Elizabeth Patterson played the role of Susan in both this and the first sound version of the story, The Cat Creeps (1930).
Many people believe that the lawyer's name (Crosby) is an in-joke reference to the Bob Hope/Bing Crosby pairing. In fact, it's a coincidence, as this was the character's name in the stage play as well as the two previous film versions. Hope and Crosby did not make a film together until Road to Singapore (1940) the following year.
Paulette Goddard did not come on board this project until more than three months after Paramount had announced its intention of remaking the 1927 film. Preceding Goddard as the film's prospective leading lady had been two of Bob Hope's recent co-stars, Martha Raye and Shirley Ross, respectively. Though the reasoning behind Raye's replacement by Ross was never made public, the rationale for Paramount's final choice is no great mystery. A bigger star than either Ross or Raye, Goddard was snapped up by Paramount once she became available, owing to pre-production snafus with Charles Chaplin's The Great Dictator (1940).
Although based on a previous stage play and a classic film adaptation, this production was tailored for Bob Hope by adding a completely new character, the wisecracking "Wally Campbell," to the plot.
Horror/comedies were always popular. This film was such a success that Paramount almost immediately re-teamed Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard for a similar project and The Ghost Breakers (1940) was in theaters a little more than seven months later. The two films had many of the same plot elements and comparable settings.