The Cat and the Canary

Synopsis

Twenty years after the death of the eccentric millionaire Cyrus West, his relatives gather at midnight in his decaying mansion for the reading of the will. The fortune goes to Annabelle West, on condition that she is judged sane, and almost at once a hand reaches from the wall, a guard announces that a homicidal maniac known as the Cat has escaped nearby, and the heirs begin to vanish. The timid Paul must find his courage before dawn.

Critique

Brought from Germany by Universal, Paul Leni turned a Broadway comedy-thriller into the template for every old dark house film that followed. The camera glides along the corridors, cobwebs sweep across the frame and superimposed titles tremble with fright: techniques from the Expressionist studios placed in the service of American entertainment. The balance of laughter and dread is exact, and Gilbert Warrenton's photography of billowing curtains and clutching hands gave the horror genre a visual vocabulary it still uses.

Technical sheet

Director

Paul Leni

Year

1927

Country

United States

Running time

84 min

Genre

Comedy, Horror, Mystery

Written by

Robert F. Hill, Alfred A. Cohn, Walter Anthony

Cinematography

Gilbert Warrenton

Cast

Laura La Plante, Creighton Hale, Forrest Stanley, Tully Marshall, Gertrude Astor, Flora Finch

Production

Universal Pictures

Music

Newly composed original score

Licensing