The Cat and the Canary is a stage play by John Willard

John Willard (playwright)

John Willard was an American playwright. His most famous work is The Cat and the Canary , a play that was made into the influential silent film of the same name in 1927.-External links: at the Internet Movie Database....

, adapted at least four times into feature films, in 1927, 1930, 1939, and again in 1979.

Willard's stage play opened on February 7, 1922 in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

.

Plot

The story concerns the death and inheritance of old Cyrus West, a rich eccentric who felt that his relatives "have watched my wealth as if they were cats, and I -- a canary". He decrees that his will be read twenty years after his death, at which point his relatives converge at his old family home, now a spooky old haunted mansion.

The will reads that his most distant relative still bearing the name of West be sole heir provided they are legally sane. The rest of the night spent in the house calls into question the sanity of Annabelle West, a fragile young woman who is legally Cyrus West's heir.

Film Versions

The 1927 silent version

The Cat and the Canary (1927 film)

The Cat and the Canary is an American silent horror film adaptation of John Willard's 1922 black comedy play of the same name. Directed by German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni, the film stars Laura La Plante as Annabelle West, Forrest Stanley as Charles "Charlie" Wilder, and Creighton Hale as...

, directed by Paul Leni

Paul Leni

Paul Leni born Paul Josef Levi was a German filmmaker and a key figure in German Expressionist filmmaking, making Backstairs and Waxworks in Germany, and The Cat and the Canary , The Chinese Parrot , The Man Who Laughs , and The Last Warning in...

, and stars Laura La Plante

Laura La Plante

Laura La Plante was an American actress, best-known for her roles in silent films.-Early acting career:...

 as Annabelle West.

The 1930 version is now presumed lost. It was made under the title The Cat Creeps

The Cat Creeps

The Cat Creeps is a crime/mystery film, and a sound remake of The Cat and the Canary . It is one of the many lost films of the early talkie film era....

. The Cat Creeps was Universal's

Universal Studios

Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

 first horror film with sound and dialogue, predating its classic Universal horror films like Frankenstein

Frankenstein (1931 film)

Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...

(1931), Dracula

Dracula (1931 film)

Dracula is a 1931 vampire-horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as the title character. The film was produced by Universal and is based on the stage play of the same name by Hamilton Deane and John L...

(1931), and The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man (1933 film)

The Invisible Man is a 1933 science fiction film based on H. G. Wells' science fiction novel The Invisible Man, published in 1897, as adapted by R. C. Sherriff, Philip Wylie and Preston Sturges, whose work was considered unsatisfactory and who was taken off the project...

(1933).

The 1939 version

The Cat and the Canary (1939 film)

The Cat and the Canary starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard is a 1939 comedy horror film remake of the 1927 film The Cat and the Canary, which was based on the 1922 play of the same name by John Willard...

, directed by Elliott Nugent

Elliott Nugent

Elliott Nugent was an American actor, writer, and film director. He successfully made the transition from silent film to sound. He directed The Cat and the Canary , starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard...

, stars Bob Hope

Bob Hope

Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...

, Paulette Goddard

Paulette Goddard

Paulette Goddard was an American film and theatre actress. A former child fashion model and in several Broadway productions as Ziegfeld Girl, she was a major star of the Paramount Studio in the 1940s. She was married to several notable men, including Charlie Chaplin, Burgess Meredith, and Erich...

, and Gale Sondergaard

Gale Sondergaard

Gale Sondergaard was an American actress.Sondergaard began her acting career in theatre, and progressed to films in 1936. She was the first recipient of the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her film debut in Anthony Adverse...

. This version is mainly comedic. Universal, who owned the rights to the play, sold them to Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...

. The film, along with the 1940 film The Ghost Breakers

The Ghost Breakers

The Ghost Breakers is a comedy film directed by George Marshall and starring Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard. The movie was adapted by Walter DeLeon from the play The Ghost Breaker by Paul Dickey and Charles W...

, was an inspiration to Walt Disney

Walt Disney

Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...

 for his Haunted Mansion

Haunted Mansion

The Haunted Mansion is a dark ride located at Disneyland, the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland. A significantly re-imagined incarnation of the ride, known as Phantom Manor, is located in Disneyland Paris...

 attraction at Disneyland.

The 1979 British version

The Cat and the Canary (1979 film)

The Cat and the Canary is a film released in 1979. It is an adaptation of John Willard's 1922 black comedy play of the same name. The play has previously been filmed several times, the first being a 1927 silent film version.- Plot synopsis :...

, written and directed by Radley Metzger

Radley Metzger

Radley Metzger is an American filmmaker and distributor. He is also credited under the pseudonym Henry Paris, a name he adopted in the 1970s when he began to direct hardcore pornography....

, stars Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman

Honor Blackman is an English actress, known for the roles of Cathy Gale in The Avengers and Bond girl Pussy Galore in Goldfinger .-Early life:...

, Michael Callan

Michael Callan

Not to be confused with Michael Callen.Michael Callan is an American actor.Born Martin Harris Calinieff in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Callan began his career as Mickey Calin, and it was with this name he appeared on Broadway in The Boy Friend , Catch a Star , and West Side Story .Callan's film...

, Edward Fox

Edward Fox (actor)

Edward Charles Morice Fox, OBE is an English stage, film and television actor.He is generally associated with portraying the role of the upper-class Englishman, such as the title character in the film The Day of the Jackal and King Edward VIII in the serial Edward & Mrs...

, Wendy Hiller

Wendy Hiller

Dame Wendy Margaret Hiller DBE was an Academy Award-winning English film and stage actress, who enjoyed a varied acting career that spanned nearly sixty years. The writer Joel Hirschorn, in his 1984 compilation Rating the Movie Stars, described her as "a no-nonsense actress who literally took...

, Olivia Hussey

Olivia Hussey

Olivia Hussey is an Argentinian actress who became famous for her role as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli's Academy Award-winning 1968 film version of Romeo and Juliet. For this role she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress as well as the David di Donatello for best actress...

, Wilfred Hyde-White, Beatrix Lehmann

Beatrix Lehmann

Beatrix Alice Lehmann was a British actress, theatre director and author.She trained at the RADA and made her stage debut as Peggy in a 1924 production The Way of the World at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith. As well as her extensive theatrical career she appeared in films and on television...

, Carol Lynley

Carol Lynley

Carol Lynley is an American actress and former child model.-Life and career:Lynley was born Carole Ann Jones in New York City, the daughter of Frances , a waitress, and Cyril Jones. Her father was Irish and her mother, a native of New England, was of English, Scottish, Welsh, German, and Native...

, Daniel Massey

Daniel Massey (actor)

Daniel Raymond Massey was an English actor and performer. He is possibly best known for his starring role in the British TV drama The Roads to Freedom, as Daniel, alongside Michael Bryant...

, and Peter McEnery

Peter McEnery

Peter McEnery is an English stage and film actor. His daughter Kate, by his first marriage to British actress Julie Peasgood, is an actress....

.

External links

• Free The Cat and the Canary ebook available at THEeMystery.com
• Find a copy in print