You have seen THE CAT AND THE CANARY many times before, even if you've never seen it. The play of which this is the first film version is one of the original templates for the "old dark house" mystery subgenre, specifically the "reading of the will at midnight" variety. The film could be reconstructed piecemeal using shots taken from the many parodies and remakes done of it over the years by everyone from The Ritz Brothers to Radley Metzger. It should be unbearably stale. What a pleasant surprise, then, to find that the film is such a corker. If there were ever an ice-breaker film for your friends who are reluctant to approach silent cinema, THE CAT AND THE CANARY is it.

THE CAT AND THE CANARY moves at a peppy pace. Not a frame is wasted. Yes, it is familiar. It is also very entertainingly inflected with style and humor. In fact, the familiarity probably makes the style and humor that much more accessible. The performances are melodramatically tongue-in-cheek, suggesting that the material was old when the film was new, and so subject to some ribbing by the filmmakers. (I'm wondering now what a serious version of the genre might be like, if such a thing exists on film.)

The most visible strength of the film is the freedom of its camera. Moving shots that look handheld occur early on, and tracking shots as well as unusual camera angles and positions are used to create mood and comedy throughout. This much camera motion is always a treat in silent films.

Addendum - The next night, I watched THE BAT WHISPERS, another Old Dark House mystery of the same era. Although interesting in its own right as a very early sound film, the experience made clear that not all Old Dark House mysteries are equal. Although I'll no doubt revisit both films, I was more caught up in THE CAT AND THE CANARY as pure entertainment, whereas THE BAT WHISPERS was more captivating as a technical and historic document.