The Ghost Breakers

Preceded at 7 p.m. by The Cat and the Canary (1939), Bob Hope essentially reprised that formula a year later for The Ghost Breakers. Which is to say: spooky old house, cute girl (Paulette Goddard), and cowardly Bob. He's the guy who talks a big game until the ghoul arrives, who fakes sophistication around the ladies until one of them calls him on it. One of the biggest and most durable stars of the '30s and beyond, he constantly undercut American bravado with his comic hubris, which any child--or a well-timed "boo"--could swiftly deflate. The picture is basically a Caribbean white zombie comedy: Goddard inherits a castle on an island near Cuba; Hope and his valet (Willie Best) try to save her from the fiend who's trying to scare her away. But, of course, Hope is no help at all. As he tells his manservant, "If a couple a fellas come runnin' down the stairs in a few minutes, let the first one go. That'll be me." (NR) BRIAN MILLER
Oct. 23-29, 9 p.m.; Sat., Oct. 24, 5 p.m.; Sun., Oct. 25, 5 p.m., 2009