The Ghost Breakers (1940)

A radio crime reporter (Bob Hope) mistakenly thinks he's shot a man and hides in the trunk of a an attractive girl (Paulette Goddard) who's going to Havana on a ship. The girl has inherited a supposedly haunted castle off the coast of Cuba. Based on the play by Paul Dickey and Charles W. Goddard and directed by George Marshall (HOW THE WEST WAS WON). One of the classic examples of the horror comedy, it may not be as hilarious as ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN but it's still a great deal of fun. It's not a Bob Hope vehicle as such since much of the focus is on Goddard's character and Hope is off screen frequently. As Hope's valet, Willie Best has his best screen role but it's still a stereotypical portrayal and the racial humor uncomfortable to contemporary audiences. In another case of a director remaking his own film, Marshall directed a remake of GHOST BREAKERS retitled SCARED STIFF in 1953 with Dean Martin in the Bob Hope role and Jerry Lewis in the Willie Best role. With Anthony Quinn, Paul Lukas, Richard Carlson and Paul Fix.