I have seen a number of versions of this story over the years, but my favorite is a re-release from just a few years ago of the Original with an all new Soundscore by Rick Wakeman (Keboardist and Organist from the rock group "YES")Introduced by Christopher Lee actually in the sub basement of the Paris Opera House. The Paris Opera House being only two blocks from the river Siene did actually have five sub floors and an underground lake that was below the river level. Lon Chaney's extraordinary makeup for the character Erik was never to be improved through all of the other incarnations. And while Mary Philbin's performance was excellent Chaney's performance absolutely shined as the quintessential tortured soul-cum-villain of Gaston Leroux's novel. No complete movie collection should be without this film.
Review of The Phantom of the Opera
