The Cat Creeps (1930 film)
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''The Cat Creeps'' is a 1930 American pre-Code mystery film directed by
Rupert Julian Rupert Julian (born Thomas Percival Hayes; 25 January 1879 – 27 December 1943) was a New Zealand cinema actor, director, writer and producer. During his career, Julian directed 60 films and acted in over 90 films. He is best remembered for di ...
based on the 1922 play '' The Cat and the Canary'' by
John Willard John Willard ( 1657 - August 19, 1692) was one of the people executed for witchcraft in Salem, Massachusetts, during the Salem witch trials. He was hanged on Gallows Hill, Salem on August 19, 1692. At the time of the first allegations of witchc ...
. The film is a sound remake of '' The Cat and the Canary'' (1927). Starring
Helen Twelvetrees Helen Marie Twelvetrees ( Jurgens; December 25, 1908 – February 13, 1958) was an American actress. She starred in Hollywood films in the sound film era from 1929 to 1939. Many of her roles were of "suffering women". She has a star on the Holly ...
,
Raymond Hackett Raymond Hackett (July 15, 1902 – July 7, 1958) was a stage and screen actor. He had been a child actor on the Broadway stage and was the brother of Albert Hackett. He was born in New York City the son of Maurice Hackett and Florence Hackett (né ...
, Neil Hamilton, Lilyan Tashman, Jean Hersholt, Elizabeth Patterson, and Montagu Love. Developed as a remake, Universal Pictures initially tried to re-cast Laura La Plante from ''The Cat and the Canary'', but on finding her unavailable re-titled the film to ''The Cat Creeps''. While filming was done during the day, the sets were used at night for a Spanish-language version of the film. ''The Cat Creeps'' was first shown in New York on November 7, 1930 and received critical acclaim from contemporary reviews finding it creepy and praising its cast, specifically Helen Twelvetrees and Raymond Hackett. The film is currently a lost film, with only two minutes of footage known to exist in the 1932 Universal short film '' Boo!''.


Cast


Production

When Universal Studios planned to remake the silent film '' The Cat and the Canary'', the studio attempted to re-hire its star Laura La Plante to repeat the leading role she had in that film. La Plante was unavailable for the role, and was later given to
Helen Twelvetrees Helen Marie Twelvetrees ( Jurgens; December 25, 1908 – February 13, 1958) was an American actress. She starred in Hollywood films in the sound film era from 1929 to 1939. Many of her roles were of "suffering women". She has a star on the Holly ...
, leading to the title being changed to ''The Cat Creeps''. A
Spanish-language Spanish ( or , Castilian) is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European language family that evolved from colloquial Latin spoken on the Iberian peninsula. Today, it is a world language, global language with more than 500 millio ...
version titled ''
La Voluntad del muerto ''La Voluntad del Muerto'' ( en, The Will of the Dead Man, italic=yes) is a Spanish-language version of '' The Cat Creeps'' (1930), both of which are now considered to be lost films. The film was directed by George Melford and stars Antonio ...
'' () was simultaneously filmed on the same sets of ''The Cat Creeps'' at night. starring Lupita Tovar and directed by George Melford, was filmed by at night on the same sets used for ''The Cat Creeps'' during the day.


Release

''The Cat Creeps'' opened in New York on November 7, 1930. ''
La Voluntad del muerto ''La Voluntad del Muerto'' ( en, The Will of the Dead Man, italic=yes) is a Spanish-language version of '' The Cat Creeps'' (1930), both of which are now considered to be lost films. The film was directed by George Melford and stars Antonio ...
'' was released in November 1930. Less than two minutes of ''The Cat Creeps'' survive, as they were incorporated into the 1932 Universal short film '' Boo!'' The soundtrack of the film still exist on discs.


Remakes

''The Cat Creeps'' was remade as '' The Cat and the Canary'' in 1939 with Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard with a more comedic approach. Elizabeth Patterson repeated her role in the film as Aunt Susan. The film was repeated again in the late 1970s as ''The Cat and the Canary'' in the United Kingdom as a more horror oriented film. In 1946, Universal released a second film titled ''The Cat Creeps'' which is unrelated to the original story and borrowed more from the 1940 film ''
Horror Island ''Horror Island'' is a 1941 American mystery and horror film directed by George Waggner. It was based on the short story "Terror of the South Seas" by Alex Gottlieb. It stars Dick Foran, Peggy Moran, Leo Carrillo, Eddie Parker, Dale Van Sickle ...
''.


Reception

From contemporary reviews, a review in ''Film Daily'' declared the film as "excellent" with "an all-around fine cast ..Rupert Julian's direction is intelligent and effective." ''Exhibitor's Forum'' found that the film was a "mystery thriller expertly produced with an excellent cast" specifically noting Twelvetrees and
Raymond Hackett Raymond Hackett (July 15, 1902 – July 7, 1958) was a stage and screen actor. He had been a child actor on the Broadway stage and was the brother of Albert Hackett. He was born in New York City the son of Maurice Hackett and Florence Hackett (né ...
. ''Picture Play Magazine'' also liked the film, calling it "well done." '' Variety'' found the film to production values to be "first rate and the punch thrills neatly timed and built" while finding that "the creepy thrill value is still there, but in the translation from silent to sound it has been badly slowed up." A reviewer in ''
The Bioscope ''BioScope: South Asian Screen Studies'' is a blind peer-reviewed journal that provides a forum for discuss the historical, regional, and virtual spaces of screen cultures, including globalized and multi-sited conditions of production and circulat ...
'' found the film to be a "lured enough melodrama" and that "it is rather clap-trap stuff, ..but it nevertheless achieves its object." as well as praising the acting of Helen Twelvretress, Raymond Hackett, Neil Hamilton and Blanche Frederici. ''
Harrison's Reports ''Harrison's Reports'' was a New York City-based motion picture trade journal published weekly from 1919 to 1962. The typical issue was four letter-size pages sent to subscribers under a second-class mail permit. Its founder, editor and publisher ...
'' declared the film to be "a weird mystery drama, filled with thrills and with considerable comedy. It is well act and well presented and it keeps one in suspense to the very end" '' Silver Screen'' lamented that the original ''The Cat and the Canary'' film was "a much better mystery-thriller" and the "good cast is wasted" concluding the film to be "a very sad affair."


See also

*
List of lost films For this list of lost films, a lost film is defined as one of which no part of a print is known to have survived. For films in which any portion of the footage remains (including trailers), see List of incomplete or partially lost films. Reas ...
* List of incomplete or partially lost films


References


Footnotes


Sources

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cat Creeps, The 1930 films American black-and-white films Remakes of American films American films based on plays American mystery films Films directed by Rupert Julian Films set in country houses Lost American films American multilingual films Sound film remakes of silent films Universal Pictures films 1930 lost films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films 1930 mystery films