Il fantasma dell'opera

One of the most eminent horror films ever made and perhaps even the most famous silent horror movie from that time. Lon Chaney starred in over 150 films (most of them silent ones) but he'll always be remembered best for his personification of Erik, the Phantom. And justified! Even though this role was played by many respectable actors afterwards (like Claude Rains, Herbert Lom and Robert Englund) Lon Chaney is – and remains – the one and only Phantom of the Opera. The film itself is depressing and dark, with terrific photography and settings. Deep down the catacombs of the Parisian Opera building, the phantom reigns in forgotten dungeons and underground lakes. After all these years of dwelling in the opera, he has fallen in love with the unsuccessful singer, Christine. He helps her career a little and threatens to kill the prominent singer Carlotta if she doesn't hand over the her role in Faust to Christine. The until then unknown singer is thankful and meets her `master' in the catacombs. Her appreciation soon turns into fear when she finds out her benefactor is the horribly scarred Phantom of the Opera. The biggest difference between this first version and the later remakes lies in the roots of the Phantom. Here, Erik is said to be an escaped madman whereas he merely only was a hurt romanticist in later versions. His deformed appearance isn't explained and neither is shown how he falls for the beautiful, shy Christine.

At least 3 sequences in the 1925 Phantom of the Opera are legendary and still astonishing after almost 80 years. The masked bal, which the Phantoms attends as the `Red Death' is an outstanding horror sequence and truly atmospheric. The grimaces of Chaney seem to look right through the other partygoers and his search for Christine is relentless. Immediately after this scene, the crew moves to the roof of the Opera building and Chaney takes place on top of the Apollo statue. A breathtaking piece of early cinema that stands the test of time like no other. The climax of Phantom of the Opera is an extended series of chasings and battues, resulting in the dramatic (and gruesome) death of our protagonist. Rupert Julian's classic silent has got everything! An actor capable of carrying the toughest role ever written, beautiful scenery, real-life drama, sentiment and romance. And last but not least an unbearable tension… Throughout the entire film, you're looking at it with your eyes wide open.

My goodness...close to fifty years ago I saw this film in the company of its leading lady, Mary Philbin. She was a friend of an unforgettable lady our family had met when we moved from New England to southern California. Our mutual friend was constantly prodding Miss Philbin, who had become quite reclusive after retiring from the screen, to get out and enjoy life. (They took a trip to Europe one summer, for instance.) One evening she persuaded Mary, who was extremely reluctant, by the way, to accompany us to the silent movie theater on Fairfax Ave., not far from Hollywood Blvd. and the site of Grauman's Chinese Theater and other first-run movie palaces, to see a revival of "The Phantom of the Opera." That old theater, not in the least luxurious and quite small, was a virtual shrine for lovers of silent films. Management had obtained a print of this film in acceptable condition, though I don't recall that the Technicolor sequence had been preserved in that print and, on that evening anyway, there was no musical accompaniment.

Mary dreaded the experience of seeing one of her old films amid a mid-Fifties audience, which she feared would find the film a subject of comical curiosity rather than a piece of genuinely enthralling entertainment. We joined the rest of the audience that night in enjoying the experience of seeing the film, however, and Mary was relieved that she had consented to accompany us (though she insisted that we shield her from any possible recognition, not too easy to do, since she had hardly changed in appearance in the quarter-century since that classic's production.) I, for one, remember being amazed at the care and expense that had obviously been lavished on its production.

Not very long after that evening, we went to a neighborhood theater in Pacific Palisades, Calif., to see James Cagney in the 1957 Universal-International biographical film about Lon Chaney, Sr., "Man of a Thousand Faces," again with Mary Philbin in our company. The unmasking scene from "The Phantom of the Opera" was rather perfunctorily recreated, with an actress playing Mary who did not resemble her. As we exited the theater, Mary and our family friend, who had quite a few early Hollywood associations (She had once been married to Ernst Lubitsch, the legendary director, when they first came to Hollywood from their native Germany.), regaled me with reminiscences about Irving Thalberg (played in the film by a young Robert Evans), whom they had both known and for whom they had quite a high regard.

Mary remained a family friend over the years until her death more than thirty years later. She led a very quiet life, for many years occupying a house she had owned since the days of her stardom (only a few blocks north on Fairfax Ave. from that silent movie revival house!) I remember her with great fondness for her modesty and extraordinary sweetness.

My first exposure to the story, "Phantom of the Opera", was the current 2005 film version, featuring beautiful costumes, perfect filming, and on DVD a superb surround sound track. I like it, I own it, I watch it again from time to time.

But this 1925 silent version with Lon Chaney as Eric, the Phantom, is actually a much better film to tell the story. Sure, it is silent, so we have to interpret facial expressions and body language, plus read occasional subtitles. But during the climax when Christine is down in the catacombs and comes face to face with Eric the first time, and sees his disfigured face. And when Raol is in the dark, wet, complex tunnels looking for her, these are much more dangerous looking scenes than in the modern movie.

For all practical purposes the story is the same. Eric is the disfigured but insane genius who tries to force Christine to love him. As has been widely reported, Chaney did his own makeup and succeeded in making his character look almost skull-like. In all a fine older movie. Saw it on TCM channel.

Christine Daae is the understudy for Carlotta in the opera Faust at the grand opera house in Paris. She receives coaching from a mysterious man that she can only hear but not see in her dressing room. Meanwhile stories of a phantom go around the opera house and threatening notes are received that force Carlotta to call off sick, giving Christine her chance to shine, and shine she does. However when she meets the man, he is the phantom – horribly scarred and insane. He demands her love, but Christine plans to flee with her real lover – a plan that the phantom cannot allow.

I'm not sure it if makes any great difference, but the version I watched was a restored version of this film with a new score and some colour treatment on the film stock. The main thing that struck me about the film was the sheer grandeur and scale of the film. The story is simply told but doesn't lose the tragic elements even if they are silently told. The cast are to be praised for the job they do telling the story without words – it is a very different style of acting from today, but they do it well. Each actor has to exaggerate their expressions and movements but not do so to the point of being comical, they all do well. Philbin is excellent as the woman with an unwanted admirer and Chaney is a great phantom – tragic and hideous throughout.

The film benefits greatly from a superb series of sets, each large, gothic and foreboding. These wonderful sets are made even better by the cinematography which makes excellent use of shadow and light, the film has a great atmosphere to it and this is almost entirely created by the lighting and sets. The film has had a helping hand in the restored version, the phantom's appearance as the Red Death is colour treated to give him a blood red cape which stands out in scenes of full colour or, as on the roof, where his cape is the only colour. Even without this help the direction is great and the film feels rich in darkness to suit the material.

The score is really great (in the version I saw) and is well designed to help the mood onscreen and compliment the emotions of the characters at any given moment. I'm a protégé of action movies and multiplexes and am supposed to need things exploding to hold my attention, however this film hooked me throughout with it's tragic tale and lavish design.

This 1925 silent classic is still impressive, even after seventy-nine years!

Lon Chaney's performance is easily the highlight of the movie. His ghostly movements about his underground lair are haunting even by today's standards.

Use all of the computer generated images you want, but there is no substitute for authentic, old-world macabre. The scene where Erik's face is revealed is still shocking. He seems as horrorified by Christine seeing his face as she is by seeing his face. He seems to feel genuinely violated by her taking his mask off, revealing his horrible visage to the last person on earth he would want to see it. The Technicolor scene of the "Bal Masque" is also quite famous. The backdrops are very effective in creating the moody, medieval atmosphere of the underground passages. All in all, an excellent version of a timeless story.