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A hand reaching for the necklace worn by Annabelle West (Laura La Plante)

The Cat and the Canary is a 1927 American silent horror film directed by German Expressionist filmmaker Paul Leni. An adaptation of John Willard's 1922 black-comedy play of the same name, the film stars Laura La Plante, Forrest Stanley and Creighton Hale. The plot revolves around the death of a man, and the reading of his will 20 years later. A woman inherits her uncle's fortune, but when she and her family spend the night in his mansion they are stalked by a mysterious figure (scene pictured). They have also been told that a lunatic has escaped from an asylum and is hiding in the mansion. The film is part of the genre of comedy horror films inspired by 1920s Broadway plays. The Cat and the Canary blends expressionism with humor, a style for which Leni was notable. It was influential in the "old dark house" genre of films popular from the 1930s through the 1950s. The film was one of Universal's early horror productions, and is considered to be the "cornerstone of Universal's school of horror". (Full article...)

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Did you know ...

Katyusha rocket launchers in World War II

... that the Reactive Scientific Research Institute developed the Katyusha rocket launcher (examples pictured)?
... that in an 1854 war with the Jicarilla, William S. Messervy, the acting governor of the New Mexico Territory, desired either "their extinction or their settlement in pueblos"?
... that at the 2022 British Athletics Championships, Daryll Neita became the first woman since 2010 to win both the 100- and 200-metre events?
... that Evgenia Debryanskaya, the lesbian activist who co-founded Russia's first gay-rights organization, was the first wife of Aleksandr Dugin, Vladimir Putin's "Rasputin"?
... that residents of the Normandy tried to block the construction of an adjacent tower by citing a covenant that the Normandy itself violated?
... that German SA officer Walter Heck was paid only 2.50 ℛℳ (about US$2) for designing the Nazi SS double rune symbol?
... that the Indy Bag Ladies, one of the oldest AIDS fundraising organizations, is a group of activist drag queens in Indianapolis who have raised more than $1 million for AIDS patients?
... that Catherine Ribeiro's 1972 album Paix contains a 25-minute-long song about meeting a female personification of death?

In the news

Ranil Wickremesinghe

Amid protests over the economic crisis, Ranil Wickremesinghe (pictured) is elected President of Sri Lanka by the parliament.
Heat waves across Europe leave more than 4,200 people dead.
NASA releases the first operational image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Angola's former president José Eduardo dos Santos dies at the age of 79.
Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is assassinated while giving a speech in Nara.

On this day

July 21: Belgian National Day (1831)

Sirimavo Bandaranaike

1378 – Unrepresented labourers revolted and violently took over the government of the Republic of Florence, demanding that they be granted political office.
1952 – An earthquake registering 7.3 M_w struck the southern San Joaquin Valley in California, causing 12 deaths and an estimated $60 million in property damage.
1959 – The inaugural International Mathematical Olympiad, the leading mathematical competition for pre-university students, began in Romania.
1960 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike (pictured) was elected the prime minister of Ceylon, becoming the world's first democratically elected female head of government.
1977 – Libyan forces carried out a raid at Sallum, sparking a four-day war with Egypt.

Fiammetta Wilson (d. 1920)
Louis Vauxcelles (d. 1943)
Rilwanu Lukman (d. 2014)

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Today's featured picture

Buzz Aldrin (born 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission, and was the pilot of the Lunar Module Eagle for Apollo 11. On July 21, 1969, he and Apollo 11 mission commander Neil Armstrong became the first two people to step onto the surface of the Moon. This official NASA portrait, taken in April 1969, depicts Aldrin in a white Apollo space suit in front of a large picture of the Moon, with his helmet resting on a pedestal.

Pictures of the day are chosen from the pool of featured pictures on the English Wikipedia. Editors may vote on featured picture candidates here.

Photograph credit: NASA; restored by Coffeeandcrumbs

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