To be honest, this is what I would do given enough time away from everyone. It is something else entirely that it also provided a legacy for more than a century. For as bungled as the production and preservation of this film was, it is a miracle that it survived at all in mostly coherent quality. There also seems to be various prints of the film, which have elicited more confusion. The silent version of the film still exists, though the later sound version has altogether been lost. The film went through three different directors and swung from gothic horror to romantic comedy to something in the middle. I can not confirm this claim, though people in the early part of cinema were pansies when it came to scary things on film.įor as legendary as the Phantom film is, it is a hodgepodge of different versions, re edits, restorations, and rewrites. Chaney’s face was supposedly a major source of terror for the audience when revealed within the film. Chaney’s inventive take on makeup lead to celebrated roles in the Miracle Man, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the Penalty, as well as one of the most iconic skull faces in film with The Phantom of the Opera.
Yes, the classic love story of love unrequited within the torture chambers which lay underneath giant opera houses.ĭespite being in over 160 films, Lon Chaney’s legacy and most memorable films came during the last ten years of his life, where his acting skill were paired with his progressive makeup experimentations. Intrigue, romance, terror, and silly masks all made this story interesting enough to become a vehicle for the actor Lon Chaney. As a story, the Phantom arc had everything that appealed to readers in 1911. The Phantom story has become famous for themes of unrequited love, societal scorn, and an allegory on what not to do to impress a girl. The bulk of the story takes place within the opera house as well as the surreal underworld that lies in the cellars. The Phantom story told the tragic romance between a mysterious denizen of the Paris Opera House, Erik (known as the Phantom), and a young understudy in the production of Faust, Christine. Spoiler: it was the butler dressed up as the mother. Leroux’s other accomplishments include one of the first locked room mysteries, The Mystery of the Yellow Room.
Long before it become inseparable from romance-obsessed high school girls, the Phantom of the Opera was a gothic serial written by Gaston Leroux. This is impressive seeing as the 1925 film was almost never made and, in terms of editing by contemporary standards, is a disaster. The film, and its lead star Lon Chaney, have become entwined with the birth of what would become known as the Universal monster group.
Phantom of the Opera, despite not being near the genesis of horror film, still stands as one of the most iconic milestones in monster style filmmaking.
Murnau’s Nosferatu in 1922, and Japanese experimental films like Shinin no Sosei. Several instances of what would be horror in film were already made by this point in history, including George Melies Le Manoir du diable in 1896, F. Click to change.The 1925 silent film Phantom of the Opera stands as an important film in the horror genre despite it not really being close to the first horror film created.