I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

hyped garbage

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

It's marvelous how closely the 1939 Bob Hope version follows this one. I'd assumed that Hope's antics were written into the script, but in point of fact that particular character is if anything even more of a slapstick comic here. He is forever backing into furniture or finding himself in a risqué situation under a bed or wrestling with stray objects like falling books or enormous bed-springs. Of course, he redeems himself in the final reel by rescuing the fair heroine. Just like Hope! True, Creighton Hale doesn't develop the character nearly as fully as Hope, although he spends just about as much time on screen. He isn't as funny nor as engaging. Not that it matters so much here, for this "Cat and the Canary" is primarily a director's movie.Bobbed, fair-haired Laura La Plante makes a winningly sympathetic heroine. She receives excellent support from Tully Marshall's lawyer, Martha Mattox's sinister housekeeper and Lucien Littlefield's weirdly menacing doctor. A young Forrest Stanley and attractive Gertrude Astor also impress.Although the story-line is now familiar to us — since the Hope movie follows it so slavishly — director Paul Leni has joined forces with Universal's legendary art director Charles D. Hall and cinematographer Gilbert Warrenton to make it doubly exciting. In fact some of the effects are so bizarre, and the weird atmosphere is so masterfully created, that even a 2017 audience responded with such enthusiasm to a television showing, the station was forced to re-broadcast it twice within the next few months. Here's a rare classic that can entertain, startle and be seen as innovative and highly imaginative, nearly 80 years after it originally thrilled audiences. Leni's "Cat and the Canary" fully deserves its cult reputation.Available in a worn but quite watchable DVD from Alpha.

The version I watched on Amazon was the one issued by Kino with the music score intact. This was quite both a scary and funny movie with Creighton Hale a hoot as the comic hero. This must have been one of the early movies in which a group stays at a haunted house after a reading of a will and the one who stands to inherit it all is the one who gets almost scared of his/her wits. This is the kind of plot I used to regularly watch on "Scooby Doo" cartoons on Saturday mornings when a kid during the '70s. Anyway, I quite enjoyed this silent version of something I watched a talkie version of years back-the one with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard from 1939. So yeah, that's a recommendation of this version of The Cat and the Canary.

The opening of "The Cat and the Canary" is amazing. A layer of dust and cobwebs are wiped away to reveal the opening credits. The mansion is first seen as a tall, distorted silhouette, a series of shadowed spires emerging out of the darkness. The towers of the mansion fade away to a series of glass bottles. Mr. Cyrus West, the ill millionaire watched over by his greedy family, the metaphorical canary, appears in the bottles while cats leer hungrily at him. We cut to a POV shot of someone walking through the shadowy halls of manor, the huge white curtains billowing in the wind. As far as classic Gothic horror imagery goes, this is a buffet.This wasn't the first 'old dark house' movie. D.W. Griffin's "One Exciting Night" predates it and the genre existed on the stage first. If you're looking for a compilation of clichés, this one provides. We've got greedy relatives gathering in a spooky mansion, awaiting the reading of a will. Some are trust-worthy, while others are duplicitous. The mansion has secret doorways, including one in a bookcase. There's an escaped homicidal maniac. Someone tries to discredit the sole female benefactor with old fashion gas-lighting. A dead body falls out of a secret compartment. The villain even wears a fedora. This is clichés 101 and how you feel about that depends on how you feel about classic horror in general.Another hallmark of the 'old dark house' genre is incorporating laughs with thrills. The leading man, Paul (Creighton Hale), hides under beds, gets vexed by giant bed springs, runs around hallways, gets spooked by the creepy maid, and bounces around. It's not hilarious. Another problem is the large cast. The main characters are developed to basic ideas while the supporting cast doesn't even get that much. Laura La Plante as the main heroine does nothing but gets threatened. She's the dullest of the damsel in distress type. The movie ships these two cousins without question which is a little weird. Aunt Susan (Flora Finch) reminded me of Una O'Conner in "Bride of Frankenstein." It's as funny in '27 as it was in '35. The movie drags in its latter half. Since the supporting cast is so thinly devised, you can't guess, nor care, who the killer is.The film isn't without merit. Beyond the amazing opening, there's a cool shot of Paul hiding under bed, lights reflecting in his glasses. The shot of a hand appearing out of the wall, over La Plante's sleeping face, is great. An appearance by a sinister doctor doesn't add to the story but is a weird, off-putting moment. The Cat, the villain, is actually pretty cool looking. One of the fun things about the movie is how it plays with the silent movie titles. Words like 'Ghosts!' and "Help!' are presented in wiggling or growing text, while a series of swears are presented by comic book exclamation."The Cat and the Canary" isn't a great movie but it was, no doubt, influential. Universal made two sound remakes in 1930, one in English, one in Spanish, both of which are lost now. Paramount remade it as a farce starring Bob Hope in '39, probably the most famous version. A British version was produced in the 1960s, somehow by a studio other then Hammer. This isn't discussing all the films that took its clichés and ran with it. Despite all of this, the movie isn't discussed too much today, probably do to the lack of an iconic presence like a Chaney or a Karloff. Some bits are brilliant, even if the overall film doesn't really come together.

As far as silent cinema is concerned, this film is considered a classic by many. I have an extremely large silent collection, and really love these old pieces. I do not love "The Cat And The Canary", however. The problem is the so-called 'comedy' inserted throughout the film: it isn't funny, it doesn't work, all it does is annoy and detract from the main story. I think that, generally speaking, comedy that (apparently) was enjoyed by the audiences of that time just doesn't translate well all these decades later. With notable exceptions, of course. But even some of the most successful film comedians of the silent era fall flat today. Everything else about this film is pretty good, not great. Leni's earlier film "Waxworks" is so much better that it's hard to believe "Canary" is by the same director. And a lot is made of this film being some sort of trailblazing genre entry, although D.W. Griffith had made "One Exciting Night" (a very similar type of film) at least five years before Leni's movie. All in all, "The Cat And The Canary" is good entertainment, however, really not worthy of it's classic status.