Review of The Cat and the Canary

A Bob Hope comedy spookathon for me last night as I doubled this with The Ghostbreakers to hopefully lift me out of the hazy blue cloud hanging over me? I started with this offering from director Elliott Nugent that at times sadly flatters to deceive, whilst also at others delivers some mirth courtesy of Bob Hope's cheeky coward act and Gale Sondergaard's quite deliberate camp performance as the mysteriously eerie housekeeper. This was my first viewing and I have to say it didn't deliver all that I had hoped for, the house was nicely set up with bookcases spinning and spooky pictures brought to life by some nice camera work, yet the moments of hilarity didn't outnumber my let downs. The print of the film is very poor and this only added to my distraction with the film. I will certainly revisit it again next year, but for now it's an above average film that maybe suffers from my expectation of it from the off? 6/10