I’ve seen something like 40 silent films in my life. That isn’t a lot considering the hundreds of silents that exist, but as someone who is still trying to figure out how to properly watch them, I think that’s pretty good. The truth is I inevitably find myself zoning out sometime during a silent film. My mind will wander, and I’ll suddenly realize I haven’t been paying any attention for several minutes. I used to think this happened during the slow parts, when there wasn’t any action or the visuals were fairly dry. And certainly it does happen during those moments, but I’ve recently realized it happens during action scenes as well. What I’ve come to understand is that the lack of sound effects and foley design in silent films allows me to distract myself.
Buy The Cat and the Canary (1927)I don’t think I realized how much effects are an intricate part of the movie-watching experience. When someone opens or shuts a door, we hear it creak and lock. Someone walking down a path creates footsteps. A punch or a slap sounds a certain way in movies. In silent films, you just hear the musical score. Foley works like punctuation; without it, a scene can feel like a run-on sentence.
The Cat and the Canary held my attention through every scene, in every moment. It is truly eerie, filled with memorable images and camerawork, and the score often works like sound effects, punctuating the action on the screen. Also, it is often funny, and that helps a lot.
It is one of the oldest, and I’d argue best, versions of the Old Dark House genre. Inside a crumbling, mammoth mansion, an old, rich man lies dying. His family circle him like cats around a canary cage, hoping for a piece of his golden pie. The film visualizes this by having the man surrounded by glass bottles that act as a cage and large cats superimposed on the screen circling him with snarling lips.
When he dies, there is a stipulation that his will cannot be read for 20 years. At midnight, 20 years to the day since he drew his last breath, the family gathers in that now even-more-dilapidated dark mansion, desperate to learn what they’ve inherited. They are distraught to learn that he’s given it all to his granddaughter Annabell West (Laura La Plante). But there’s a catch: Annabell must be judged sane by a doctor before she can inherit the estate. If she is judged insane, then a secondary will shall be opened and someone else will become the inheritor.
You can probably guess where things go next. While having dinner, a guard barges in and declares an insane man known as “The Cat” has escaped the asylum and was last seen near the mansion. The family lawyer, Crosby (Tully Marshall), thinks he knows who is most likely to harm Annabell, but just before he tells her, a hairy hand with long nails creeps out of a secret passageway and nabs him. Later, that same hand will steal a necklace off Annabelle’s chest while she sleeps.
The rest of the family immediately thinks she’s gone mad and are more than happy to declare it so they can open the second will. But when Crosby’s body shows up in a secret passage, they begin to think that maniac must be near.
I won’t say that The Cat and the Canary is genuinely scary, but it is creepy, and it creates a wonderfully atmospheric mood. Director Paul Leni was a key figure in the German Expressionism movement, and while that’s been toned down a little here, the set design, lighting, and camera placement all exhibit those traits.
The mystery is an enjoyable one. While it is clear from the start someone in the family is intentionally trying to drive Annabelle insane, it is still fun watching them try and guessing at which one it might be. There is some light comedy as well. At one point, our romantic hero, Paul Jones (Creighton Hale), slips into Annabelle’s room looking for clues. When she and her aunt enter, he hides under the bed. Then we get a POV shot from under the bed looking out at the ladies. We see their legs and feet as they undress. Paul at first hides his eyes as he is a gentleman, then he opens his fingers just a bit to get a little peep. That’s not exactly Marx Brothers-level comedy, but it earned a chuckle from me. There are several moments like that – not bust-a-gut-laughing humor, but fun just the same.
I always find it difficult to judge a film like this. If this movie were made today, I’d probably call it cheesy, but somehow knowing it was made nearly 100 years ago makes it utterly charming. I’m not one to think that audiences back then were less sophisticated, but movies were new. Artists were still learning what they could do with this new medium. I love learning the history of that by watching these old movies, learning how to appreciate them. I’m still learning how to love silent films, but movies like this one go a long way toward helping me with that.
Kino Lorber presents The Cat and the Canary with a new 4K SDR restoration of the film by Photplay. It looks absolutely incredible. I started to say it looks good for a film this old, but this looks good for any movie made at any time. The fact that it is nearly 100 years old is nothing short of astonishing.
Extras include:
- Audio Commentary by Film Historian David Del Valle and Silent Film Expert Randy Haberkamp
- Audio Commentary by Film Historian Anthony Slide
- Music Score Composed by Neil Brand | Conducted by Timothy Brock (5.1 Surround and Lossless 2.0 Audio)
