The Phantom of the
Opera
Dir: Rupert Julian;
(Uncred: Lon Chaney, Ernst Laemmle, Edward Sedgwick)
Scr: (Uncred: Walter
Anthony, Elliott J. Clawson, Bernard McConville, Frank M. McCormack, Tom Reed,
Raymond L. Schrock, Jasper Spearing, Richard Wallace)
Pho: Charles van
Enger; (Uncred: Milton Bridenbecker, Virgil Miller)
Ed: Edward Curtiss,
Maurice Pivar, Gilmore Walker, Lois Weber
Premiere: Nov. 15,
1925
93 min.
Lon Chaney was the chameleon of silent film, the master
performer known as “The Man of a Thousand Faces.” His incredible make-up work
and acting versatility made him a legend, and his work in this, the first film
adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera, represents the pinnacle of his career.
Chaney’s adept transformations made him a favorite for
horror-movie parts. His first big hit, as Quasimodo The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), made him a household word, and
a fortune for Universal Studios.
When studio head Carl Laemmle went to Paris on vacation, he
ran across the French author Gaston Leroux, who gave him a copy of his 1910
novel The Phantom of the Opera.
Laemmle immediately optioned it as a vehicle for Chaney.
The now-familiar story is that of a disfigured,
psychotically wounded man who dwells beneath the Paris Opera House, a would-be
composer who fixates on a young soprano, Christine. Lurking in the background,
he mentors her and blackmails the opera’s management into letting her perform.
When his instructions are defied, he drops n immense chandelier onto the
listening audience.
Christine finds a secret passage and confronts the masked Phantom,
who takes her to his underground lair. He instructs her never to take off his
mask, which she promptly does – exposing the iconic and still truly terrifying visage
of the Phantom, a skull-like face with hollow eyes, distended cheeks, and a
nose seemingly eaten away.
This look consumed all of Chaney’s attention and skill. He
kept the make-up a secret from the cast and crew, forbid press photographs, and
kept pictures of the Phantom out of promotional materials. The result was a
shock that still resonates. The girl creeps up behind the Phantom, absorbed in
playing his organ in the depths of the theater. He gasps – he gapes – he whirls
around – she screams.
Chaney’s Phantom is pitiable, but clearly and diabolically mad.
Eventually, Christine’s lover Raoul explores the hidden corridors and arrives
to save her in the nick of time, while the Phantom is torn to pieces by an
angry mob.
No expense was spared to recreate the Palais Garnier, with a
massive set of steel girders and concrete built to hold the weight of hundreds
of extras. (This set stood for nearly a century, so strongly was it
constructed.) Early “two-strip” Technicolor was used in the masked ball
sequence in the film. It was a prestige production all round.
All this added up to a huge investment of time and money,
and the producers got nervous. The titular director, Rupert Julian, feuded with
everyone and eventually left the production. A quick check of the credits above
show that the film was scrapped and remounted multiple times, shown over and
over to test audiences to try to find a salable product.
Screenwriters came and went. Endings were changed. Sixty per
cent of the original footage was reshot, after which much of it was edited back
into the final film. Finally, it was released and proved to be a big hit.
The combination of rich and lavish detail, and Chaney’s horror
at the heart of it, make this still a compelling film. Notably, it sparked two
remakes, one in 1943 and one in1962. Most memorably, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1986
theatrical adaptation has dominated Broadway and world theater for decades.
The NFR is one
writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry
in chronological order. Next time: Theodore Case Sound Test: Gus Visser and
His Singing Duck.
