SteinMo What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

JohnHowardReid It's marvelous how closely the 1939 Bob Hope version follows this one. I'd assumed that Hope's antics were written into the script, but in point of fact that particular character is if anything even more of a slapstick comic here. He is forever backing into furniture or finding himself in a risqué situation under a bed or wrestling with stray objects like falling books or enormous bed-springs. Of course, he redeems himself in the final reel by rescuing the fair heroine. Just like Hope! True, Creighton Hale doesn't develop the character nearly as fully as Hope, although he spends just about as much time on screen. He isn't as funny nor as engaging. Not that it matters so much here, for this "Cat and the Canary" is primarily a director's movie.Bobbed, fair-haired Laura La Plante makes a winningly sympathetic heroine. She receives excellent support from Tully Marshall's lawyer, Martha Mattox's sinister housekeeper and Lucien Littlefield's weirdly menacing doctor. A young Forrest Stanley and attractive Gertrude Astor also impress.Although the story-line is now familiar to us — since the Hope movie follows it so slavishly — director Paul Leni has joined forces with Universal's legendary art director Charles D. Hall and cinematographer Gilbert Warrenton to make it doubly exciting. In fact some of the effects are so bizarre, and the weird atmosphere is so masterfully created, that even a 2017 audience responded with such enthusiasm to a television showing, the station was forced to re-broadcast it twice within the next few months. Here's a rare classic that can entertain, startle and be seen as innovative and highly imaginative, nearly 80 years after it originally thrilled audiences. Leni's "Cat and the Canary" fully deserves its cult reputation.Available in a worn but quite watchable DVD from Alpha.

Johan Louwet You might think that you cannot take a horror movie with comedy features serious but here they are welcome in what otherwise would be a pretty standard and perhaps tedious film about a house that might be haunted and where mysterious events happen. Comparing this one to the shorter Midnight Faces which has the same premise is like day and night. The Cat and the Canary beats it in every way. The Cat and the Canary starts of with some impressive visuals about the deceased uncle's feelings about his relatives portrayed in a very symbolic way with cats. A few times we see some nice special effects, impressive for its time. The eeriness of the dark mansion remains constant for start to end. The cast is really versatile and fitting with in the starring roles Laura La Plante as the lucky heir Annabelle West, Creighton Hale as the first not so brave and therefore unintentionally funny Paul Jones and of course Flora Finch as aunt Susan whose hysteric talking would drive any sane person crazy (perfect example is when she is picked up by the milkman and drives him nuts with her chattering about ghosts). Honorable mention to Martha Mattox as housekeeper Mammy Pleasant (that name in itself is the biggest paradox when you see her face) whose presence alone does anyone expect there is something scary about the whole thing. And of course the doctor examining Annabelle looked creepy too. Simple but effective story with wonderful characters.

GManfred After reading the many flattering reviews and comments for "Cat and the Canary", I wondered if I should rethink my position - my position being that I disliked it very much. I appreciated the cinematography and several directorial touches that must have made this picture a hit in the 1920's. I also appreciated that it was probably one of the first of its genre, and many situations have been done to excess since then.First off, it was too long - I have the Alpha 101 minute version and the picture moved at ice-cutter speed (don't know about the 80 min. version) - is this really how it moved in 1927? But worse, this film contains some of the most outrageous,scenery-chewing, hambone overacting ever put on celluloid, the performance by Creighton Hale the biggest offender - One more look of pop-eyed surprise and I was ready to sue his estate. Reading other readers reviews, this was de rigeur for silent films of this genre but I found it very irritating and thought it detracted from the final product.It could have been a better film. Maybe I would have liked it better when it was first shown; and the 1939 remake is even worse.

ferbs54 During the course of this film, one of the characters utters the line "Gosh, what a spooky house," and boy, does that line ever ring true! The original "old dark house" story, "The Cat and the Canary" (1927) was based on a John Willard stage play of 1922 and has been filmed no less than four times as of this date. The film shows us what happens when a dead man's will is read in a creepy old house on the Hudson to a bunch of oddball relatives, one of whom, Laura LaPlante, inherits a fortune with the proviso that she passes a sanity test. And poor Laura's sanity IS put to the test that very night, what with an escaped madman on the loose, a possible ghost running around, hands coming out of the walls, mysterious disappearances, and a house full of secret passages, swing-out bookcases and so on. Despite some comedic bits that border on the inane but never quite cross that fine line, "The Cat and the Canary" is genuinely creepy in parts. It also features excellent photography, interesting camera angles, expressionistic and surrealistic backdrops, some blatant symbolism, fascinating use of superimposed images and an appropriately strange score. The dialogue cards are at times very imaginative, and this crisp-looking print has been nicely color tinted for our viewing pleasure. As usual in many silents, the comedic, cowardly character proves to be more than he initially appears. But I'm not giving anything away here; most viewers will never guess who the murderer/ess is in this film. It's a classic, historic winner, not at all creaky, and even suitable for the kiddies. I do recommend it.