The Cat and the Canary Review

Review of The Cat and the Canary (1927) by screenqueeen: 👍 4/5

HOOPTOBER 11 DAY 2 29 DAYS REMAIN TITLE 3 OF 39

Now we're talking. Nothing like an "old dark house" feature to get the blood running cold through my veins again in the advent of Fall. I see a lot of what CLUE would use much, much, much later (with a healthy dose of William Castle's admiration for novelty) and couldn't help but have a lot of fun with this. There's something I really enjoy about haunted house flicks and CANARY is no different.

It's funny that the presumably cursed estate itself becomes a prize for the chosen inheritor when it's already so repulsive a venue for the reading of eccentric Cyrus West's will. I could get into the economic horror of how a house so superstitiously avoided could be considered the crown jewel (even amongst the diamond necklace hidden within its walls) of those dreading every moment of having to stay within its confines, but I'd be ignoring how much fun everyone else is having making this. The performances are perfectly varied and tongue-in-cheek, even straight performances got laughs. The biggest one I had came from the exchange Susan has with a police officer after she escapes the house in search of help:

"Ghosts are murdering people in the Cyrus West house!" "It's about time you climbed on a milk wagon."