The Phantom of the Opera

Released 1925
Stars Norman Kerry, Snitz Edwards, Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Gibson Gowland
Directed by Rupert Julian

The first film version of Gaston Leroux's romantic melodrama is cast in the twisted shadows and baroque decorations of the German Expressionist cinema. Directed for the screen by New Zealander Rupert Julian and photographed by Charles van Enger and Virgil Miller, the film was a triumph for producer Carl Laemmle, who delivered a wonderful match of style to content which would later inform the cycle of talkie horrors from Universal throughout the 1930s and 40s including adaptations of Dracula, Frankenstein and cycles based on The Mummy and The Wolf Man. Here, without sound, the camera is free to move about the impressive sets to find the best angle from which to shoot the drama which unfolds. The story concerns the mysterious goings-on in the Paris Opera house when an unidentified patron attempts to bolster the career of a young singer, even if it takes murder to do so.

Summary by Harvey O'Brien M.A.

I was surprised at how unimpressed I was by this film. I've been discovering the beauty of silent films only recently, and I expected this one to blow me away. Overall it didn't, but some individual things did. The use of two-color technicolor in the masked ball sequence, the complex sets, and the dark German Expressionist style were simply stunning. Of course, Lon Chaney's makeup was brilliant, but I had seen it so many times beforehand that it didn't affect me. I had seen the two major stage versions of the book first (including Paul Stanley as the Phantom at the famed Pantages Theatre in Toronto!), and this film was quite different in the storyline. I've read that this movie is actually closer to the book than either play (I haven't read the book yet). Here the film opens with the Phantom forcing the opera house to replace Carlotta with Christine, but the Phantom has no relationship with Carlotta yet. In both plays he "discovers" her and acts as her teacher before he forces the switch. I've read this is closer to the book, but I'd be surprised if it is. That would make the Phantom simply a crazed fan, but maybe it's true because he's a criminally insane escapee in the film. I doubt that's the case in the book, though, because this film didn't include the character of his father, who is critical to the Phantom's backstory. At any rate, by not having this previous relationship between himself and Christine, I felt the Phantom lost his humanity and became nothing more than a crazed killer. It kept me from getting involved in the characters and story for the first hour. The last half hour, though, was involving and saved the movie for me. The ending itself was perfect for this version of the Phantom character. Note: The DVD transfer is horrible. It doesn't look like they did much clean up in the transfer. -- Bill Alward