The Cat and the Canary is a 1927 silent film based on a stage play by John Willard. The film version is described as being in the “horror/comedy” genres. There are multiple film adaptations of this play, one including Bob Hope. The 1927 version was directed by Paul Leni, a German director responsible for Waxworks, The Man Who Laughs, and The Last Warning. Universal tapped him for the adaptation of the popular play and Leni’s style set the stage for the coming deluge of Universal monster movies. It is also credited with inspiring a crop of “old dark house” films. Even the “master of suspense”, Alfred Hitchcock, cited it as an influence.
The movie opens with some well executed special effects. There are composite shots that look creepy but also subtly convey some symbolism regarding the coming story. It has an interesting mystery at its heart. Cyrus West, pestered by greedy relatives, has been driven close to madness. When he finally passes, he pulled a twisted joke on them. The will can only be read after the maturing of government bonds in 20 years. Fast-forward two decades, the lawyer and the suspects (ahem, I meant “family”) trickle into the mansion. The lawyer sees evidence that the will has already been accessed by someone. They proceed with the reading of the will and the inheritor is a distant relative, a young woman named Anna. The will stipulates that if she is kill or judged to be mentally infirm, the property will transfer to a person named in the second envelope. Soon, the lawyer is dead, and the second envelope is missing. So, the person with the most to gain by her death is still unnamed. To make matters more dire, a rough looking guard shows up saying that he has tracked an escaped lunatic to the gates of the property. Once the set-up is finished, the movie has a lot going on: scheming relatives, a bloodthirsty lunatic, and secret passageways. The humor is mostly slap-stick, but the dialogue cards had some funny one-liners. Then, the movie would shift into a darker tone and display legitimate horror imagery.
The Blu-ray disc that I reviewed did not include a case, just a plastic pouch and a folded information sheet. There is a collector’s booklet which I did not get to see, but would have liked to read. The 1080p presentation was taken from a 4K digital restoration which the Museum of Modern Art provided the original negatives for. A film of that age looked great on my TV. There were very tiny imperfections, but it really was one of the cleanest transfers for a 1920s film that I have viewed. The film could be watched with a score by Robert Israel or one of two commentary tracks. There are also 3 short exerts from the original play read by actors. There are two interviews with film critics Phoung Le (9 minutes) and Pamela Hutchinson (13 minutes), and they both give interesting insights into the making of the film. There is a 29-minute video essay that discusses the contributions of Paul Leni and the history of the “old dark house” genre. In one of the sweeter moments, they show a letter from Leni to his cinematographer thanking him for such superb work on the film.
“The Cat and The Canary” is a vital piece of viewing for anyone who loves horror movies, especially big, scary house horror movies. Additionally, the picture looks great and there are plenty of special features for re-watch-ability. While I did not get to examine the packaging, everything else I’ve seen says this is a high-quality release. Definitely pick this one up.