...And now our feature presentation
Cast
Credits
Lon
Chaney. . . . . . . . . . . Erik (the Phantom) Studio
. . . . . . . . . . . Universal
Mary Philbin. . . .
. . . . . . .Christine Daae Director
. . . . . . . . . .Rupert
Julian
Norman Kerry. .
. . . . . . . Raoul Edward
Sedgwick
Arthur Edmund Carewe.
. .Ledoux Lon
Chaney
Gibson Gowland
. . . . . . . Simon Buquet Novel
by. . . . . . . . . Gaston
Leroux
John St. Polis
. . . . . . . . . .Comte Philippe de Chagny Cinematography.
. . . Milton Bridenbecker
Virgil Miller
Charles
Van Enger
Edited
by . . . . . . . . .Maurice
Pivar
Art
Design by. . . . . . Charles
D. Hall
Run
Time: 93minutes
The possible ratings are
as follows:
Abysmal. Complete trash-- bad acting, writing, cinematography,
etc.
Bomb. One or two redeeming qualities, but inferior overall.
Average. Not outstanding in most respects, but worth checking
out.
I had a ball. Solid acting, writing,
cinematography, etc. Superior in many respects.
Excellent.
A true classic. Few, if any, flaws.
TAKE ONE: BOOMER
Phantom of the Opera is a classic story of obsessive love. Erik, the Phantom, was
exiled to Devil’s Island because he is criminally insane. He escaped and now haunts the
world famous Paris Opera House. He has fallen madly in love with an operatic
understudy, Christine Daae (Philbin), and has imparted his master of the musical arts
upon the object of his affection. Because of his teaching, Christine rises to the heights of
stardom in Paris--she is the newest sensation. How does fame affect Christine? Well, she
promised to marry Raoul when she sang lead in the opera, and yet now, she tells Raoul
that she simply cannot leave the opera. How does her fame affect the Phantom? He now
demands that she pledge her total allegiance to him and to forsake Raoul forever. So she
does forsake Raoul, telling him that they can never see each other again. He takes her into
the bowels of the opera to his liar to be his forever. However, while down in the cellars,
she unmasks him, after being told not to do so, and discovers that he is a hideously
deformed monster. Wanting to prove the depths of his love, the Phantom allows her to go
back into the world above but he warns her that is she contacts Raoul ever again, both will
be killed. She immediately runs back to Raoul and tells him the story and they make plans
to run off to England. The Phantom, enraged by her ungrateful attitude goes on a killing
spree and kidnaps the beautiful chanteuse. After a LONG chase scene, a mob corners the
Phantom, beats him to death and throws his body into the river.
Phantom of the Opera has some very good elements to it. It is stylish and
beautifully designed. The sets are impressive in both their majesty and their technical
ingenuity. trap doors, flood scenes, river levels changing in mere seconds, chandeliers
falling into the audience (one of the best such scenes ever put on film), a brief period of
two-color Technicolor. It all makes for a spectacular event, not just a film, but an event in
the first half of the film. There can be no criticism of this aspect of the film; it is simply
amazing. However, this is probably the only element of the film that rises beyond
adequacy.
The primary problem with this film is in its plot development and pace. Throughout most
of the film, the story unfolds at a torturously slow pace. Actually, the first half of the film
proceeds at an acceptable pace. There is, however, a clear breaking line where the story
grinds to a near halt, the melodrama gets laid on thicker than peanut butter, and the acting
goes kaput. This breaking line is the bal masque, where the Phantom officially goes even
deeper off the end than he was before. Here is where he drags Christine back into the
cellars and where the chase scene really begins. Some 30 minutes later, the Phantom is
finally caught, Christine is saved, and the film ends. the length of this climax would not
have been a problem if something interesting had happened, but the truth is, it is pure
chase and a very slow one at that. The result is that the viewer gets bored and simply
wants the Phantom to be killed to get the film finished.
The problems mentioned above are bigger than they seem because not only does the film
simply gets boring, the fact that the viewer no longer cares about the characters works
directly against the pathos that Chaney evoked for the Phantom through his superior
acting. in that sense, Chaney’s considerable talents are not only wasted, but undermined.
This is a true shame because Chaney made the Phantom a very sympathetic character
throughout the first half of the film, and the viewer would truly like to feel badly when the
Phantom ultimately dies; however, all the viewer really feels is relief. Had the film been
paced a little differently, been re-written slightly, and acted more subtly, the effect would
have been the same as with Norman Bates in Psycho--a truly empathetic villain.
However, in the end of this film, we simply have a monster, and who really can feel for a
monster?
As it turns out, the Phantom is not the only unsympathetic character in the film. I truly
found Christine to be a shallow, manipulative climber. Only when she discovered that the
Phantom was a freakishly looking human did she decide that he wasn’t for her. until then,
she may have been somewhat frightened of the masked man, but she was captivated by his
music enough that she would go with him. Her reaction seems a bit superficial even if it is
understandable. The more troubling situation is that with Raoul. She shunned him for the
opera and then again to go under the opera house with the masked Phantom. Not only did
she break her implicit promise to marry him when she became a star, she told him that they
could never see each other again. It is only when she is taken against her will that she sees
the true utility in Raoul. In the end, I simply did not have much sympathy for either
Christine or her captor; obviously, something went desperately wrong.
The only other criticism of the film is that the acting wasn’t especially good. besides
Chaney, the only really good performance was that of Carewe (Ledoux). H played the
secret policeman just creepily enough that the viewer wonders until near the end whether
he and the Phantom are working together. Beyond these performances, the rest were
adequate at best.
I would recommend this film only because it is a classic. Beyond that, it’s simply
adequate. My rating:
TAKE TWO: JAKE
Back
to the Main Page
Let us know what you think -- please e-mail.
Click
on the graphic to vote for this page as a Starting
Point Hot Site.
|
|
|
|
| Member:
|
Classic
Movie Reviews |
|
|
|
Abysmal. Complete trash-- bad acting, writing, cinematography,
etc. 
Bomb. One or two redeeming qualities, but inferior overall.
Average. Not outstanding in most respects, but worth checking
out. 
I had a ball. Solid acting, writing,
cinematography, etc. Superior in many respects. 
Excellent.
A true classic. Few, if any, flaws. 
