If I am the Phantom, it is because man's hatred has made me so... If I shall be saved, it will be because your love redeems me.
Classic silent horror movie, released in 1925. It was directed by Rupert Julian and produced by Carl Laemmle. The screenwriters included Elliott J. Clawson, Raymond L. Schrock, Bernard McConville, Jasper Spearing, Richard Wallace, Walter Anthony, Tom Reed, and Frank M. McCormack; the story is based on Gaston Leroux's celebrated novel. The stars included Lon Chaney as Erik, The Phantom, Mary Philbin as Christine Daaé, the magnificently mustachioed Norman Kerry as Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, and Arthur Edmund Carewe as Ledoux.
The plot involves the terrible deeds of the infamous Phantom of the Paris Opera. He demands that only he can sit in Box 5 during performances, he lurks in the shadows and terrifies performers and stagehands at the opera, and he makes demands about who should be performing -- and if his whims aren't carried out, he's very likely to kill people. In fact, when the diva Carlotta is chosen to sing the female lead, over his preferred choice of the up-and-coming Christine, during the performance of "Faust," Erik actually cuts down the chandelier, which falls into the audience. And what of Christine? Her lightning-fast rise at the opera has been fueled by a being she calls an angel, who has been training her in her career. Her beau Raoul wants her to get married, but Christine is focused on her career and her precious angel -- who is, of course, the Phantom. After the disaster of the falling chandelier, Christine is entranced by the Phantom, and she follows him to his hidden lair deep below the opera house. Deeply put off by the mask he wears over his face, Christine is frightened of the Phantom, and he cautions her that she is never to touch the mask. Of course, her curiosity gets the better of her, and when she unmasks him, her would-be suitor is revealed as a skull-faced madman. Though furious with her, Erik allows her to return to the opera, but warns her she is never to see Raoul again.
But that ain't how True Love or horror movies work. Christine meets Raoul again at the Paris Opera's grand masquerade ball -- and the Phantom appears, too, costumed gloriously as the Red Death. They flee to the roof, where Christine confides what she knows about the Phantom, and Raoul makes plans for the two of them to escape to England, both unaware that the Phantom is eavesdropping. At the next performance, Erik kidnaps Christine from the stage, and Raoul and Ledoux, a member of the secret police, pursue them. They are tortured in Erik's secret dungeons, while Christine must face the deranged Phantom alone. Will anyone survive the mad rampage of the Phantom of the Opera?
She is singing to bring down the chandelier!
This film is best known -- quite justifiably so -- for its amazing makeup effects, created entirely by Chaney himself. The Man of 1000 Faces painted his eye sockets black, jammed a set of jagged fake teeth into his mouth, and used wires to pull his nose up and flatten it against his face, giving himself a distinctly skull-like appearance. The resulting makeup was painful for Chaney and genuinely horrifying for audiences in the '20s. It was said that moviegoers screamed, fainted, or fled the theater when Erik's face was revealed. In fact, it's likely that even his fellow castmates were surprised by how scary he looked -- he'd worked on the makeup design in private, and didn't debut it until the first day it was to be filmed.
But the film is also a great deal of fun to watch for reasons beyond Chaney's makeup. Early in the movie, there's a scene where some of the ballerinas are sharing gossip about the Opera Ghost, and the actresses are constantly on the move -- rushing up and down stairs in small groups, nervously spinning in place, dragging a hapless stagehand around with them. It was one of the funniest things I'd seen on film in a while -- a perfect piece of physical comedy and characterization enacted by an entire group of people.
Even better is the masquerade ball. Up to this point, the movie had been in black-and-white, with various tints added to the screen for mood -- blue for nighttime, yellow for daytime, etc. But with the masquerade, the film switches to an early form of Technicolor, adding even more shock to the Phantom's appearance in his garish red costume. The later scene where he eavesdrops on Christine and Raoul on the roof was colored using a different process, with only his costume colored. The glorious horror of the Phantom's blood-red cape flapping in the wind over Paris is an awe-inspiring sight, and definitely not something you'll ever forget.
My favorite piece of trivia about this movie: Producer Carl Laemmle took a vacation to France and actually met Gaston Leroux, who was working in the French film industry at the time. Leroux gave him a copy of his novel, and Laemmle read it in a single night and immediately bought the film rights to the book.
Feast your eyes! Glut your soul on my accursed ugliness!
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