The Cat and the Canary (1927) (The Photoplay Restoration)

Starring: Laura La Plante

In this frightening all-time cinematic classic and blueprint for all haunted house thrillers, the reading of a will at the estate of old Cyrus West coincides with the arrival of a clawed killer in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: DVD
• Language: English
• Release Date: January 2007
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Publisher: Kino Lorber films
• Director: Paul Leni
• Starring: Laura La Plante
• Number of Disks: 1
• Other Video Info: Multiple Formats; Color; NTSC; Silent
• Weight: 0.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

An old millionaire is about to shuffle off this mortal coil.

He suspects he is being threatened to help make him crazy. His relatives surround him like cats watching a canary; thus, the title of the play. Even though the story is formulaic, this is an excellent presentation of who is included in the will, and the old man dies. There are a few different variances in this presentation. First, the will is not to be opened until 20 years after the old man's death. And someone has tampered with the envelope naming the successor if the person named in the will is also proven to be crazy. So, the inheritor of the “will” will now become the new canary being watched by all the cats in the family. We watch as one by one, it looks like they will be dispatched starting with... oh no you don't, watch the movie and find out. And of course, this just reinforces the suspicion that the inheritor is crazy. Of course, as usual, it's always the last person you suspect; we are in an old dark house, secret passages, spooky looking eyes, hairy hands, and suspects running from room to room. Laura La Plante plays the innocent but extremely cute-looking niece. Martha Mattox plays a sinister-looking caretaker who watched over the house for 20 years (and the safe with the will). Tully Marshall plays a crusty old lawyer who gets to read the will. Creighton Hale gets to play the comic relief, the thoughtful cousin, and maybe a bit more. For those of you expecting a talkie, you're going to be disappointed. For the rest of us, you can see their mouths working, and they are saying what is on the intertitles. The fun part of the movie is when the characters express themselves in explicative the written cards are expressed in metacharacters (probably helps get around those ~!@#$%^ scenarios.) There is a good sound score in the background. This is well worth adding to your silent collection and periodically viewing for missed nuances. Although any version of this film is worth watching, I suggest you look for the restored photography version.