The Cat and the Canary (1927)
Directed by: Paul Leni
Starring: Laura La Plante, Creighton Hale, Forrest Stanley
Length: 82 min
Genre: Horror
Based On: The Play of the same name by John Willard
The film that basically started it for this kind of horror movie.
A wealthy man dies but leaves instructions that his will to not be read until 20 years after his death. After the 20 years is up, all of the man's relatives come to his mansion for the reading of his will. All are expecting something, but only one person ends up getting it all. However, he left a second note saying that should anything happen to the person who go everything, everything would go to someone named in an unopened envelope, to be opened should it be needed.
The throw a monkey wrench into it all, an insane inmate at the nearby prison escaped, and a cop has shown up looking for him, and he won't leave until he finds him.
Obviously, after that, hilarity ensues. And some horror, too. If you ever seen a horror movie in which a group of people have to spend the night in a creepy mansion, and many of them are distrustful of the others and/or afraid of a monster/ghost/psycho, the creative process that spawned it can probably trace its influences all the way back to this movie.
The director, Paul Leni, was one of the German Expressionist filmmakers. Unfortunately, I have not seen any of his german movies. The camera work and the sets were very German Expressionist-like. Paul Leni, like F.W.Murnau, would die way before his time, though. He died in 1929 from blood poisoning (Sepsis).
The movie was pretty entertaining. I didn't read much about the movie before I watched it, and was pleasantly surprised. A good suspenseful movie that kept me guessing the entire time.
Entertainment Rating: 7/10
Historical Rating: 8/10