24 October: The Cat and the Canary

 

“On a lonely, pine-clad hill overlooking the Hudson, stood the grotesque mansion of an eccentric millionaire----”

Only seven more days until that most wonderfullest time of the year. That’s right: we are a week out from Halloween, people! Time to get right with the Great Pumpkin and make sure you’ve got full-size candy bars to give out on the big night. I’d hate to hear that anything bad happened to any of you because you skimped where it counted.

Until then, let us continue our daily celebration of All Hallow’s Eve via Cinematic Void’s 31 Days of Voidoween movie challenge. Today’s topic is “Silent Horror,” and I’ve chosen Paul Leni’s 1927 comedy-horror classic for Universal Studios, The Cat and the Canary.

The Cat and the Canary is the prototypical “old dark house” mystery. Based on John Willard’s 1922 play, Leni’s film contains all the tropes and trappings that fans of the genre relish: on a dark and stormy night, a group of would-be heirs meet in the aforementioned ODH to hear the reading of a will. The interior of the house is dusty, covered with cobwebs, and filled with hidden passages. The lone heir named in the will, Annabelle (Laura La Plante), becomes the focus of ire of the other, spurned family members. Everyone seems to be after Annabelle. In another turn of the screw, however, a lunatic known as “The Cat” has escaped a local asylum. A guard from the asylum has tracked The Cat to the ODH. He may be hiding somewhere on the grounds...or in the house itself!

The Cat and the Canary is a hoot. It’s a silent film that holds up really well. This is due partly to its feeling so familiar to genre film buffs and partly to it being so well made. Paul Leni imbued The Cat and the Canary with a lot of energy. The performers, while exuding the histrionics typical of silent era acting, also wouldn’t seem out of place in a more modern film like Clue (1985). The camerawork and editing, too, feel more modern. There are certainly scenes that have the stagey, long takes of the silent era, but for the most part, the camera and the actors move freely around the sets. The editor mixes wide shots and close-ups nicely giving the whole a nice rhythm that never bores the viewer.

All in all, The Cat and the Canary is a wonderfully funny and spooky film that’s perfect for the whole family during the Halloween season.