The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American silent

Silent film

A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...

 horror film

Horror film

Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...

 adaptation of the Gaston Leroux

Gaston Leroux

Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera , which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, notably the 1925 film starring Lon...

 novel of the same title

The Phantom of the Opera

Le Fantôme de l'Opéra is a novel by French writer Gaston Leroux. It was first published as a serialisation in "Le Gaulois" from September 23, 1909 to January 8, 1910...

 directed by Rupert Julian

Rupert Julian

Rupert Julian was the first New Zealand cinema actor, director, writer and producer.Born Thomas Percival Hayes in Whangaroa, New Zealand, Son of John Daly Hayes and Eliza Harriet Hayes...

. The film featured Lon Chaney

Lon Chaney, Sr.

Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...

 in the title role as the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House

Palais Garnier

The Palais Garnier, , is an elegant 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. It was originally called the Salle des Capucines because of its location on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, but soon became known as the Palais Garnier...

, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to force the management to make the woman he loves a star. It is most famous for Lon Chaney's intentionally horrific, self-applied make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film's premiere.

The film also features Mary Philbin

Mary Philbin

Mary Philbin was a notable film actress of the silent film era. Philbin is probably best remembered for playing the roles of Christine Daaé in the 1925 film The Phantom of the Opera opposite screen legend Lon Chaney and Dea in The Man Who Laughs...

, Norman Kerry

Norman Kerry

Norman Kerry was an American actor whose career spanned over twenty-five years in the motion picture industry beginning in the silent era at the end of World War I.-Biography:...

, Arthur Edmund Carewe

Arthur Edmund Carewe

Arthur Edmund Carewe , was an Armenian-American actor in the silent and early sound film era.-Early life:Born Hovsep Hovsepian in Trabzon , Ottoman Empire, Carewe was from a prosperous family in his native country...

, Gibson Gowland

Gibson Gowland

Gibson Gowland was an English film actor.Early sources had his birth place place as Newcastle. He started work as a sailor and later became mate of a ship...

, John St. Polis

John St. Polis

John St. Polis was an American actor. He appeared in 126 films between 1914 and 1943.He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Shadows...

, and Snitz Edwards

Snitz Edwards

Snitz Edwards was a notable character actor of the early years of the silent film era into the 1930s.- Background and career on the stage :...

. The only surviving cast member is Carla Laemmle

Carla Laemmle

Rebecca Isabelle "Carla" Laemmle is an American actress and the niece of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle. She was a movie actress in the 1920s and 1930s, and is, along with Lupita Tovar, one of the very few surviving actors of the silent film era.-Career:Laemmle entered films in 1925...

 (born 1909), niece of producer Carl Laemmle

Carl Laemmle

Carl Laemmle , born in Laupheim, Württemberg, Germany, was a pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios - Universal...

, who played a small role as "prima ballerina" in the film when she was about 15.

The film was adapted

Film adaptation

Film adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...

 by Elliott J. Clawson, Frank M. McCormack (uncredited), Tom Reed (titles) and Raymond L. Schrock. It was directed by Rupert Julian, with supplemental direction by Lon Chaney

Lon Chaney, Sr.

Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...

, Edward Sedgwick

Edward Sedgwick

Edward Sedgwick was a film director, writer, actor and producer.-Biography:He was born in Galveston, Texas, the son of Edward Sedgwick, Sr. and Josephine Walker, both stage actors. Young Edward Sedgwick joined his show business family as one of the Five Sedgwicks, a vaudeville act...

 and Ernst Laemmle (unconfirmed).

Plot

The scenario presented is based on the general release version of 1925, which has additional scenes and sequences in different order than the existing reissue print (see below).

The film opens with the debut of the new season at the Paris Opera House, with a production of Gounod's Faust

Faust (opera)

Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...

. Comte Philip de Chagny (John St. Polis

John St. Polis

John St. Polis was an American actor. He appeared in 126 films between 1914 and 1943.He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Shadows...

) and his brother, the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny (Norman Kerry

Norman Kerry

Norman Kerry was an American actor whose career spanned over twenty-five years in the motion picture industry beginning in the silent era at the end of World War I.-Biography:...

) are in attendance. Raoul attends only in the hope of hearing his sweetheart Christine Daae

Christine Daaé

Christine Daaé is the main female character in Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera , the young singer with whom the main character Erik, the Phantom of the Opera falls in love.- Character history :...

 (Mary Philbin

Mary Philbin

Mary Philbin was a notable film actress of the silent film era. Philbin is probably best remembered for playing the roles of Christine Daaé in the 1925 film The Phantom of the Opera opposite screen legend Lon Chaney and Dea in The Man Who Laughs...

) sing. Christine, under the tuition of an unknown and mysterious coach, has made a sudden rise from the chorus to understudy of the prima donna

Prima donna

Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...

. Raoul wishes for Christine to resign and marry him, but she refuses to let their relationship get in the way of her career.

At the height of the most prosperous season in the Opera's history, the management suddenly resign. As they leave, they tell the new managers of the Opera Ghost, a phantom who asks for opera box #5, among other things. The new managers laugh it off as a joke, but the old management leaves troubled. The managers go to Box 5 to see exactly who has taken it. The keeper of the box does not know who it is, as she has never seen his face. The two managers enter the box and are startled to see a shadowy figure seated. They run out of the box and compose themselves, but when they enter the box again, the person is gone. After the performance, the ballet girls are disturbed by the sight of a mysterious man (Arthur Edmund Carewe

Arthur Edmund Carewe

Arthur Edmund Carewe , was an Armenian-American actor in the silent and early sound film era.-Early life:Born Hovsep Hovsepian in Trabzon , Ottoman Empire, Carewe was from a prosperous family in his native country...

), who dwells in the cellars. Arguing whether or not he is the Phantom, they decide to ask Joseph Buquet, a stagehand who has actually seen the ghost's face. Buquet describes a ghastly sight of a living skeleton to the girls, who are then startled by a shadow cast on the wall. The antics of stagehand Florine Papillon (Snitz Edwards

Snitz Edwards

Snitz Edwards was a notable character actor of the early years of the silent film era into the 1930s.- Background and career on the stage :...

) do not amuse Joseph's brother, Simon (Gibson Gowland

Gibson Gowland

Gibson Gowland was an English film actor.Early sources had his birth place place as Newcastle. He started work as a sailor and later became mate of a ship...

), who chases him off.

Meanwhile, Mme. Carlotta (Virginia Pearson

Virginia Pearson

Virginia Belle Pearson was an American stage and film actress. She made fifty-one films in a career which extended from 1910 until 1932.-Career:...

), the prima donna of the Paris Grand Opera, barges into the managers office enraged. She has received a letter from "The Phantom," demanding that Christine sing the role of Marguerite the following night, threatening dire consequences if his demands are not met. In her next performance, Christine reaches her triumph during the finale and receives a standing ovation from the audience. When Raoul visits her in her dressing room, she pretends not to recognize him, because unbeknownst to the rest there, the Spirit is also there. Raoul spends the evening outside her door, and after the others have left, just as he is about to enter, he hears a man's voice within the room. He overhears the voice make his intentions to Christine: "Soon, Christine, this spirit will take form and will demand your love!" When Christine leaves her room alone, Raoul breaks in to find it empty. Carlotta receives another discordant note from the Phantom. Once again, it demands that she take ill and let Christine have her part. The managers also get a note, reiterating that if Christine does not sing, they will present "Faust" in a house with a curse on it.

The following evening, despite the Phantom's warnings, a defiant Carlotta appears as Marguerite. At first, the performance goes well, but soon the Phantom's curse takes its effect, causing the great, crystal chandelier to fall down onto the audience. Christine runs to her dressing room and is entranced by a mysterious voice through a secret door behind the mirror , descending, in a dream-like sequence, semi-conscious on horseback by a winding staircase into the lower depths of the Opera. She is then taken by gondola over a subterranean lake by the masked Phantom into his lair. The Phantom introduces himself as Erik and declares his love; Christine faints, so Erik carries her to a suite fabricated for her comfort. The next day, when she awakens, she finds a note from Erik telling her that she is free to go as she pleases, but that she must never look behind his mask. In the next room, the Phantom is playing his composition, "Don Juan Triumphant." Christine's curiosity gets the better of her, and she sneaks up behind the Phantom and tears off his mask, revealing his hideously deformed face. Enraged, the Phantom makes his plans to hold her prisoner known. In an attempt to plead to him, he excuses her to visit her world one last time, with the condition that she never sees her lover again. Released from the underground dungeon, Christine makes a rendezvous at the annual masked-ball, which is graced with the Phantom in the guise of the 'Red-Death

The Masque of the Red Death

"The Masque of the Red Death", originally published as "The Mask of the Red Death" , is a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. The story follows Prince Prospero's attempts to avoid a dangerous plague known as the Red Death by hiding in his abbey. He, along with many other wealthy nobles, has a...

' from the Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe

Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...

 tale of the same name. While on the roof, Christine tells Raoul everything. However, an unseen jealous Phantom perching on the statue of Apollo overhears them.

Raoul and Inspector Ledoux (the mystery man from the cellars) are then lured into the Phantom's underground death-trap when Christine is kidnapped while onstage. Philippe is drowned by Erik when he goes looking for Raoul in the cellars of the Opera. The Phantom gives Christine a choice of two levers: one shaped like a scorpion and the other like a grasshopper. One of them will save Raoul, while the other will blow up the Opera. Christine picks the scorpion, but it is a trick by the Phantom to "save" Raoul and Ledoux from being blown up — by drowning them. Christine begs the Phantom to save Raoul, promising him anything in return. At the last second, the Phantom opens a trapdoor in his floor through which Raoul and Ledoux are saved. The Phantom attempts to flee with Christine in a stolen carriage. While Raoul saves Christine, Erik/Phantom is pursued and killed by a mob, who throw him into the Seine River to finally drown.

In the original 1925 version, there was a short scene showing Christine and Raoul on a honeymoon.

An alternate ending features the Phantom letting Christine and Raoul go after realizing that Christine truly loves Raoul and not him. Christine gives the Phantom her ring, then departs with Raoul. The Phantom shrieks in pain and falls over dead, of a broken heart.

Cast

• Lon Chaney
  Lon Chaney, Sr.
  Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
  
   as Erik, The Phantom
• Mary Philbin
  Mary Philbin
  Mary Philbin was a notable film actress of the silent film era. Philbin is probably best remembered for playing the roles of Christine Daaé in the 1925 film The Phantom of the Opera opposite screen legend Lon Chaney and Dea in The Man Who Laughs...
  
   as Christine Daaé
  Christine Daaé
  Christine Daaé is the main female character in Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera , the young singer with whom the main character Erik, the Phantom of the Opera falls in love.- Character history :...
  
  
• Norman Kerry
  Norman Kerry
  Norman Kerry was an American actor whose career spanned over twenty-five years in the motion picture industry beginning in the silent era at the end of World War I.-Biography:...
  
   as Vicomte Raoul de Chagny
• Arthur Edmund Carewe
  Arthur Edmund Carewe
  Arthur Edmund Carewe , was an Armenian-American actor in the silent and early sound film era.-Early life:Born Hovsep Hovsepian in Trabzon , Ottoman Empire, Carewe was from a prosperous family in his native country...
  
   as Ledoux
  The Persian
  The Persian is a major character from the Gaston Leroux novel The Phantom of the Opera. In the book he is the one who tells most of the background of Erik's history...
  
  
• Gibson Gowland
  Gibson Gowland
  Gibson Gowland was an English film actor.Early sources had his birth place place as Newcastle. He started work as a sailor and later became mate of a ship...
  
   as Simon Buquet
• John St. Polis
  John St. Polis
  John St. Polis was an American actor. He appeared in 126 films between 1914 and 1943.He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Shadows...
  
   as Comte Philippe de Chagny
• Snitz Edwards
  Snitz Edwards
  Snitz Edwards was a notable character actor of the early years of the silent film era into the 1930s.- Background and career on the stage :...
  
   as Florine Papillon
• Mary Fabian as Carlotta (1930 redux)
• Virginia Pearson
  Virginia Pearson
  Virginia Belle Pearson was an American stage and film actress. She made fifty-one films in a career which extended from 1910 until 1932.-Career:...
  
   as Carlotta/Carlotta's mother (1930 redux)

Uncredited

• Bernard Siegel as Joseph Buquet
  Joseph Buquet
  Joseph Buquet is a fictional character in The Phantom of the Opera.He is the chief stagehand for the theatre who claims to have seen the Opera Ghost. He is the one to first describe Erik, saying, "He is extraordinarily thin and his dress-coat hangs on a skeleton frame. His eyes are so deep that...
  
  
• Edward Martindel
  Edward Martindel
  Edward Martindel was an American stage and film actor. He appeared on Broadway and in 89 films between 1915 and 1946....
  
   as Comte Phillipe de Chagny (1930 redux)
• Joseph Belmont as a stage manager
• Alexander Bevani as Méphistophélès
• Edward Cecil as Faust
• Ruth Clifford
  Ruth Clifford
  Ruth Clifford was an American actress of leading roles in silent films, whose career lasted from silent days into the television era.-Biography:A native of Pawtucket, Rhode Island, she attended St...
  
   as ballerina
• Roy Coulson as the Jester
• George Davis
  George Davis (actor)
  George Davis was a Dutch-born American actor. He appeared in 261 films between 1916 and 1963.He was born in Amsterdam, and died in Los Angeles, California from cancer.-Selected filmography:-External links:...
  
   as The guard outside Christine's door
• Madame Fiorenza as Madame Giry
  Madame Giry
  Madame Giry is a character in the Gaston Leroux novel, The Phantom of the Opera. She is a fairly intermediate character in the novel, although her role is much increased in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical...
  
  , keeper of the box
• Cesare Gravina
  Cesare Gravina
  Cesare Gravina was an Italian actor of the silent era. He appeared in 60 films between 1912 and 1929.He was born in Naples, Italy.-Selected filmography:* The Fatal Ring * Madame X...
  
   as a retiring manager
• Bruce Covington as Monsieur Moncharmin
• William Humphrey
  William J. Humphrey
  William Jonathan Humphrey was an American actor and film director.Born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, William Humphrey was a well-known member of the early stock company of Vitagraph Studios...
  
   as Monsieur Debienne
• George B Williams as Monsieur Ricard
• Carla Laemmle
  Carla Laemmle
  Rebecca Isabelle "Carla" Laemmle is an American actress and the niece of Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle. She was a movie actress in the 1920s and 1930s, and is, along with Lupita Tovar, one of the very few surviving actors of the silent film era.-Career:Laemmle entered films in 1925...
  
   as Prima Ballerina
• Grace Marvin as Martha
• John Miljan
  John Miljan
  John Miljan was an American actor of Serbian origin. He appeared in 201 films between 1924 and 1958.He died from cancer.-Selected filmography:* The Lone Chance * Silent Sanderson...
  
   as Valéntin
• Rolfe Sedan
  Rolfe Sedan
  Rolfe Sedan was an American character actor.Born Edward Sedan in New York City, his mother was a Broadway theatre fashion designer and his father a symphony conductor....
  
   as an undetermined role
• William Tracy
  William Tracy
  William Tracy was an American character actor. He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.Tracy is perhaps best known for the role of Pepi Katona, the delivery boy, in The Shop Around the Corner. He also starred in the John Ford film Tobacco Road . That same year, he began a recurring role as Sgt...
  
   as the Ratcatcher, the messenger from the shadows
• Anton Vaverka as Prompter

Deleted scene

Deleted scene

In Entertainment, especially the film and television industry, Deleted scenes are parts of a film removed or censored from or replaced by another scene in the final "cut", or version, of a film...

s

• Olive Ann Alcorn as La Sorelli
• Chester Conklin
  Chester Conklin
  Chester Cooper Conklin was an American comedian and actor. He appeared in over 280 films, about half of them in the silent era.-Early life:...
  
   as Orderly
• Ward Crane
  Ward Crane
  Ward Crane was a silent film actor popular in comedies and dramas. Out of dozens of films he's best remembered as the handsome heavy to Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr. 1924.Crane died at age 38 from pneumonia....
  
   as Count Ruboff
• Vola Vale
  Vola Vale
  Vola Vale was a silent motion picture actress from Buffalo, New York. She was born Vola Smith.-Early career:...
  
   as Christine's maid
• Edith Yorke
  Edith Yorke
  Edith Yorke was an English actress of the silent era. She appeared in 65 films between 1919 and 1933.She was born in Derby, England under the name Edith Murgatroyd,and the family later moved to Croydon near London but Edith left a more comfortable life behind to return to Derby, where she taught...
  
   as Mama Valerius

Production

Production started in late 1924 at Universal Studios

Universal Studios

Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....

 and did not go smoothly. According to the Director of Photography, Charles Van Enger, throughout the production Chaney and the rest of the cast and crew had strained relations with director Rupert Julian

Rupert Julian

Rupert Julian was the first New Zealand cinema actor, director, writer and producer.Born Thomas Percival Hayes in Whangaroa, New Zealand, Son of John Daly Hayes and Eliza Harriet Hayes...

. The first cut of the film was previewed in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 on January 7 and 26, 1925. The score was prepared by Joseph Carl Breil

Joseph Carl Breil

Joseph Carl Breil was an American lyric tenor, stage director, composer and conductor. He was one of the earliest American composers to compose specific music for motion pictures. His first film was Les amours de la reine Élisabeth starring Sarah Bernhardt...

. No information survives as to what the score consisted of other than Universal's release: "Presented with augmented concert orchestra, playing the score composed by J. Carl Briel, composer of music for "Birth of a Nation". The exact quote from the Opening Day full page ad in the Call Bulletin read: "Universal Weekly claimed a 60-piece orchestra. Moving Picture World reported that "The music from 'Faust

Faust

Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend; a highly successful scholar, but also dissatisfied with his life, and so makes a deal with the devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. Faust's tale is the basis for many literary, artistic, cinematic, and musical...

' supplied the music [for the picture]." Due to poor reviews and reactions, the January release was pulled, and Julian was told to re-shoot most of the picture. He eventually walked out.

Edward Sedgwick (later director of Buster Keaton

Buster Keaton

Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton was an American comic actor, filmmaker, producer and writer. He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face".Keaton was recognized as the...

's 1928 film The Cameraman) was then assigned by producer Carl Laemmle

Carl Laemmle

Carl Laemmle , born in Laupheim, Württemberg, Germany, was a pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios - Universal...

 to re-shoot and redirect the bulk of the film. Raymond L. Schrock and original screenwriter Elliot Clawson wrote new scenes at the request of Sedgewick. Most of these scenes depicted added subplots, with Chester Conklin

Chester Conklin

Chester Cooper Conklin was an American comedian and actor. He appeared in over 280 films, about half of them in the silent era.-Early life:...

 and Vola Vale as comedic relief to the heroes and Ward Crane as the Russian, "Count Ruboff" dueling with Raoul for Christine's affection. This version was previewed in San Francisco on April 26, 1925 and did not do well at all. "The story drags to the point of nauseam", one reviewer stated.

The third and final version was the result of Universal hold-overs Maurice Pivar and Lois Weber

Lois Weber

Lois Weber was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer, and director, who is considered "the most important female director the American film industry has known", and "one of the most important and important and prolific film directors in the era of silent films". Film historian...

, who edited the production down to nine reels. It debuted on September 6, 1925, at the Astor Theatre in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. It premiered on October 17, 1925 in Hollywood, California. The score for the Astor opening was to be composed by Professor Gustav Hinrichs

Gustav Hinrichs

Gustav Ludwig Wilhelm HinrichsNot to be confused with Gustav Dethlef Hinrichs, a noted scientist of the 19th century, or Gustav Hinrichs, of Berlin, a German historian and classicist who collaborated with the Brothers Grimm in addition to many of his own writings...

. Hinrichs' score was not prepared in time, so instead, according to Universal Weekly, the premiere featured a score by Eugene Conte, composed mainly of "french airs" and the appropriate Faust cues.Hinrichs' score was available by the time the film went into general release. (Reference: Music Institute of Chicago (2007) program note) No expense was spared at the premiere; Universal even had a full organ installed at the Astor for the event. (As it was a legitimate house, the Astor theater used an orchestra, not an organ, for its music.) For all of the production problems, the film was a success at the box office, grossing over $2 million.

Reception

Mordaunt Hall

Mordaunt Hall

Mordaunt Hall was the first regularly assigned motion picture critic for The New York Times, from October 1924 to September 1934....

 of The New York Times

The New York Times

The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

 gave The Phantom of the Opera a positive review as a spectacle picture, but felt that the story and acting may have been slightly improved. TIME

Time

Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....

 praised the sets but felt the picture was "only pretty good".

In November 1929, after the successful introduction of sound pictures, Universal dubbed and re-shot a new cut of The Phantom of the Opera with the new Western Electric sound-on-disc process. Ernst Laemmle re-shot a little less than half of the picture in sound, while the remainder contained music and sound effects, with stock cues and original pieces by Sam A. Perry and David Broekman. Chaney was at MGM, and by contract Universal could not dub his voice, so "third person" dialogue by the Phantom was looped over shots of his shadow. (The voice-overs are uncredited, but are probably Universal regular, Phillips Smalley

Phillips Smalley

Wendell Phillips Smalley was a prolific American silent film director and actor.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Smalley began his career in vaudeville and acted in more than 200 films between 1910 until his death in 1939...

.) Because Chaney's talkie debut was eagerly anticipated by filmgoers, the posters emphasized, "Lon Chaney's portrayal is a silent one!" The sound version of Phantom opened on February 16, 1930 and grossed another million dollars, then was stored away for future use, but has since vanished and is presently considered to be a lost film, although the soundtrack discs survive.
Dracula

Dracula (1931 film)

Dracula is a 1931 vampire-horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring Bela Lugosi as the title character. The film was produced by Universal and is based on the stage play of the same name by Hamilton Deane and John L...

 and its sequels, Frankenstein

Frankenstein (1931 film)

Frankenstein is a 1931 Pre-Code Horror Monster film from Universal Pictures directed by James Whale and adapted from the play by Peggy Webling which in turn is based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. The film stars Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, John Boles and Boris Karloff, and features...

 and its sequel

Sequel

A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

s, The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, The Mummy

The Mummy (1932 film)

The Mummy is a 1932 horror film from Universal Studios directed by Karl Freund and starring Boris Karloff as a revived ancient Egyptian priest. The movie also features Zita Johann, David Manners and Edward Van Sloan...

. Many of the films are now considered studio classics.

Makeup

Following the success of The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923 film)

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a 1923 American film directed by Wallace Worsley and produced by Carl Laemmle and Irving Thalberg. It stars Lon Chaney, Sr., Patsy Ruth Miller, Norman Kerry, Nigel de Brulier, Brandon Hurst. The film is the second most famous adaptation of Victor Hugo's novel,...

 in 1923, Chaney was once again given the freedom to create his own make-up as the Phantom, a habit which became almost as famous as the films he starred in. Chaney painted his eye sockets black, giving a skull-like impression to them. He also pulled the tip of his nose up and pinned it in place with wire, enlarged his nostrils with black paint, and put a set of jagged false teeth into his mouth to complete the ghastly deformed look of the Phantom. When audiences first saw The Phantom of the Opera, they were said to have screamed or fainted at the scene where Christine pulls the concealing mask away, revealing his skull-like features to the audience.

Chaney's appearance as the Phantom in the film has been the most accurate depiction of the title character, based on the description given in the novel, where Erik the Phantom is described as having a skull-like face with a few wisps of black hair on top of his head. As in the novel, Chaney's Phantom has been deformed since birth, rather than having been disfigured by acid or fire, as in later adaptations of The Phantom of the Opera.

Soundstage 28

According to Universal Studios, part of the 1925 film set has never been torn down and still stands. Inside soundstage 28, part of the opera house set continues to stand to the side where it was filmed some eight decades ago. According to some sources this has since been destroyed by fire. However, the set was recently used in 2011's The Muppets

The Muppets (film)

The Muppets is a 2011 American musical and comedy film, and the first Muppets theatrical release in 12 years, as well as the first Disney-produced Muppets film since 1996's Muppet Treasure Island...

, proving this false.

Differences from the novel

Although this particular adaptation is often considered perhaps the most faithful, it contains some significant plot differences to the original novel.

The character of Ledoux is not a mysterious Persian and is no longer a onetime acquaintance of the Phantom; he is now a French detective of the Secret Police. This character change was not originally scripted. It was a change made entirely during the title-card editing process.

The Phantom no longer has a history of having studied in Persia. Rather, he is an escapee from Devil's Island

Devil's Island

Devil's Island is the smallest and northernmost island of the three Îles du Salut located about 6 nautical miles off the coast of French Guiana . It has an area of 14 ha . It was a small part of the notorious French penal colony in French Guiana until 1952...

, who is an expert in "the Black Arts

Witchcraft

Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...

."

The filmmakers initially intended to preserve the original ending of the novel, and filmed scenes where the Phantom dies of a broken heart after Christine leaves his lair. Because of the preview audience's poor reaction, the studio decided to change the ending to a more exciting one. As a result, utility director Edward Sedgwick was hired to provide the climactic chase scene, with an alternate ending where the Phantom, after having saved Ledoux and Raoul, kidnaps Christine in Raoul's carriage. He is hunted down and cornered by an angry mob, beaten to death and thrown into the Seine

Seine

The Seine is a -long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Saint-Seine near Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre . It is navigable by ocean-going vessels...

.

Preservation

The finest quality print of the film existing was struck from an original camera negative for George Eastman House

George Eastman House

The George Eastman House is the world's oldest museum dedicated to photography and one of the world's oldest film archives, opened to the public in 1949 in Rochester, New York, USA. World-renowned for its photograph and motion picture archives, the museum is also a leader in film preservation and...

 in the early 1950s by Universal Pictures. The original 1925 version only survives in 16 mm "Show-At-Home" prints created by Universal for home movie use in the 1930s. There are several versions of these prints, but none is complete. All are off the original, domestic camera negative.

Because of the better quality of the Eastman House print, many home video releases have opted to use this as the basis of their transfers. This version has singer Mary Fabian in the role of "Carlotta". In the re-edited version, Virginia Pearson, who played "Carlotta" in the 1925 film, is credited and referred to as "Carlotta's Mother" instead. The majority of silent footage in the 1930 version is actually from a second camera, used to photograph the film for foreign markets and second negatives- careful examination of the two versions shows similar shots are slightly askew in composition. In 2009 Reelclassicdvd.com issued a special edition multi-disc DVD set which included a match-shot, side by side comparison between the two versions, editing the 1925 show-at-home print's narrative and continuity to match the Eastman House print.

For the 2003 Image Entertainment/Photoplay Productions two-disc DVD, the 1930 soundtrack has been re-edited in an attempt to fit the Eastman House print as best as possible. However, there are some problems with this attempt: There is no corresponding "man with lantern" sequence on the sound discs. While the purely silent "music and effect" reels seem to follow the discs fairly closely, the scenes with speech (which at one point constituted about 60% of the film) are generally shorter than their corresponding sequences on the discs. Also, since the sound discs were meant for a projection speed of 24 frames per second (the established speed for sound film), and the film on the DVD is presented at a slower frame rate (to reproduce natural speed), the soundtrack as edited has been altered to run slower. A sound reissue trailer included for the first time on the DVD runs at sound speed with the audio running at the correct pitch.

On November 1, 2011, Image Entertainment will release a new Blu-ray Disc

Blu-ray Disc

Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...

 version of Phantom, produced by Film Preservation Associates, the film preservation company owned by David Shepard.

Eastman House print mystery

No one knows for sure what the negative used to strike the Eastman House print was produced for, due to footage from the 1930 re-issue placed in it and its lack of wear or damage.

To add to the confusion, an opening prologue of a man with a lantern has been added, but no title cards or dialogue survives. It would seem that this shot was a talking sequence, but it shows up in the original 1925 version, this time truncated and with a different, close-up shot of the man with the lantern. To further confuse the issue of the 1930 re-issue, the opening title sequence, the lantern man, and the footage of Mary Fabian performing as Carlotta are photographed at 24 frames per second (sound speed). The lantern man sequence for the re-issue is therefore newer footage. The lantern man is likely Joseph Buquet, who was found hanged later in the movie. In the scenes of Ledoux and Raoul descending into Erik's lair, Ledoux mentions that the discovery of a trap door they used cost Joseph Buquet his life. In the lantern man scene, we see lantern man walking through what appears to be the canals in Erik's underground lair, shortly followed by a shadow which strongly resembled the shadow used for Erik in the movie. Thus, it seems likely that this text-less scene portrays Joseph Buquet investigating the Phantom's lair after discovering the trap door Ledoux uses, being followed shortly thereafter by the Phantom, and presumably murdered by him offscreen.

While it was common practice to simultaneously shoot footage for prints designed for both domestic and foreign markets with multiple cameras, the film is possibly the only one to survive with footage of both versions available. Comparisons of both versions (in both black & white and color footage) yield:

1. Footage of most of the same scenes shot from slightly different angles
2. Different takes for similar scenes
3. 24fps sound scenes replacing silent scene footage
4. Variations in many re-written dialogue and exposition cards in the same font

Several possibilities regarding the negative's origins are:

1. It is an international version for foreign markets.
2. It is a silent version for theaters not yet equipped with sound in 1930.
3. it is a negative made for Universal Studio's reference.

International version

International versions were sound versions of films which the producing company did not feel were worth the expense of re-shooting in a foreign language. They were meant to cash in on the talkie craze; by 1930 anything with sound did well at the box-office while silent films were largely ignored by the public. These "international sound versions" were basically part-talkies and were largely silent except for musical sequences. Since the film included a synchronized music and a sound effect track, it could be advertised as a sound picture and could therefore capitalize on the talkie craze in foreign markets (instead of the more expensive method of actually re-filming talking sequences in foreign languages).

To make an international version, the studio would simply insert (on the soundtrack) music over any dialogue in the film and splice in some title cards (which would be replaced with the appropriate language of the country). Singing sequences were left intact as well as any sound sequences that did not involve speaking.

The surviving sound disks of The Phantom of the Opera belong to the domestic release and therefore do not synchronize with the dialogue portions of the film which have been abbreviated on the existing print. There is no record to substantiate what the "international version" of The Phantom was, nor is there any reference that it was even available. Furthermore, one negative was made for all of Europe and sent overseas. The negative was generally left there and the version that is now seen shows no signs of negative wear that would be consistent with that of a negative printed for a number of countries.

Silent version

During the transition to sound in 1930, it was not uncommon to see a silent and a sound version of a picture playing simultaneously (particularly from Universal, who kept a silent/sound policy longer than most studios). One speculation is that the Eastman House print is actually a silent version of the film made for theaters not yet equipped with sound.

However, according to trade journals of the time, only the sound version was available. The possibility is that Universal made a silent version from unused trims (the original negative was heavily worn, as seen by the Show-At-Home prints struck during this period), but decided not to do anything with it. Furthermore, by 1930 fewer exhibitors were booking totally silent films and this had forced all the major studios to add soundtracks and dialogue sequences to all of their major releases which had previously been intended for release as a silent picture. Studios did not spend much time or money in making silent versions, which were meant to be played in rural areas whose theaters could not yet afford the conversion to sound. Nevertheless, if the extant print is a silent version, it would explain why Universal still had it and also the lack of wear on the negative.

Color preservation

According to Harrison's Reports, a trade journal, when the film was originally released, it contained 17 minutes of color footage; that color footage was retained in the 1930 part-talking version. Technicolor

Technicolor

Technicolor is a color motion picture process invented in 1916 and improved over several decades.It was the second major process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color process in Hollywood from 1922 to 1952...

's records show 497 feet of color footage. Judging from trade journals and reviews, all of the opera scenes of Faust

Faust (opera)

Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...

, as well as the "Bal Masqué" scene were shot in Process 2 Technicolor (a two-color system). Only the Bal Masqué scene survives in color. The Phantom's cape during the scene on the rooftop of the opera was colored red using the Handschiegl color process

Handschiegl Color Process

The Handschiegl color process produced motion picture film prints with color artificially added to selected areas of the image. Aniline dyes were applied to a black-and-white print using gelatin imbibition matrices.-History of the process:...

. This effect has been replicated in Photoplay Production/Kevin Brownlow's 1996 restoration by computer colorization

Film colorization

Film colorization is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia or monochrome moving-picture images. It may be done as a special effect, or to modernize black-and-white films, or to restore color films...

.

As with many films of the time, black and white footage was tinted

Film tinting

Film tinting is the process of adding color to black-and-white film, usually by means of soaking the film in dye and staining the film emulsion...

 various colors to provide mood. These included amber for interiors, blue for night scenes, green for mysterious moods, red for fire and sunshine (yellow) for daylight exteriors.

Legacy

The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress

Library of Congress

The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...

 and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry

National Film Registry

The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...

. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the film is in the public domain

Public domain

Works are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...

 due to Universal's failure to renew the copyright in 1953, and may be freely downloaded from the Internet Archive

Internet Archive

The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...

. It was parodied in the 70's spoof film Phantom of the Paradise

Phantom of the Paradise

Phantom of the Paradise is a 1974 musical film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The story is a loosely adapted mixture of The Phantom of the Opera, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Faust and also briefly references Frankenstein and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari...

 and by the Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett

Sir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...

 novel Maskerade

Maskerade

Maskerade is the eighteenth novel in the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. The witches Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg visit the Ankh-Morpork Opera House to find Agnes Nitt, a girl from Lancre, and get caught up in a story similar to The Phantom of the Opera.-Plot summary:The story begins with...

. This film was #52 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments The film was one of 400 films nominated to be on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition). The avant-garde jazz ensemble Club Foot Orchestra

Club Foot Orchestra

The Club Foot Orchestra is a music ensemble founded in 1983 by Richard Marriott. After a brief career playing dramatic, complex music in San Francisco clubs, they became known for their equally dramatic and complex scores for classic silent movies. The ensemble got their name from a performance art...

 has written a new score for the film

Film score

A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...

 and performed it live in accompaniment to the film.

Universal would be involved in three more Phantom adaptations. They released remakes in 1943

Phantom of the Opera (1943 film)

Phantom of the Opera is a 1943 Universal horror film starring Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster and Claude Rains, directed by Arthur Lubin, and filmed in Technicolor. The original music score was composed by Edward Ward....

 and 1962

The Phantom of the Opera (1962 film)

The Phantom of the Opera is a 1962 British film based on the novel by Gaston Leroux. The film was made by Hammer Film Productions.-Plot:The film opens in Victorian London on a December night in 1900....

, and would distribute the 2004 adaptation

The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film)

The Phantom of the Opera is a 2004 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical of the same name, which in turn was based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux....

 of the musical

The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)

The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...

in Latin America and Australia.

External links

Lon Chaney Lon Chaney, Sr. Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema... in The Phantom of the Opera