Courtesy of Eureka Entertainment
by James Cameron-wilson
Eureka Classics have done it again and have now released the first 4K restoration copy of the original 1927 The Cat and the Canary, available for the first time on blu-ray. Considering how many prestigious silent classics have been lost forever, it is quite a treat to sit through the full 86 minutes that have been meticulous preserved of what really is a prototype of its kind. One might consider the dark house comedy-thriller a rare beast, but it was extremely popular in its day, kicked off by this hugely popular silent, made just nine months before the release of the very first feature-length talking picture, The Jazz Singer.
Looking at The Cat and the Canary today, it is emblematic of everything we know about silent cinema, with its comic intertitles, wide-eyed acting and stereotypes, but viewed more seriously it was a hugely influential title.
by James Cameron-wilson
Eureka Classics have done it again and have now released the first 4K restoration copy of the original 1927 The Cat and the Canary, available for the first time on blu-ray. Considering how many prestigious silent classics have been lost forever, it is quite a treat to sit through the full 86 minutes that have been meticulous preserved of what really is a prototype of its kind. One might consider the dark house comedy-thriller a rare beast, but it was extremely popular in its day, kicked off by this hugely popular silent, made just nine months before the release of the very first feature-length talking picture, The Jazz Singer.
Looking at The Cat and the Canary today, it is emblematic of everything we know about silent cinema, with its comic intertitles, wide-eyed acting and stereotypes, but viewed more seriously it was a hugely influential title.
- 5/9/2024
- by James Cameron-Wilson
- Film Review Daily
1939 is often called Hollywood’s Greatest Year, and it is indisputable that a huge number of America’s greatest classics were produced in that single year. A usually ignored element of that greatness is that 1939 was also the year that Hollywood resumed production on horror films after a two-year pause. In late 1936 two major factors led to the practical death of the genre: the Laemmle family, of whom Carl Laemmle’s, Jr. was horror’s greatest advocate, lost control of Universal and the British Board of Censors began enforcing the “H” certificate, which for all practical purposes banned horror for its target audience in Britain. The loss of this lucrative market combined with dropping box-office receipts and mounting pressure from American religious groups, Hollywood saw no reason to continue producing horror. The phrase “horror is dead” has often been thrown around over the decades but in 1937 and 38, it was actually true.
- 4/17/2024
- by Brian Keiper
- bloody-disgusting.com
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