The Phantom of Paris

Handsome "disappearing artist" John Gilbert (as Chéri-Bibi) entertains wealthy Parisians with his sensational Houdini-like escapes. Off-stage, Mr. Gilbert courts pretty Leila Hyams (as Cecile). When her father is murdered, Gilbert is accused and jailed. You will likely suspect the killer is sneaky Ian Keith (as the Marquis du Touchais), Gilbert's rival for Ms. Hyams' hand in marriage. As expected, Gilbert escapes from prison, vowing to solve the crime and clear his name. Eventually, he assumes a startling new identity, stepping into the "Marquis" character played by Mr. Keith...

How Gilbert passes for Keith strains credulity, but this is an otherwise fine mystery. "The Phantom of Paris" was the fourth, but first really good film in Gilbert's famously unsuccessful career in talking pictures. It was originally slated to star the recently deceased "man of a thousand faces" Lon Chaney. Gilbert, who surprised "talkie" audiences with a more high pitched voice than expected, had been excellent in "The Show" (1927), another Chaney-like role...

You can hear how Gilbert records poorly on the larger soundstages. But, it's also evident he and MGM had been working on the voice. Note how Gilbert seems to enjoy showing off his "deep" voice against the squeaky "cigarette case" actor (Tyrell Davis), apparently employed to show off his more high-pitched tone. Gilbert tries some weird acting tricks - like, what the heck is he doing with the knob of that chair while hiding in Jean Hersholt's basement? - but, in a challenging (almost dual) role, Gilbert clearly reveals a potential for greatness as a credible actor in the changing medium.

******* The Phantom of Paris (9/12/31) John S. Robertson ~ John Gilbert, Leila Hyams, Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt

Cheri-Bibi is the most celebrated magician & escape artist in France. Young & debonair, he enjoys the attentions of society & the love of one young woman in particular. But when her wealthy father is found murdered & all evidence points to Bibi, he must put all his considerable talents into evading the law long enough to clear his name - while being forced into living a life in the twilight & shadows as THE PHANTOM OF Paris.

According to cinematic legend, all the talkie MGM films starring John Gilbert were dreadful - the result of a bitter hatred between Gilbert (the highest paid star in Hollywood, with a $1.5 million contract) & studio boss Louis B. Mayer. A determination on Gilbert's part to fulfill the contract, and a campaign instituted by Mayer to destroy Gilbert's career - including spreading the rumor that Gilbert's voice was 'high & feminine', culminated in several unwatchable movies.

Not entirely true. The Studio had a huge financial investment in Jack Gilbert and was not going to completely cut its own throat by showcasing him in nothing but dreck. Of the 8 talkies in which he appeared as solo star (1929 - HIS GLORIOUS NIGHT; 1930 - REDEMPTION; WAY FOR A SAILOR; 1931 - GENTLEMAN'S FATE; THE PHANTOM OF Paris; WEST OF Broadway; 1932 - DOWNSTAIRS; 1933 - FAST WORKERS) most were certainly rather ghastly. THE PHANTOM OF Paris, however, was quite decent, and, indeed, fully representative of the material the studio was producing in 1931.

Gilbert does a fine job through much of the film and has one standout scene - hiding in a cellar - which is excellent and shows what he was really capable of. MGM gives him 3 top drawer co-stars (Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt & marvelous old Sir C. Aubrey Smith) with which to work. The other featured players (Leila Hyams, Ian Keith & Natalie Moorhead) do creditable work. Movie mavens will spot Fletcher Norton in an unbilled role as a society twit.

Ian Keith was undoubtedly cast as the villain due to his slight resemblance to Gilbert, which is important to the plot, although he is noticeably taller. However, having Gilbert impersonate Keith and fool Hyams, Moorhead or Stone for even a moment is ludicrous and the weakest point in the story.

Finally, about The Voice. There was nothing at all strange or unnaturally high about Gilbert's voice. As a matter of fact, it was of medium range & rather cultured & refined. Which was the crux of the problem, of course. While it is possible that no voice could have ever matched the perfect one viewers heard in their minds while watching his strong, virile silent roles, the reality was very different from what they wanted to hear (imagine Robert Montgomery's voice coming out of Clark Gable's mouth.) Gilbert was doomed from his first scene in his debut talkie; his war with Mayer only intensified the agony. He would die in 1936, forgotten by most of his former fans, at the age of only 36.

This is perhaps John Gilbert's first solid starring role in a talkie. Of course the irony is that by 1931 and after a half dozen bombs (not including Hollywood REVUE OF 1929), it was too late. Gilbert had lost his audience. So although this film and DOWNSTAIRS and QUEEN Christina presented the great silent idol in solid sound films, it was just too late to revive his career.

THE PHANTOM OF Paris was based on a famous novel by Gaston Leroux and offered Gilbert a role that was part leading man and part character study. He is very good as a famed magician who is framed for murder and suffers for years in prison and captivity before getting his delicious revenge and assuming the murderer's role via plastic surgery.

This is not a great film. Despite a good cast it still has the B film look and feel (thanks to LB Mayer no doubt). but Gilbert is very good and has a few scenes in which is is just stunning. He was a great actor and should have had a great career in talkies.

Leila Hyams is fine as the love interest. Lewis Stone is solid as the investigator. Jean Hersholt is good as Gilbert's friend. Ian Keith is the cad Gilbert replaces. Natalie Moorhead is very good as the scheming woman. C. Aubrey Smith is the father.

But this is John Gilbert's film from the opening scene. He remains a favorite of mine and I will continue to seek out his films. John Gilbert is a lost treasure who deserves to be re-discovered.

Phantom of Paris, The (1931)

*** (out of 4)

Well-made, if far-fetched, drama from MGM has John Gilbert playing Cheri-Bibi, a famous escape artist who plans on marrying a rich woman (Leila Hyams) even though her father (C. Aubrey Smith) is against it. The father is killed after an argument with Cheri, which causes a detective (Lewis Stone) to arrest him. Facing death in the matter of hours Cheri escapes from prison to prove his innocence. It's rumored that this film was originally meant for Lon Chaney, which if true would be interesting since it's also rumored that Chaney turned down THE SHOW, which then went to Gilbert. Whatever the truth is, this remains a pretty solid "B" movie that has some great acting and a pretty good story. I'm sure many might go into a title like this expecting some type of horror picture but it's pretty much a straight drama with some pretty tense scenes. I think the film takes a turn for the worse in the final fifteen-minutes when Gilbert takes the identity of the man he believes did the real killer. The two didn't look like one another but even if they did manage to fake people their different voices would have certainly given them away. Gilbert turns in another winning performance and what's so nice here is how incredibly charming he is. The early scenes with him doing the magic tricks had him "acting" to large crowds and I thought the charm came through just like you'd expect a real magician to do. Being Gilbert we also get a love story, which has the actor delivering soft lines and doing a nice job with it. Hyams is much better here than she was in her previous film (WAY OF A SAILOR) with Gilbert. The two come across like a real couple and have some pretty good scenes together. Lewis Stone turns in a fine supporting performance as does Jean Hersholt, Natalie Moorhead and Ian Keith. Smith only appears at the start of the film but he too adds nice support. This film was adapted from a novel by Gaston Leroux and for the most part it's pretty successful. I'm sure the original story had more magic but I guess you can only expect so much from a film like this. The 72-minute running time flies by without too many slow spots and in the end it's yet another film to prove that Gilbert did have a voice and he knew how to use it.

"The Phantom of Paris" stars John Gilbert, Leila Hyams, C. Aubrey Smith, Lewis Stone, and Ian Keith. There's no Phantom, but the novel was written by the author of Phantom of the Opera, Gaston Leroux, so I suppose the producers wanted audiences to make the connection.

Made in 1931, the movie was somewhat of a surprise to me. I always had the idea that John Gilbert was a wimpy guy with a mustache - I had only seen him in Queen Christina - but I was wrong. Here he's handsome, elegant, and his acting is marvelous. So much has been written about his voice and how Louis Mayer changed it in "His Glorious Night" to make him sound silly - I actually never believed that. I think the corny dialogue and saying "I love you" out loud - something audiences had never heard - did him in. In truth, he had a beautiful speaking voice in a tenor range - he incorporated the mid- Atlantic speech of the day as did Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn and others, and his diction was perfect.

Here he plays a renowned magician, Cheri-Bibi, who is in love with a beautiful socialite Cecile Bourrelier (Leila Hyams). Her father (C. Aubrey Smith) does not approve and instead wants her to marry the Marquis Du Touchais (Ian Keith). Cecile wants to marry Cheri-Bibi. Du Touchais then learns that Cecile's father is making up a new will and omitting him. He kills Bourrelier, but Cheri-Bibi is arrested and sentenced to death.

This is a really neat story but one has to account for dramatic license - the disguise used in this film is obvious, but entertaining nonetheless.

Leila Hyams was a beautiful, vivacious actress in the early days of talkies who retired, married an agent, and stayed married to him for 50 years. Ian Keith was a wonderful stage actor who played character roles in films - he does a great job here, as do C. Aubrey Smith, Lewis Stone, Jean Hersholt, and Natalie Moorhead.

John Gilbert would be dead five years later - "Phantom of Paris" is an excellent chance to see why he had such great stardom. I had a chance once to speak with his daughter, Leatrice Joy Gilbert, a lovely woman with two actor sons, John Fountain and Gideon Fountain. She was very proud of her father's work, as she should have been.