Fact1: broadcast is being made by crime reporter Lawrence Lawrence to friends as well as enemies, Fact2: even more sinister gent warns Mary not to sell newly inherited property to Parada, Fact3: Larry Lawrence has finished broadcasting evening 's boss, Fact4: Mederos arrives on same hotel floor as Larry, Fact5: Larry finds himself in rooms of Mary Carter
Output: In a Manhattan radio studio, a broadcast is being made by crime reporter Lawrence Lawrence Bob Hope—Larry to his friends, as well as his enemies, who are many in number among the local underworld. Listening in on the broadcast is pretty brunette Mary Carter Paulette Goddard, whose highrise hotel room goes dark as a violent thunderstorm causes a citywide blackout. In the near darkness, a knock comes at her door. It is Mr. Parada Paul Lukas, a suave, vaguely sinister Cuban solicitor. He delivers the deed to her inherited plantation and mansion, Castillo Maldito, on a small island off the coast of Cuba. Despite Paradas discouragement, she impulsively decides to travel to Cuba by ship to inspect her new property. During Paradas visit, Mary receives a telephone call from Mr. Mederos Anthony Quinn, an even more sinister gent who warns Mary not to sell the newly inherited property to Parada. Mary agrees to meet Mederos later. Meanwhile, after Larry Lawrence has finished broadcasting the evenings expose of a local crime boss, he receives a telephone call from the crime boss, Frenchy Duval Paul Fix. Frenchy invites Larry to his hotel to discuss the broadcast so he can give it to him straight. Coincidentally, Frenchy is living in the same hotel where Mary Carter lives. Mederos arrives on the same hotel floor as Larry. However, Mederos is looking for Parada. Mederos confronts Parada and Parada shoots and kills him. Larry hears the shot and fires his gun at random. In a mixup in the stilldarkened building, Larry sees the body and believes hes killed one of Duvals henchmen. In the confusion he finds himself in the rooms of Mary Carter, who is already busy packing for her journey. Believing that he is being pursued by Duvals men, Larry hides in Marys large open trunk. Unaware of Larrys presence, Mary locks the trunk and arranges for its transport to the harbor. Later at the dock, Larrys valet Alex Willie Best searches among the luggage bound for loading and finds Larry among them. Although not in time to prevent the trunks transfer to the ships hold, Alex manages to get on board, hoping to extricate his employer before the ship sails. Once in her stateroom, Mary is surprised to unpack Larry along with the rest of her belongings. Larry and Alex decide to remain on board, partly to act as bodyguards to the plucky beauty, but also to keep out of reach of Frenchy Duval and the police. As Larry and Mary strike up a flirtation, they run into an acquaintance of Marys, Geoff Montgomery Richard Carlson, a young professorial type who regales them with tales of the local superstitions of their destination, particularly voodoo, ghosts and zombies. Upon reaching port in Havana, Mary, Larry, Alex go to the island. En route they find a shack occupied by an old woman Virginia Brissac and her catatonic son Noble Johnson, whom they believe is a zombie. The imposing plantation manor proves to be a spooky edifice indeed. They begin to explore the longabandoned, cobwebridden mansion, and discover a large portrait of a woman who is nearly an exact likeness of Mary—most certainly an ancestor. Soon they are terrorized by the appearance of a ghost, and the reappearance of the zombie. Are these real, or are they a ruse to frighten Mary away from her inheritance?