The Cat and the Canary is John Willard’s classic 1922 chiller-comedy that brings together a houseful of greedy relatives, a fortune hanging in the balance, and secrets no one wants uncovered. Twenty years after eccentric millionaire Cyrus Canby Carduelin’s death, his family reunites for the reading of his will — only to learn that his entire estate goes to ??????!, the one relative he trusted not to be circling his money like a cat after a canary. There’s just one condition: that person must be declared sane within hours, or the inheritance passes to a mysterious second heir.
As the night wears on, strange warnings arrive, secret panels slide open, and it becomes clear that someone — or something — doesn’t want this will read after all.
Equal parts gothic thriller and screwball comedy, The Cat and the Canary is the granddaddy of the “old dark house” mystery — the play that set the template for a century of shrieks, laughs, and shadowy staircases. Grab your tickets, lock the doors, and don’t trust anyone… especially the cat.
Director Dougal Dixon has based his adaptation the original 1922 play by John Willard(*). JW is given credit for inventing most of the clichés of melodrama of which this play is enriched!
(* John Willard was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter He worked extensively in theatre before moving into early Hollywood. The Cat and the Canary was his biggest success and adapted repeatedly for film and amateur dramatic productions (!). The play is known for blending humour with suspense, a style that later influenced Broadway thrillers and early horror cinema.)
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