Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot - Week 150

Welcome to the Weekend Traffic Jam Reboot!
My posts for the link up will go live on Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. EDT or, if you live in the future like I do, on Fridays at 3:30 a.m. CE(S)T.

Something went wrong during the assignment of the Easter eggs to the new trainees Wilma and Otto ...

Are you ready for the Easter weekend?

As part of the reboot, we will be featuring a different blog every week.
How about stopping by and saying hello? Let them know we sent you.

This week our spotlight is on Our New Vista.

Ann from Our New Vista says: "Hi - I am a retired School Librarian who loves to read, cook, decorate, travel, and enjoy the good life with my amazing husband of over 40 years! Hope to share my journey of downsizing and enjoying life!"

Marsha from Marsha in the Middle started blogging in 2021 as an exercise in increasing her neuroplasticity. Oh, who are we kidding? Marsha started blogging because she loves clothes, and she loves to talk or, in this case, write!

Melynda from Scratch Made Food! & DIY Homemade Household - The name says it all, we homestead in East Texas, with three generations sharing this land. I cook and bake from scratch, between gardening and running after the chickens, and knitting!

Lisa from Boondock Ramblings shares about the fiction she writes and reads, her faith, homeschooling, photography and more.

Cat from Cat's Wire has what she calls a jumping spider brain. She has many interests and will blog about whatever catches her attention - crafts, books, old movies, collectibles or random things.

Rena from Fine Whatever Blog writes about style, midlife, and the "fine whatever" moments that make life both meaningful and fun. Since 2015, she's been celebrating creativity, confidence, and finding joy in the everyday.


Here are some of my picks from last week's link up.

I never made it to Hamburg myself, so I enjoyed the pictures Barbara took even more.

Mireille is showing us combinations using her denim overalls. 

Laura is sharing springtime dips.

Lemon and poppy seed - Esme is teaming them up in pancakes.

Amy made some adorable bunny cards.


Let's link up!

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I'm not affiliated with Steiff in any way, I'm just a collector.

Silent movies - The Cat and the Canary

The title of today's film may be familiar to you as there were later remakes of it (one of them with Bob Hope), but I will of course be talking about the silent film "The Cat and the Canary" from 1927.

Here's the plot with spoilers:

Wealthy Cyrus West feels like a canary among cats surrounded by his relatives who are not only greedy, but also think he's insane.
West orders his will to be opened 20 years after his death during which only the housekeeper Mammy Pleasant lives in his creepy mansion.
When his lawyer Roger Crosby turns up to get the will out of the safe, he finds a living moth in it - and a second envelope that has to be opened if the terms of the will aren't fulfilled.

"It was the ghost who put that second envelope there!"

All the relatives have gathered, Aunt Susan and her niece Cecily, cousins Harry, Charlie, and Paul, and finally Annabelle.

Much to the others' indignation and disappointment, Annabelle, the most distant relative still bearing the name West, is the heiress of Cyrus's wealth including the famous lost West diamonds. IF she passes an doctor's examination of her sanity, that is. If she fails, everything will go to the person named in the second envelope.
Alone with her, Crosby says to Annabella that she's the one in a cage now, surrounded by cats.

Just when he wants to reveal the name in the second envelope because he's afraid of what that person might want to do to her, he gets pulled away by a clawed hand.

In the meantime, a guard has turned up warning everyone about a lunatic called "The Cat" having escaped from the asylum. He says he has followed him to the mansion.
Then Annabella informs them that Crosby has disappeared which Aunt Susan thinks is very convenient for the heiress and obviously proves she's insane (yeah, sure).

Everyone goes to their rooms, more or less scared, and guided by a note, Annabelle finds the famous diamonds in easily one of the ugliest necklaces I have ever seen. Not that this has any bearing on what happens next.

Maybe she can take it apart
for the pearls and stones?

Claw-hand steals the necklace when Annabelle is sleeping.

She tells her relatives about it and Aunt Susan thinks once more, you got it, that she's insane.
Now things happen rather quickly.
Crosby turns up dead behind a hidden door and disappears again. Mammy Pleasant goes to get the police. Aunt Susan runs away in panic and hitches a hike with a milkman before policemen on their way to the mansion pick up her up and take her back with them. Dr. Lazar turns up in the middle of the night to evaluate Annabelle. Paul enters the passage behind the hidden door which closes. In the passage he meets The Cat and gets into a fight with him, being left for dead.

That's one ugly "cat".

The Cat attacks Annabelle, but Paul is there in time to save her. The police arrives. The Cat is no lunatic, but Charlie in disguise! He had hired the guard to help him drive Annabelle insane as his name is in the second envelope.
Annabelle and Paul get a happy ending.

You probably already expected something like that. I mean today we all know Scooby-Doo, right?
Knowing what is probably going to happen, though, doesn't take away from the fun of the movie.

"The Cat and the Canary" is based on a play by John Willard from 1922 (you may remember that "The Bat" was also based on a play and those two weren't the only early horror comedy movies who were).
Paul Leni gave it his personal style, a mix of German expressionism and humor (as he already did in "Waxworks"), and he also designed the sets.
He played with darkness and light and used superimposition to evoke moods and suspense, but they also had a bit of fun with the intertitles.

Cyrus in his chair dwarfed by medicine
bottles and threatened by huge cats.

An intertitle mimicking the shaky
voice of the cab driver.

I enjoyed the mix of scary vibes and humor which is also reflected in the characters.
Paul is a bit of a fool until his love for Annabelle makes him turn into a hero.

Paul hiding under the bed - I admit
I get why it scared Aunt Susan.

Mammy Pleasant is mysterious and scary (but not in cahoots with Charlie).
Aunt Susan is especially hilarious during her ride with the milkman and then the police.
Poor Annabelle had the typical role of damsel in distress. She gets to look scared a lot, but she also shows a little courage. Honestly, I wouldn't have slept in that room by myself.

Definitely a recommendation from me!


Sources and further reading:

1. Lea Stans: Thoughts On: "The Cat And The Canary" (1927). On: Silent-ology, October 7, 2016
2. Dr Lenera: The Cat and the Canary [1927]. On: HorrorCultFilms, April 8, 2024