Day 3: The Phantom of the Opera

3. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Dir: Rupert Julian, Edward Sedgwick (supplemental), Lon Chaney (Rumoredl)
Cast: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry

I just couldn't make a horror movie retrospective without mention of the greatest horror star of the silent era, thus I give you The Phantom of the Opera starring "The Man of a Thousand Faces" Lon Chaney Sr. I'll admit it's been ages since I've seen this and it'll be tough giving you a thorough review but here I go again.

Based off Gaston Leroux's 1909 novel "Le Fantôme de l'Opéra" This was one of the early Universal classic that immediately cemented "The Phantom " also known as "Erik" as one of the early great movie monsters, that is until that douche Andrew Lloyd Webber tarnished the name with that terrible musical "The Phantom of the Opera is dead, inside my mind!".... What the hell is that?

A Dark mystery tale wrapped around a bittersweet love story, Phantom is a surprisingly complex film told and revealed in quite a classy and elaborate fashion. The sets are elegant and with plenty of odd and unique characters to inhabit it, a well layered piece I must say.



But seriously how can you talk about his movie without giving the deserved acclaim to it's lead. Lon Chaney had an amazing presence on camera and was definitely one of the finest performers of the time. He's terrifying yet captivating as Erik and easily the most memorable aspect of the film. It's just too bad that he died before the rise of talkies, he only managed to appear in one in 1930's The Unholy Three dying from throat cancer two months after the release. I think he would of made the transition quite well.. Too bad he didn't get see his son follow in his footsteps as well, but we'll talk about that in a future post.

Well anyways this an impressive production and with plenty of different versions floating around out there including a colorized version, there's a whole variety of versions worth your viewing pleasure.

Fright Fact: Lots of good ones for this flick, such as the supposed haunting of the film's infamous sound-stage by it's deceased star. Also did you know Chaney, who always did his own makeup, achieved the Phantom's bizarre nose by putting fish hooks in his nostrils? Now that's dedication...

Horror Highlight: Obviously this would be the Phantom's unmasking.