The Cat and the Canary
About The Cat and the Canary
Cyrus West’s will is read twenty years after his death. The relatives meet at his mansion. Annabelle West inherits if she is judged sane. If she is not, the money and the diamonds go to a name in a sealed envelope. Before the lawyer, Mr. Crosby, can tell her who that person is, he disappears. The guests are then told that a lunatic called the Cat has escaped from an asylum and is in the house. Laura La Plante plays Annabelle. Creighton Hale plays Paul Jones. Forrest Stanley plays Charlie Wilder. Paul Leni directed.
Cast & crew
More about The Cat and the Canary
Alfred A. Cohn, Robert F. Hill, and Walter Anthony adapted John Willard’s play, which opened in New York on 7 February 1922. Carl Laemmle and Paul Kohner produced. Gilbert Warrenton photographed it. Charles D. Hall was art director. Martin G. Cohn edited, with Lloyd Nosler supervising. Hugo Riesenfeld wrote music. Universal released it on 9 September 1927 after a Detroit premiere in early August. The AFI length is 7,713 feet in eight reels. Wikidata times it at 82 minutes. Production ran from November 1926 to January 1927. Copyright is 31 March 1927, LP23813.
Themes
Making
Leni shot Willard’s old-dark-house play at Universal with expressionist corridors and a comic coward in Paul Jones.
Look
Gilbert Warrenton shot the mansion, the vanishing lawyer, and the figure called the Cat. Charles D. Hall designed the sets.
Music
The 1927 release was silent. Hugo Riesenfeld is the music credit.
Preservation
The film survives. Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Notes
- The title, the AFI history note says, is the relatives: cats around Cyrus West’s fortune.
- Tully Marshall, Gertrude Astor, Flora Finch, Arthur Edmund Carewe, and George Siegmann are billed.
- The play was filmed again, including the 1939 version with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard.
- Copies are on the Internet Archive and Wikimedia Commons.
Scenes
- The envelope is still sealed when Crosby disappears.
- The guests hear that the Cat is in the house.
- Annabelle’s sanity is the thing the night is meant to break.
Influenced by
- John Willard’s play The Cat and the Canary (1922)
Influenced
- The Cat and the Canary (1939)
Also available
- Internet Archive (The_Cat_and_the_Canary)
- Wikimedia Commons (The Cat and the Canary (1927) by Paul Leni.webm)
