The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Film: The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Stars: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe
Director: Rupert Julian
Oscar History: Predated the Oscars
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

This morning we go to the very beginning of our marathon, to Universal's original horror master: Lon Chaney, Sr.  Considered "the man of a thousand faces," Chaney was Universal's first real, bankable star and made some of the biggest horror film hits of the Silent Era.  Noted for his incredible ability with makeup (basically making himself unrecognizable from one role to the next), Chaney had a short (he died at the age of 47 from throat cancer) but incredibly memorable stint as a matinee idol (Joan Crawford once said she learned more about acting from Chaney than from anyone else in her career).  While I don't think we'll have time for both of his biggest films (I've got a lot of ground to cover in the next few days before we finish up this marathon this week, as I have a vision of how I want to end it, and there's at least two more major horror stars we haven't checked in on), I would be remiss if I didn't view to at least one, and so I decided to go with The Phantom of the Opera, one of the quintessential Universal horror movie monsters and Chaney's most famous role.

(Spoilers Ahead) Arguably the most loyal version of the Gaston Leroux's novel (though still with a different ending), the story is probably familiar to anyone who has hummed along to a Broadway cast recording.  The film is about Christine (Philbin), who is in love with the handsome Raoul (Kerry), but is drawn to a mysterious stranger in the night who is teaching her how to sing and is trying to make her the opera's diva, rather than the "less beautiful" Carlotta (side note from someone who has had the Andrew Lloyd Webber soundtrack memorized since he was ten-Carlotta really gets screwed during every iteration of this story as none of this is her fault except that she's not pretty enough for the Phantom to be obsessed with her).  However, mysterious things are happening in the opera house, including a series of stranglings of stage hands as people keep dying from a "phantom" (Chaney) behind the scenes of the opera.  Initially we are to suspect the fez-sporting Ledoux (Carewe), a shifty-eyed man who turns out to be a good-guy-detective, trying to uncover the Phantom, and we learn the Phantom is a grotesquely-faced man, hideous and obsessed with the lovely Christine, whom he wants to make his bride.  The film's back half features several chase scenes between the four main characters, as well as an angry mob out for blood against the Phantom after a kindly stage hand is killed by him once again.  The movie ends with the Phantom reluctantly saving Ledoux and Raoul from peril, and then getting beaten-and-drowned in the Seine by the angry mob.

The movie is really fun.  The movie is slower than it needs to be in the first half, as we all know what's coming from the Phantom (and Christine is not the most exhilarating of romantic heroines), but the chase sequences in the back half and Chaney's performance make this entirely worth two hours of your time.  The set pieces are extraordinary, as they march through the catacombs and sewers of Paris (it's always impressive to me to see how elaborate Silent Era sets were considering the cost at the time to construct such things), and there's even a sequence in Technicolor where the Phantom appears as Red Death, with a stunning cloak to match.  I loved the back half if you can throw out the gender politics (something you kind of have to do in general to enjoy any of this era's horror movies).

Chaney is terrific as the Phantom.  While none of the other actors are giving this kind of work (I thought for a minute Carewe might bring something special to Ledoux, but that's a bit of a letdown once we know he isn't actually one of Chaney's many creations), Chaney is fantastic, acting from every angle and truly letting his hideous makeup do the talking for him on the big screen.  I was struck by the differences in screen presence between he and his son, who has become our classroom dunce for this marathon, because the elder Chaney has so much of the screen charisma that his son lacks.  His Phantom is genuinely hideous and horrifying in a way even modern makeup artists would struggle to recreate.  The scene where he, atop the Paris Opera House, stands on a chariot moaning like a vampire, is thrilling and probably something every horror actor that succeeded him looked on with awe and while taking notes.  While the rest of the film pales in comparison, Chaney is a beast and a monster for the ages here, and there's a reason he got to be considered a legend that started the entire Universal Studios machine running nearly a century ago.

This Month We Are Seeing As Many Classic Horror Movies from the Pre-1970 Era as Possible.  If you want to check out some of our past reviews, here they are:

Frankenstein, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, Dracula, Mad Love, Son of Frankenstein, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Mummy, Freaks, The Ghost of Frankenstein, It Came from Outer Space, The House of Frankenstein