I must admit that I've already seen this movie, but it was a long time ago and I didn't write about my viewing experiences back then. Now that I've watched it again, I can finally make an actual judgement on it. Because Lon Chaney is in this, I'm correct in saying it's one of the most well made horror movies, even if it's not all that creepy by modern standards. For me, Chaney's longevity as a great actor is not due to his ability to be creepy, but because of his ability to transform his appearance so deftly. He wasn't called "the man of 1000 faces" for nothing. In this film, he dons arguably the most disturbing costume of 1920s cinema. The story takes place in the Paris Opera House, where a play called Faust is being performed. At the performance are two brothers, Philippe (Edward Martindel) and Raoul de Chagny (Norman Kerry). This is a particular exciting experience for the latter, as his love interest Christine (Mary Philbin) is due to sing. Raoul tells Christine during a break in the play he wants to marry her, but she thinks such a move would jeopardize her duty as a performer. Soon after, the people leading the opera house are told about the alleged existence of a ghost or phantom that people have seen in one of the boxes overlooking the theater. They don't really think anything of it, but some of the performers themselves claim they've seen this ghost in the vast basements of the opera house. The phantom then tries to anonymously blackmail Christine into singing a certain role in the play tomorrow or else he'll do something regrettable. Raoul meets again with Christine, still determined on getting her to marry him, but now she's saying she hears someone or something talking to her about how to sing well. She's tempted to learn how to do this, so she rejects him again. As promised, Christine takes her new role in the opera, and the performance goes well enough. However, a man named Simon later finds the corpse of his brother Joseph backstage, who has apparently hanged himself. The phantom is still not satisfied with hearing just one performance from Christine, and sends a note to Carlotta (the girl Christine is replacing) demanding her to give up her role to Christine. However, this time Carlotta doesn't give in and Christine doesn't get her role. The phantom is enraged and causes a chandelier to crash to the audience, killing some spectators. Eventually, Christine comes face to face (or rather face to mask) with the phantom himself, whose real name is Erik (Lon Chaney). The phantom apparently loves her so much that she is allowed free passage between his underground hideout and the rest of the opera house, that is until Christine takes off his mask when he's playing an organ. Now that she can see his horrifically malformed true face, she no longer wants to see him again, but Erik says she must never be allowed to leave. Christine sneaks out of the underground to meet with Raoul in order to tell him about the horrible things she's seen, and the phantom hears the whole conversation from a statue on the roof. Christine is later abducted by the phantom, and an inspector named Ledoux is able to provide details to Raoul about Erik's past life. Ledoux and Raoul venture into the underground caverns in order to save Christine and get trapped, but Christine manages to save them by lying to Erik and saying she'll marry him if he lets them live. By this point, a large crowd armed with torches has assembled nearby and tries to kill the phantom once and for all. He takes Christine with him and tries to escape in a horse carriage, but it is overturned, allowing the mob to swarm Erik and throw him into a river. Raoul and Christine then get married. This is undoubtedly one of the most memorable horror films ever. Some of it doesn't really feel like horror, but that specific moment when Christine removes Erik's mask is just unforgettable. Even almost a century later, Chaney's makeup in this movie is truly terrifying and zombie-like. The secluded cellars of the opera house are also a sight to behold. I know that a great many things since the release of this movie have bore the name "Phantom of the Opera", but this will always be the best adaptation just because a horror actor of Chaney's talent will never again appear. I find it strange how the movie makers didn't really know the layout of the Paris Opera House considering how great this movie turned out. If Chaney and the other excellent actors in here demonstrate one thing above all others, they prove you don't need computers or advanced special effects to make horror of this magnitude. Hopefully more people become fans of his after watching this.
Review of The Phantom of the Opera
