Lon Chaney in Phantom of the Opera

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Today's entry is part one of  a double feature The Phantom of the Opera (1925) the silent film classic starring The Man of 1000 faces, Lon Chaney, and the 2005 adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical directed by Joel Schumacher on HD-DVD.

Besides the themes that have transcended into pop culture into countless parodies and homages into film, television and comic books, I am not too familiar with either the original novel, the classic silent picture or the musical. I had seen the 1989 slasher version starring Robert Englund, which was more Jack The Ripper than Phantom of the Opera.

The 1925 Silent movie starts at  famous Paris Opera house in the midst of a production of Faust. Ironically, the main female character of Christine Daae makes her own pact with the devil. A devil known as the opera ghost or The Phantom. Little is known about the Phantom except he is in love with Christine, a love that drives him to commit all sorts of atrocities in Christine's name. At first wicked woman that she is, she doesn't seem to mind that her suitor drops a chandelier on the star of the show, thus catapulting her into the spotlight. She even rejects her fiancee from the fame the Phantom promises to lay at her feet. it isn't until she  find out he is just as monstrous on the outside as he is on the inside that she rejects the Phantom. At that point she goes crawling back to the fiance she rejected begging for help. And of course he's a handsome wealthy aristocrat. If she can't have fame, she'll take the next best thing, money.  Women are evil.

The disc I watched was the out of print 2004 Delta DVD release. At first it looks promising. You open it an it includes a high quality reproduction of the original poster.

Most big studios barely include an insert in their DVD's. Much less a cool ass poster!

But its all down here from there. While most of the picture upscales rather nicely to my 50 Inch screen, the transfer was horrible. It seemed to come from a video cassette with major tracking problems. The soundtrack really didn't seem to fit the film, except in a few places. And there was a laughtrack that sometimes popped in in inappropriate times. At the beginning of the film there was an announcement made that let us all know this film was made during the silent era and some trivia about the location, which apparently is still standing today. The print also switched from a black and white version to a  tinted version during the Masquerade scene. I don't believe that was intentional.

If you've never seen it, it's worth a view, if only to admire the work that Lon Chaney put into the makeup at great deal of pain to himself, to dilate his eyes and stretch and contort his face. The man was very dedicated to his craft. But if you do, seek out the much better Milestone Collection print which I have linked above. It includes several versions of the film and alternate endings.

For Tomorrow the 2005 Adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Hit musical.