The Cat and the Canary Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

The Cat and the Canary Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman December 6, 2020

Note: This film is available as part of The Bob Hope Collection.

Bob Hope became such a monolith over the course of his later life that it may be hard to remember at one point he was just another “player”, albeit a promising one, at Paramount. In that regard, as with many other nascent stars at both Paramount and a number of other major studios during Hollywood’s so-called “Golden Era”, it can be kind of fun seeing the marketing and other behind the scenes mavens at the studio trying to develop a persona for Hope that would click with the public. Hope’s feature films from the first couple of years of his career tended to be lightweight musicals and/or comedies, but Hope was also featured in two films that helped establish his wisecracking milquetoast characterizations and which also helped to develop the horror-comedy hybrid that was also utilized effectively by Abbott and Costello in such films as Hold That Ghost (which notably debuted after both of these features, which would suggest that the Hope outings attracted the attention of bean counters in studios other than Paramount).

While Hope had had some significant screen successes in 1938, but he wasn't quite yet "Bob Hope", and so The Cat and the Canary is a bit more of an ensemble piece, with Hope certainly a focal element, but just as certainly not the only one. This version of the venerable stage play by John Willard was actually the fourth cinematic adaptation of the property (even as early as 1939!), as the appealing commentary by Kim Newman and Stephen Jones gets into, and this version, certainly with Hope's rising star in mind, is played for laughs pretty regularly, along with the requisite number of chills.

This is a basic "haunted house" mystery within the context of the reading of a will and a bunch of assembled prospective heirs. A patently lunatic assortment of characters has been summoned to the decrepit Louisiana bayou mansion of a deceased patrician named Cyrus Norman. Some of the interrelationships are not overly detailed, but it seems like these people are all cousins or second cousins. First to arrive is Mr. Crosby (George Zucco), Norman's solicitor who is in charge of reading the will, which rather strangely is taking place ten years to the day after the death of Norman (in another largely unexplained plot conceit). Crosby is met by Norman's creepy housekeeper Miss Lu (Gale Sondergaard), who has been living in the domicile since her master's death.

Soon enough a gaggle of other relatives arrives, including Joyce Norman (Paulette Goddard), hotheaded Fred Blythe (John Beal) and the cool and suave Charles Wilder (Douglass Montgomery), both of whom seem to have some kind of history, including romantic, with Joyce, which makes the whole "cousin" thing a little perplexing. Filling out the guest list are two dotty aunts, Cicily Young (Nydia Westman) and Susan Tilbury (Elizabeth Patterson). Last to arrive and seemingly wanting to be the first to leave considering the spooky environment is Wally Campbell (Bob Hope).

The reading of the will turns out to be rather convoluted due to a number of events. First of all, a strange gonging sound alerts the apparently psychic Miss Lu that one of the assembled is not going to make it through the night alive, and then Crosby reveals there are actually two wills, since the Norman family has a history of mental illness and Norman wanted to make sure a "back up heir" was appointed in case the first designee went crazy or died within 30 days of the reading. Suffice it to say Joyce is named as sole heir, which seems to put a rather large target on her, since there's another secret "heir in waiting", albeit known only to Crosby, who isn't saying anything.

Suffice it to say someone does indeed end up deceased, and there is apparently a madman escapee from a nearby mental institution roaming the grounds of the Norman estate, with the aggregated survivors banding together to try to figure out what's going on. The Cat and the Canary is brisk and fun, but it's rather short (barely over an hour) and might have benefited from at least a little more development. It does have a nice, moody quasi-Southern Gothic flavor that would kind of ironically be exploited by competitor Universal in some of their straight horror and comedy-horror hybrids.

The Cat and the Canary Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Cat and the Canary is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Imprint, ViaVision and Universal Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.36:1. My hunch is this was culled from the same master as the Kino Lorber Blu-ray release for the North American market, though I'm not quite as generous in my score as Neil was for that release. This is often a rather striking presentation, though, one with consistent contrast (especially when compared to this set's "stable mate", The Ghost Breakers) and some surprisingly good shadow definition in the many shrouded shots in and around the Norman mansion. There is quite a bit of age related wear and tear on display, though, including some noticeable scratches and other blemishes (several are clearly visible in screenshots 2, 7, 15 and 17). Grain is organic looking and doesn't encounter any major compression issues despite the misty bayou environment. My score is 3.75.

The Cat and the Canary Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Cat and the Canary features a nice sounding LPCM 2.0 Mono track that is obviously the product of its time, but which still retains decent "oomph", especially since this feature is so reliant on dialogue, with only a few sound effects entering the fray from time to time. While fairly boxy sounding almost all of the time, fidelity delivers all spoken material perfectly well, and if a few passing effects like the "gong of death" don't reverberate overly strongly, they don't exhibit any major signs of distortion or other damage. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Cat and the Canary Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Exclusive Audio Commentary by Horror and Fantasy Authors Stephen Jones and Kim Newman


• Original Theatrical Trailer (1080p; 3:38) contains one pretty major spoiler.


• Photo Gallery (1080p; 1:12)

The Cat and the Canary Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Cat and the Canary might have used just a bit more development to deliver a total knockout, but as it is, it's fun and funny, and it has some genuinely angsty moments along the way. Bob Hope is front and center here, but there's a lot of stuff going on around him, so his role in this film is really more of a cog in an ensemble wheel rather than a starring characterization. Technical merits are generally solid, and the commentary track is very enjoyable. Recommended.