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The Cat and the Canary (1927 film)

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I wrote this article from scratch. I created the stub in June 2006 and largely ignored it until recently. Finding sources that discussed this article was difficult, so along with general comments about the article, if anyone can point to any other sources, primary (reviews, etc.) or academic, please do so. I plan on nominating this article for FA in the future. Note I patterned this article after other FA film article's I've written (Halloween (film), Halloween II, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and Night of the Living Dead), so some aspects of this article will be stylistically similar to them, such as the absence of a list of cast members. Dmoon1 15:24, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

  • At a glance, it looks like a great article with lots of references. Considering adding another section with a Cast list (not just "Casting") to add to the article and go along with "Casting". (Don't take anything away from casting, just re-iterate the Cast in that new section.) Cbrown1023 15:44, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
    • I prefer prose to lists, but I'll see if I can come up with something that looks good in the article (since these lists seem to be in vogue with recent film FAs).Dmoon1 01:43, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • In my opinion the quality of the article would improve if the information borrowed from other articles would be removed. Elements that are not directly about the film The Cat and the Canary can easily be linked to. Example: the genre description with a list of films in the lead section. Another example: the carreer description with a list of prominent roles of the lead actress in the 'Casting' section. - Ilse@ 21:29, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • First thing I notice is that you have fair use rationales. Yay!
  • "As the appointed time arrives, West's lawyer—Roger Crosby (Tully Marshall)—discovers a second will has mysteriously appeared in the safe." Do you really need the em-dashes or would an appositive suffice? Em-dashes are a much longer pause than commas.
    • fixed this
  • "tears his victims like they were canaries!" I'm just wondering if it should be "tears apart",
  • "a hand with long nails and covered in hair" Why not "a hairy hand ..."?
    • fixed
  • "they discover a hidden passage in the wall and the corpse of Roger Crosby," and "Paul vanishes as the secret passage closes behind him." Clarify that the body was in the passage by saying "they discover a hidden passage in the wall and in it the corpse of Roger Crosby"
    • fixed
  • "He gains consciousness" Shouldn't "gains" be "regains"?
    • fixed
  • Just how did the second will appear? Was it Charlie?
    • As far as I recall, the film doesn't explain.
  • How is everyone who arrives related to the late West? Most important is Annabelle's relation.
    • done, although from memory I don't the film is too explicit as to who's who and how they're related, just that Annabelle is the niece.
  • I specified the expressionism link to point to the section on German expressionism, so "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is unnecessary and the Waxworks info can be moved to the next paragraph.
    • I would like to keep these here since they are influential in the making of the film and come up elsewhere in the article.
  • "a Gothic horror film trend that Laemmle wanted to capitalize on. Other films in the genre like Frank Tuttle's Puritan Passions and Roland West's The Monster and The Bat—all adaptations of Broadway stage plays—proved successful." I think you can combine these two sentences.
    • done
  • "The family immediately concludes that she is insane." What about the psychiatrist?
  • "A reviewer for the New York Times" Could this be changed to just "The New York Times"?
    • done
  • "naturally thought Leni" Who naturally thought Leni? You ellipses out to much.
    • "exponents" of expressionism; there should not be a comma in the ellipses.
  • "In reality" Sound like POV to me. You give a quote and then say that is wrong and this one is the real one.
    • These two quotes are from the same source. The author is stating what hardcore expressionists thought, then explains how Leni made his expressionist film palatable to an American audience.
      • I understand that but "in reality" says that the one quote is so wrong as to be non-real, and since "in reality" is not a quote it means that the article is evaluating these two quotes and strongly selecting one over the other.--Supernumerary 02:45, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • The lead should mention that it set the pattern for the old dark house genre.
    • this is mentioned in the lead, but "old dark house" isn't explained here. I wikilinked to haunted house, but that may not be sufficient.
  • "The film was released on VHS and DVD in 1997 and 2005 " Needs a "respectively".
    • I think the VHS and DVD editions came out at the same time in 1997 and 2005.
      • Maybe clarify that with a "both".
  • I've had a look at your IMDB cites, and, while they should pass muster for GA, IMDB is not considered a reliable source because the content is user-generated. You'll have to convert them to hard sources sometime.
    • All the FA film article I've written contain links to IMDb and no one has complained so far. This is usually the only available source for the type of information being cited (filmographies, etc.).
      • Hmmm. I'll look around and see. I have a whole page of resources that I photocopied out of a book that probably lists some film reference books and catalogs that should have filmographies. I also found a bunch of pages questioning the reliability of IMDB that I can show you if you are interested.--Supernumerary 02:45, 8 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
  • No Rotten Tomatoes external link? Or AMG?
    • now linked to these cites
  • On a second look, you should be probably be using cite templates for your sources. See here.
  • Good article overall. I want to see the film now since I've already seen The Man who Laughs.--Supernumerary 22:42, 6 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
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