merelyaninnuendo The Phantom Of The OperaIf one still finds it interesting enough to not only acknowledge but also blend into its sketchy environment which was made almost a century ago, speaks for itself how advance it might have been in that era where love or even drama used to be a bit stretched (and lets face it, how many of those went mythical or into fantasy land). The Phantom Of The Opera is exquisitely entertaining and immensely horrifying at the same time but what gives it away is that even though being of such a short runtime it seems a bit long (which means somewhere it was stretched unnecessarily) especially in the early stage where the writer sets up the fear and horrific nature of the phantom among the surrounding to the audience (the gossips outside the dressing room). And also the editing part especially the one which cannot be expressed to the audience and is shown as a message could have been better (like in Charlie Chaplin's movies).

Hitchcoc We all know the story. The Phantom haunts the Paris Opera House. He is in love with the beautiful soprano, Christine. Because of his disfigurement, he demands to run the company, putting his "protege" in important roles. He is also in love with her. When he is unhappy, he becomes a killer. He kidnaps Christine and takes her to his place in the sewers. Of course, in 1925, his unmasking caused people to faint in the theater. It is a great moment of suspense topped off by his disfigured face. Even though the copies we have of this are not great, it is still stunning to see that famous scene. Some have criticize the change in plot from Gaston Leroux's novel, but it doesn't matter. Very well done silent masterpiece.

Matreats :P Reaching over $2,000,000 in total gross, the 1925 version of "The Phantom of the Opera", was indeed one of the most famous movies of the time. With famous actors like Lon Chaney and Mary Philibin, and unforgettable characters, "The Phantom of the Opera" is definitely a film worth seeing.A mysterious Phantom is said to have haunted the Paris Opera house for years, and when a group of ballet dancers sees his shadow, the rumors spread like wildfire. The Phantom is actually a man who falls in love with a certain young lady named Christine Daae, and goes to extreme extents to get her to love him, despite his ugly appearance.My first impression of the movie was a little hesitant, because I have seen the Broadway production of this movie before, and didn't know if I would compare the two; but as the film progressed, I was impressed. The acting made the story line very clear, and though it was dramatic at times, it helped progress the plot and show the character's emotions and feelings. Also, the way the characters developed over the course of the film was well thought out and easy to follow.Throughout the duration of the movie, you had to pay close attention because of the title cards. Because it's a silent film, the title cards are completely necessary and critical to the development of the story. They also made you more involved in the story, because you have to keep your focus on the movie or else you could miss an important piece of dialogue. The actual story of the film was very entertaining, and included things like complex characters and an actual plot. I noticed that the way they use scene changes is very similar to what we do now; leaving one scene and going to another to create suspense and show what the other characters are doing while something is going on elsewhere. The lighting was significant in this movie, especially with a character like the Phantom. They used and played with shadows to add to the tension and mysteriousness of the character and his actions, like during the scene where some of the men find the man who told stories of the Phantom hung backstage. Though it was only a silhouette of the figure, the idea still came across, and it left an idea for the audience to envision. Because of how old the film was, however, there were some places where the lighting made it hard to see; whether it was too dark to make out what was happening, or so bright the characters faces were hardly visible. Fortunately, it didn't happen often. My favorite part of the entire film had to be the music; it set the mood for each scene, playing light-hearted music during the love scenes, and suspenseful music during the scenes involving the Phantom. Though you don't really notice it very much if you don't focus on it, the music playing in the background evokes emotion from you that you wouldn't have felt otherwise. The music combined with the story line helped build up the plot and the conflict right until the end of the movie, where the final scene and climax takes place.Shortly after I finished the film, I did some research and figured out that they didn't use an actual opera house to film the movie inside. They built a replica of the Paris Opera house, which took them a year to build. They hired sculptors and designers to create the statues and the grand staircase shown in the masquerade scene. They also built the massive chandelier, which weighed 16,000 pounds, and was forty feet across. The amount of work and money put into creating this movie is quite amazing, including the makeup that Lon Chaney did to accurately portray the character of the Phantom.I enjoyed watching this film, and taking a step out of my regular "modern movie" comfort zone. I would rate it at 8 stars, and would definitely recommend it to people who haven't seen it before.

Dalbert Pringle Favorite Quote - "His eyes are ghastly beads in which there is no light - Like holes in a grinning skull!" Released in 1925 - With Lon Chaney's compelling performance, as "The Phantom", being one of this picture's strongest assets, here is a production (filmed on a grand scale) that I'd say was one of the most civilized and cultured horror movies of all time.Set in and around the magnificent Paris Opera House (in Paris, France, of course), this tragic story of obsession, revenge and unrequited love is both a finely-tuned and nicely-paced tale that holds the viewer's rapt attention right from its eerie and intriguing opening, to its climatic finish with the angry mob in hot pursuit of "The Phantom", who is fleeing for his life.This is a film that is certainly not short on riveting drama.Besides the scene where "The Phantom" brings down the massive chandelier onto the heads of the opera-house's audience - The scene where Christine Daae tears away "The Phantom's" mask to reveal the hideous ugliness below, has got to be one of the most shocking moments in horror-movie history.Now 90 years old, I highly recommend this film to anyone who enjoys a genuine scare in the good, old-fashioned way, sans guts-n-gore.