Review of Phantom Of The Opera, The: Special Collectors Edition

Introduction

Deep below the Paris Opera House, hidden deep, deep below the lofty arches, is the opera ghost, a creature of the imagination, the Phantom of the Opera. Lon Chaney plays Erik, the disfigured Phantom living in the vast catacombs who falls in love with an operative prima donna (Mary Philbin). He kidnaps her in a bid to keep her all to himself and proclaims his love. He will make her a star of immeasurable proportions if she in returns promises to be his forever. She initially promises so, but then goes back on her word and things take a turn for the worse...

Video

Presented with the original fullframe aspect, Phantom looks better than I expected. It was made in black and white and here it`s been restored to how it was originally presented with tones of green and orange amongst other tints. Plus it`s been restored to its original 20-frames per second speed.

There`s lot of grime about 40 minutes into the film which makes seeing what happens onscreen difficult. Apart from these few minutes of griminess, the rest of the film is quite watchable with good use of coloured tints throughout.

Audio

This is a silent film with just an orchestral score giving you some of the clues you need to feel the tension and overall emotion in the storytelling. I thought the music worked well in some scenes and less so in others where I expected more drama to be forced upon me by what looked like some serious stuff happening onscreen. The music here is just a standard DD stereo track which is well recorded but seems to lack a vital ingredient. Since this is our primary source of what`s happening (apart from what happens onscreen that is), I would have thought a 5.1 surround track with more power would have lent this film more of the grandiose feeling I was expecting. As it is however it can feel a little detached from the onscreen goings on since it`s just plain stereo.

Features

Dark animated menus give us scene selection, re-release trailer and a 15 minute essay. The re-release trailer seems quite long at three minutes but it does set the tone for the film. The 15 minute essay piece is a very interesting look at the origins of the story. It`s definitely good to watch for background on the film.

The back of the box does contain some further info on the restoration and sound of the film for DVD, while the inner sleeve contains a short but informative piece titled, "The Man Behind The Mask". This is about the techniques Lon Chaney used to get himself into character and is quite interesting. It`s a shame there aren`t any other extras, but given that the film is quite old and it`s restored for DVD, this is quite a good accomplishment in itself.

Conclusion

Not a Lloyd-Webber or Rice in sight. This is the original film of the one that lived below the infamous Paris Opera House. The Phantom of the Opera is one of those stories that has been made into numerous movies (and musicals) since the book was first written by Gaston Leroux in 1910. This is the silent movie version of Leroux`s melodrama made by Universal back in 1923 starring Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin. Universal shelved the film while they messed about with it before finally releasing it two years later in 1925. This time also marked the start of the successful horror cycle at Universal.

This lavish production won Universal two Academy Awards back in the day, and it`s easy to see why. The costumes and production design alone look incredible. The film direction relies a lot on the actors ability to help your imagination flow in the right direction to tell the story, but because this is all silent, the pacing seems a little sluggish to me. And this is where it goes downhill.

As silent movies go, I can`t help but feel as though there is quite a lot missing from the film that music alone can`t convey. There are no sound effects or actors` dialogue to listen to for any indication of how the scene might play, and this can become tedious after a while. I`m almost tempted to scan the film forwards. I do like silent movies however, in particular those of Harold Lloyd (something for DVD for sure!) where hammy acting is part of the charm of conveying unspoken words. Phantom just doesn`t do it for me though.

Despite some of the drawbacks of a film made over 70 years ago, Phantom of the Opera is still hailed as a classic of the silent era. I thought it was interesting and enjoyable to watch the first time around but sadly I don`t think it has a lot of replay value. I personally need more stimulation than this can provide. It`s worth a rent though if you want to investigate films of silent cinema, otherwise you might want to spend your cash elsewhere.