The Cat and the Canary (1927)
Directed by Paul Leni

Film Review

Based on John Willard's 1922 hit Broadway play of the same title, Universal's first production of The Cat and the Canary established the 'old dark house' scenario as a major sub-genre in movie horror, one that remained hugely popular until the 1950s and has continued to inspire successive generations of filmmakers.  It was by no means the first film of this kind but it is unquestionably the most influential, and was the main point of reference for James Whale's subsequent The Old Dark House (1932).  Directed by the German expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni, the original film version of The Cat and the Canary has a visual flair and sustained mood of spine-chilling expectancy that none of its many remakes comes close to matching.  It's not only a superlative entry in Universal's run of classic horror films, it is also deliriously funny, one of cinema's most successful attempts at combining horror and comedy.

Paul Leni was not only a film director of exceptional ability, he was also an accomplished set designer, as his work on this film amply bears out.  The cavernous interiors of the crumbling old mansion in which most of the film is set are powerfully evocative of the nightmarish Gothic fantasies of the 19th century and would provide a template for subsequent horror films, including all those that Universal would subsequently make, most notably Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931).  Leni's roots in expressionism can be seen not only in the set design but also in the atmospheric lighting and subtly unnerving camerawork, which add to the sense of lurking menace that pervades the film.  The stark expressionistic motif which begins the film - a dying old man surrounded by gigantic cats like a bird in a cage - is constantly in our minds as the heroine (superbly played by silent film diva Laura La Plante) becomes increasingly conscious of the threat that surrounds her.

The Cat and the Canary could easily have been a straight horror film, as chilling as Universal's previous The Phantom of the Opera (1925), but it functions just as well as a black comedy.  Apart from La Plante's strait-laced Annabelle, every other character has a disturbing hint of borderline lunacy about him or her, and much fun is to be had in guessing who the villain of the piece might be.  Lucien Littlefield's creepy Dr Lazar is a barefaced homage to Werner Krauss's sinister doctor in Robert Wiene's Das Cabinet des Dr Caligari (1920), the terror-infused keystone of all horror films.  The eccentric performances are humorous but also a tad frightening, and we soon have reason to think that the entire West family might be prone to lunacy.

Had he been less constrained by the narrative, Leni would doubtless have done more to play up the suggestion that supernatural forces are at work, using more point-of-view shots and camera effects to blur the boundary between reality and imagination.  The first glimpse of 'the monster' (an unconvincing werewolf hand) comes as a slight disappointment, and from this point on the horror has to play second fiddle to the humour - not that this in any way diminishes the film's entertainment value.  The Cat and the Canary is a suspenseful, eerily weird comedy delight - the most enjoyable of Universal's silent horror films and vastly superior to every one of the copycat films that it inspired.

Film Synopsis

As millionaire Cyrus West nears death, his relatives descend on his ancient mausoleum of a house like cats around a canary.  Driven insane, he stipulates that his last will and testament shall not be opened until twenty years after his death.  Twenty years on, West's surviving relatives return to the house for the reading of the will.  To everyone's surprise, West leaves his entire estate to his young niece, Annabelle, on condition that she is judged to be sane by a physician.  If Annabelle is found not to be in possession of her faculties, the fortune passes to the person named in a second envelope in West's safe.  As the family prepares for dinner, an asylum guard suddenly turns up with the news that a dangerous lunatic is at large and may have taken sanctuary in the house.  West's lawyer Crosby realises that the second envelope may reveal the identity of the mad man, but before he can divulge his name to Annabelle he is attacked and murdered by a hideously deformed monster.  The Cat has claimed his first victim...