Writer/director Robert F. Hill not only wrote the adaptation for this film but also served as a sort of assistant/associate director for Paul Leni. Leni, a German, didn't speak much English, and Hill spoke German, so he acted as a liaison between Leni and the cast and crew.
Along with Waxworks and Il castello degli spettri (1927), German director Paul Leni's most prominent work is the film L'uomo che ride (1928), starring Conrad Veidt, based on the novel by Victor Hugo. Like The Cat and the Canary, it was a Germanic thriller produced at Universal Studios, where the "old dark house" picture evolved into the modern horror film.
Unfortunately, his influence on the horror genre is often overlooked because of his premature death, of blood poisoning, at age 44, just two years after making The Cat and the Canary, before being able to fulfill his extraordinary promise.
Unfortunately, his influence on the horror genre is often overlooked because of his premature death, of blood poisoning, at age 44, just two years after making The Cat and the Canary, before being able to fulfill his extraordinary promise.
The play on which this film is based opened in New York on 7 February 1922 at the National Theater. It closed in May 1922 after 148 performances.
This film was reputed to have been highly influential to director James Whale, when he made Il castello maledetto (1932).
The black cat on the road was stuffed.