 The success of both the Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood play "The Bat" (1920), as well as the 1922 stage play "The Cat and the Canary", led Griffith to write and produce his own variation on the theme, which in turn led to the production of similar "murder mystery/old dark house" films such as "The Ghost Breaker" (1922), previously filmed by C. B. DeMille in 1914, "The Bat" (1926) based on the 1920 play, "Midnight Faces" (1926), "The Cat and the Canary" (1927), "The Old Dark House" (1932) and even the fabled "London After Midnight" (1927) with Lon Chaney.At the time of this film, Henry Hull was starring on Broadway in the stage version of John Willard's "The Cat and the Canary".Agnes Harrington's uncle separates her from her family in Africa when her wealthy father passes away, so that he won't have to share his brother's fortune with the child.