Thanks for the memories!

i must have seen a different film!!

How sad is this?

Absolutely brilliant

IMO - (Unless you're seriously stoned right out of your head) - The only viewers who I believe would find this 90-year-old "silent-era" relic scary would be very young and impressionable children.Set in a typical creaky, old house (on a dark, stormy night) - I found this particular "whodunit" to be more of an unintentional comedy rather than a drama/suspense/horror story.It was certainly a good thing that this film was only 85 minutes long - 'Cause at about the half-way point it was already losing steam, big-time.*Note* - I'm not saying that this film was terrible - 'Cause it wasn't.But, I sure wish that all of the self-appointed "critics" out there would quit watching oldies (like this one) through the haze of rose-coloured glasses.

The millionaire Cyrus West has spent the last years of his life in his mansion nearby the Hudson River considered insane by his greedy relatives and feeling like a canary in a cage surrounded by cats. When he dies, he stipulates that his lawyer Roger Crosby (Tully Marshall) would read his will that is kept in a safe in the twentieth anniversary of his death. On the scheduled day, Cyrus West's loyal servant Mammy Pleasant (Martha Mattox) and the lawyer welcome the guests in the creepy mansion that people tells that is inhabited by ghosts: West's nephews Harry Blythe (Arthur Edmund Carewe), Charles "Charlie" Wilder (Forrest Stanley), the scared Paul Jones (Creighton Hale), Aunt Susan Sillsby (Flora Finch), Cecily Young (Gertrude Astor) and West's niece Annabelle West (Laura La Plante). When Roger Crosby opens the will, West's mansion and fortune are left to the most distant relative having the name West, meaning Annabelle. However, she should prove first that she is sane; otherwise, the inheritance would be bequeathed to another heir whose name is in a sealed envelope. Out of the blue, a guard (George Siegmann) comes to the mansion and tells that a dangerous lunatic has fled from an institution. During the night, Roger Crosby disappears and Annabelle receives an envelope from Mammy Pleasant where West tells the location of his precious diamonds. Annabelle finds the jewels and wears a necklace, but while she is sleeping, a hand comes from the wall and steals the diamonds from her neck. With the exception of Paul Jones that loves Annabelle, her relatives believe that she is insane. But when Annabelle finds a hidden chamber in the wall with the body of Roger Crosby, Mammy Pleasant decides to call the police and the identity of the lunatic is disclosed."The Cat and the Canary" is a creepy mystery and horror silent film by the German Expressionist director Paul Leni. The plots blends black humor with elements of horror using the atmosphere of the expressionism with shadows and lighting, and the result is a stylish movie where even the inter-titles are funny. The beauty of Laura La Plante is very impressive. My vote is eight.Title (Brazil): "O Gato e o Canário" ("The Cat and the Canary")

Cat and the Canary, The (1927) *** (out of 4) Classic "old dark house" film has an old man dying and then twenty-years later his relatives arrive at his creepy mansion for the will reading. The estate goes to Annabelle (Laura La Plante) as long as she is proved to be sane but throughout the night various visions of demons appear to her. Is she losing her mind or is someone just trying to scare her? One needs to remember that all the cliché moments in this film weren't cliché when this was originally released. So many films have since ripped this one off that one might forget how original this movie was when it was originally released. What really stood out after eighty-years is how brilliantly this thing looks on a technical level. The cinematography ranks as some of the greatest I've ever seen and there are countless moments that you could point to as being ground breaking. Even the opening title credits are downright breathtaking with the creepy hand moving the dust and spider webs away. The set design by Charles D. Hall is just as wonderfully done and adds to the overall atmosphere, which is very thick from start to finish. Not only does the film deliver many creepy moments but there's a nice mixture of laughs thrown in as well. I've read reviews that said there were too many laughs but I'd have to disagree with that as the laughs are kept rather low-key and never take away from the actual story. The middle section of the film moves a bit too slowly but all of that picks up towards the end. The characters really aren't well-written but that doesn't matter too much as the real entertainment comes from the visuals and the creepy atmosphere.

As far as silent cinema is concerned, this film is considered a classic by many. I have an extremely large silent collection, and really love these old pieces. I do not love "The Cat And The Canary", however. The problem is the so-called 'comedy' inserted throughout the film: it isn't funny, it doesn't work, all it does is annoy and detract from the main story. I think that, generally speaking, comedy that (apparently) was enjoyed by the audiences of that time just doesn't translate well all these decades later. With notable exceptions, of course. But even some of the most successful film comedians of the silent era fall flat today. Everything else about this film is pretty good, not great. Leni's earlier film "Waxworks" is so much better that it's hard to believe "Canary" is by the same director. And a lot is made of this film being some sort of trailblazing genre entry, although D.W. Griffith had made "One Exciting Night" (a very similar type of film) at least five years before Leni's movie. All in all, "The Cat And The Canary" is good entertainment, however, really not worthy of it's classic status.