The Cat and the Canary

The Cat and the Canary (1927) is a silent horror-mystery to watch online on iFILM, directed by Paul Leni — a German expressionist filmmaker Universal brought to Hollywood to do exactly this. Eccentric millionaire Cyrus West left orders that his will be read twenty years after his death. When the heirs arrive at his brooding estate on the appointed night, the inheritance turns out to hinge on whether one woman can be proven sane.

Laura La Plante plays Annabelle West, whose claim is immediately threatened by a sealed envelope naming an alternate heir. The lawyer disappears within hours. Something moves through the corridors. One of Hollywood's earliest old-dark-house pictures, the film uses shadow and off-kilter framing with a confidence that still works nearly a century on. Stream The Cat and the Canary online on iFILM.