We have to say what a wonderful print this is from MoMA and this 4K restoration of Eureka here in the UK a sparkling Blu-ray. It is not really surprising when we see it here, maybe for the first time, but we have seen something like it many times. Like the scary times, our view of the fantastical mansion and its ghostly goings on, the door banging as people arrive, the will has to be read unsurprisingly, then there will be the secret passage, some lost jewellery, the odd hands appearing a sinister corridor, a lunatic on the loose but then a body or two and a very creepy Doctor. We would have been scared and laughed but it has all happened before as with The Cat and the Canary (1939) with Bob Hope and even with Honor Blackman in 1978 and also was The Old Dark House (1932) by James Whale with Boris Karloff and so many more. Even after Paul Leni there was The Man Who Laughs (1928) and this maybe looks so fresh because it has not been seen so often before. It is such a shame with this one it has been copied to death, it must have been thrilling on first viewing in 1927.
Review of The Cat and the Canary
