for me.

Yeah, you said

he was eccentric.

Say!

There it is, just as Mr. Norman

put it there 10 years ago.

Exactly as he

put it there.

Hello, this envelope

has been tampered with.

Both of them.

Somebody must have opened

the safe and read the will.

How could they? Nobody knows

how to open the safe but you.

Well, I didn't do it.

You aren't suspicioning

me, are you, Mr. Crosby?

Well, if anyone tried to

change it, he wasted his time.

I made a duplicate of the

will, at Mr. Norman's request,

and put it in the vault of the

Trust Company in New Orleans.

Someone at

the front door.

See who it is.

And mind you,

say nothing about this.

Good evening.

So, you're still here.

Hello.

Wait.

Huh?

I know Miss Tilbury, and you,

Miss Cicily, but who are you?

Fred Blythe,

one of the family.

You must be the old boy's

housekeeper they talk about.

I was very devoted

to Mr. Norman,

which is more than

his family can say.

Really?

I don't think I'm going to like it here.

Shh. Don't say

a word.

Are we the first

to arrive?

Lawyer Crosby is

in the library.

What happened?

Sometimes they get

into the machinery.

Sometimes who gets into

the machinery, Aunt Sue?

How should I know?

Oh, so it's you,

Miss Tilbury. Cicily.

Evening, Fred.

Hello.

Excuse me.

Hello. Hello, Charlie,

nice to see you again.

Thanks, Mr. Crosby.

Same here.

He's pretty, isn't he?

Does he belong to us?

Yes, dear, second cousin twice

removed on his father's side.

Hello, Aunt Susan.

Charlie.

This is your

cousin Cicily.

I'm so glad.

How do you do?

And here's Fred.

Oh...

Do we have to

shake hands?

Oh, come now, boys, whatever

the quarrel is between you two...

No quarrel

on my side.

No?

Mmm-mmm.

All right,

skip it.

When are you going to read the will?

As soon as

the others arrive.

What others? Of course, there's Joyce.

Yes, Joyce Norman.

Joyce... Is she the one that

draws pictures for the magazines?

Mmm-hmm. The other's

Wally Campbell.

Wally Campbell,

the actor?

On the radio?

The original

flutterbrain.

Well, maybe I'm going to

like this place after all.

Hey!

I'm not really frightened,

I'm just naturally nervous.

Eating in restaurants

all the time,

up half the night

playing Chinese checkers.

Besides, this is

my first sea voyage.

You seem like the jolly type,

Clarence. Do you like jokes?

You don't mind if I

ramble on, do you?

It kinda keeps my mind

off the malaria germs.

Anyway, here's one.

A farmer had a cow, see,

but he couldn't afford to feed

it alfalfa, so he fed it sawdust.

He saved a lot

of money, all right,

but he sure wasted

plenty of time

getting the splinters

out of the milk.

Doesn't that just...

Splinters, milk.

Don't you get it?

Hmm. Heard it last year.

Jack Benny Program.

Yes, Cyrus Canby Norman died

in that room across the hall,

hating all his

close relatives.

Well, he certainly

didn't hate me.

And if Cyrus turned against any of

us, I know where to put the blame.

It was the influence

of that...

What is it,

Miss Lu?

Mr. Campbell is here.

Introducing your favorite

and mine, Wally Campbell.

May I join the party?

I was invited.

I hear old Uncle Cyrus's

ghost is holding bank night.

Oh, I'm sorry,

just a pleasantry.

Hello, Mr. Crosby.

Hello, Wally.

This is your cousin,

Miss Susan Tilbury.

I'm charmed. How do you do? He's the actor.

Your cousin,

Cicily Young.

How do you do?

Fred Blythe

and Charlie Wilder.

Nice to see you.

Thanks, thanks.

Well, where's

the leading lady?

Leading lady?

Young man, did you inherit the streak

of insanity that runs in this family?

What was that

leading lady crack?

Oh, nothing really, but all

this, midnight, the alligators...

I mean, the heirs,

and the family lawyer

all gathering to hear

the reading of the will.

It reminds me of a lot of melodramas

and murder mysteries I played in.

It does?

Thanks.

And in every one

of those plays,

there was a leading lady, young,

beautiful, modern, charming...

Would you take this

for me, please? Thanks.

Well, I got here.

Oh, I'm terribly sorry

to be so late.

Oh, dear Aunt Susan.

And Cicily. Well, this is like old times.

Charlie, they told me

you weren't coming.

It's good

to see you.

And, Fred.

Hello, honey.

And...

Well, of all people,

Wally Campbell.

Well, don't you

remember?

The little girl you took to a

high school dance and deserted.

You used to

call me the twerp.

The twerp?

Joyce Norman! Say, when did

you grow up and get pretty?

Have I kept you waiting?

I'm so sorry.

That's all right, my dear.

Now, shall we proceed?

What a house.

Isn't it?

That's Uncle Cy.

Hello, Uncle Cy.

They tell me he was so

crooked that when he died,

they had to screw him

into the ground.

Shh. Quiet.

Oh, sorry. Here you are, Joyce.

Thank you,

Charlie.

Now as soon as we're all

comfortably settled, we'll begin.

Here.

Thanks.

Mr. Norman made his will

in two parts.

I will now read the contents

of envelope number one.

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