On 27 August Neil Brand’s score for Paul Leni’s 1927 comedy-horror The Cat and the Canary makes its German debut at the Museuminsel, Berlin, as part of the Ufa Filmnächte series. It also marks the premiere of a new orchestration of the score by George Morton, who conducts Ensemble Spooky Tune for the performance. The eerie, garish theremin part that gives the score its distinctive flavour is played by the world-renowned exponent of the instrument Carolina Eyck.
The Cat and the Canary was Paul Leni’s first American feature, and a striking example of Expressionist comedy. In turn it would become a prototype for the Hollywood Gothic, whose successors would be Universal Studio’s Dracula and Frankenstein. The plot revolves around an inheritance, which can only be claimed if the three legatees can spend the night in a haunted mansion – which, it turns out, is inhabited by a notorious escaped lunatic (the eponymous Cat). It stars Laura La Plante as Annabelle West, Forrest Stanley as Charlie Wilder, and Creighton Hale as Paul Jones.
Brand harboured a longstanding desire to score the film – it was the second he ever accompanied as an improvising pianist. Brand’s scores is intended to be “as eccentric and theatrical as the characters”. His writing draws on a vivid instrumental colour palette: flute with cathedral organ, a vibraphone, a harpsichord, and blaring brass. The use of the Theremin in the score represents the ghoulish presence of the Cat, but also serves as an homage to later scores by Rosza and Waxman. Other key influences included scores from two much later comedy-chillers - John Addison's music for 1972's Sleuth, and Dave Grusin's Murder by Death (1976).
The score premiered in 2004 at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival, to accompany the Photoplay restoration of the original print. It also appeared at the 2007 New Zealand International Film Festival, conducted by Timothy Brock. In March 2026 George Morton conducted the UK premiere of Brand’s score to The Winning of Barbara Worth in Sheffield, on whose creation he assisted for the world premiere at the 2024 Pordenone Silent Film Festival. The Cat and the Canary is presented as part of Faber Music’s hire agreement with Photoplay Productions.