Halloween season
simply isn’t Halloween season without a regular dose of classic Universal horror (1923-1963). Every day this October, I’ll be giving you a steady IV drip of it by counting down Psychobabble’s 31 Favorite Universal
Horrors!
#23. The Cat and the
Canary (1927- dir. Paul Leni)
With the likely exception of The Old Dark House, The Cat
and the Canary is the definitive old dark house flick. It is full of
sliding panels, swiveling bookcases, hairy claws always just a few ticks out of
reach, doofuses who stammer “G-g-g-ghosts?”, and monster-garbed hucksters who
would have gotten away with it if not for those meddling kids. Paul Leni takes
all this luscious hokum and makes it zing with a bevy of inventive camera tricks
and animations. Laura La Plante is an utterly charming heroine.
