The Age of Commercialism

Instant Favorite.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Usually interference and tinkering by a movie studio are tantamount to a disaster. The Phantom of the Opera is the exception that proves the rule. For once, the front office made two big decisions and both of them proved to be correct. The first was a determination not to re-engage Rupert Julian to direct the additional scenes. It was thought that his pacing was too slow and that he had neither the verve nor the know-how to handle the newly scripted crowd climax. So Julian was given the boot and Edward Sedgwick brought in to direct a whole new marking-time opening (which was later deleted in full), plus the Phantom's thrilling escape in the barouche-a sequence that so impressed young Alfred Hitchcock that he copied it almost frame for frame when searching for a suitable climax to The Lodger less than a year later. The second big decision of course was to take advantage of the new sound medium by completely recutting the movie and even re-shooting several scenes. This not only improves the atmosphere, pace and suspense but gives the drama a most effective visual appeal that is often lacking in the original, which depends almost entirely on Chaney's make-up for its power, rather than the magnificent sets, spooky backgrounds and inherent violence of Leroux's story. It also puts Chaney in excellent perspective, not only allowing his performance to have more cleverly suppressed authority than in the original, but setting it against not only the wonderfully awesome catacombs background but contrasting it with the studied innocence of foolishly ambitious yet endearingly sympathetic Mary Philbin. Aside from Kerry and Carewe (and occasional inserts of the opera management), the other players have little to do but front for the vast crowds of extras. Even faces like Snitz Edwards and Gibson Gowland are little more than dutiful props. But, despite remakes and imitations, the film as a whole still works its magic amazingly well.AVAILABLE on DVD through Image/Milestone. The two-disc "Ultimate Edition" features a superb color restoration of the 1929 version, run at the correct speed, yet with the original music track, which, I must admit, I preferred to the alternate Carl Davis score.

This movie is almost a century old and there's little I can add to what has already been said. 'The Phantom of the Opera' is Lon Chaney at his finest and the scene where he is unmasked is rightfully one of the most famous in movie history. The silent-movie histrionics are dated but the sets, especially the Phantom's dungeon lair are memorable - Gothic and surreal and a great counterpoint to the boisterous Paris opera house above. One advantage to being a silent actor: Chaney didn't have to talk and so could wear the creepiest dental prosthetics (see "London after Midnight" (1927) for another great example of this unparalleled make-up genius). Fantastic film from an other age.

Before you read the rest of this review, it's important to note that at the time of writing this, this is the only silent film I have seen, so I'm not very experienced with them. Okay, now that's out of the way, time to review. For the earliest surviving adaptation of the book, this is pretty dang impressive. The thing that everyone remembers about this film is the unmasking scene and yeah, it's a great scene and Lon Chaney's makeup is on point. It looks exactly how he was described in the book. Speaking of the book, this film does follow the book pretty closely aside from the ending, which I won't spoil here. The music and acting are also on point. I also like that this movie focuses more on the mystery aspect rather than the romantic aspect like quite a few of the versions I've seen do. However, that does lead to a slight downfall: the characters, aside from maybe Erik, and romance are extremely bland. I'm sure this was just a product of the times but it is still an issue, at least for me. Overall, I like and appreciate this movie for the technical aspects and how it handles the story but in terms of the characters and romance, it is a bit dated.

The silent version of Phantom of the Opera is by far the best adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel. The story is now more famous than ever because of the musical, which has been running on Broadway and in London for nearly thirty years and has played all over the world.The George Eastman House had a hand in working on this film to get it into condition to show. It has a great score by Carl Davis as well.It stars Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, and Norman Kerry. They are not the types you would see cast today, with the exception of Mary Philbin. The use of color here is most interesting. The masked ball survives in color. On initial prints, the Handschiegl color process was used, which is a stencil color process you might see on an old color postcard. This gives the movie its most striking effect -- on the roof of the opera house, with the Phantom in his Red Death costume standing against the statue of Apollo. Fantastic.Lon Chaney, who never divulged how he made himself up, is a magnificent and scary Phantom. The Phantom is clearly crazy and murderous. Though still crazy, he was a little more sympathetic in the Claude Rains version. Since the film version of the musical was released, the character of the Phantom as portrayed in the musical itself has changed. A friend of mine played the role for years; when he went back to the show and auditioned, he was told he "wasn't the right type" for Phantom. So suddenly the Phantom is a "type" - a matinée idol! And now it's sexed up with Christine, if the 25th anniversary performance was any indication.At the 25th anniversary, past Phantoms came out on stage. Each one was handsomer and younger than the preceding Phantom, until the last man, who looked like he should have been playing Raoul. In fact, I can't imagine who played Raoul when he played the Phantom - Ian Somerhalder? So I'm afraid Mr. Chaney wouldn't even be considered today. He wasn't hunky enough.Truly amazing film, and I love that a real opera - Faust - was used in the film. Last night I saw "Two Sisters from Boston" that took piano and violin concertos and turned them into arias. I like the real thing.