The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

The Phantom of the Opera may possibly be the most well-known Lon Chaney film. The fact that it’s in the public domain is probably a huge contributing factor, though I imagine the main reason is that this is one of the few horror films Chaney did. Despite how much the public associates him with the horror film genre, in reality, Chaney, Sr. didn’t actually make as many horror films as people might believe. The Phantom of the Opera is interesting for the fact that it does work as an entertaining horror film, despite how much it feels like it shouldn’t.

Based off of the Gaston Leroux novel of the same name, The Phantom of the Opera follows Christine Daaé (Mary Philbin), a singer at the Paris Opera House who is the understudy of lead singer Carlotta (Virginia Pearson in the original, Mary Fabian in the sound version). Christine has been training under the tutoring of a mysterious voice that lives in the Opera House. After being convinced to cut contact with her sweetheart Raoul (Norman Kerry), Christine discovers to her horror that her “master” is the Opera Ghost (Chaney), whose face is disfigured and who wants Christine to be his bride.

The production history of this film, by most accounts, was a very troubled one. The original director, Rupert Julian, was considered to be very incapable at his job and Universal attempted to reshoot the film with Edward Sedgwick as director. The final result is a bit of a jumbled mess. Some plot elements don’t entirely make sense, most notably the presence of the Secret Police Officer Ledoux played by Arthur Edmund Carewe. He was originally supposed to be a Persian working for the Phantom, as he was in the book, but in the final film, he instead is a policeman who invades the Phantom’s hiding place with no backup other than an incompetent stranger and took months to find the Phantom’s hiding space while another character in this version finds it almost immediately after looking. The confusion regarding this film extends to its preservation. I’m still not entirely sure what the version I’m most acquainted with is; I’m told it’s a 1929 reissue version, but there’s at least one scene in it that seems to be from a sound reissue released in 1930.

Not helping matters are rather dull performances by the romantic leads, played by Mary Philbin and Norman Kerry. I give Philbin credit for trying, especially considering the terrible things she had to put up with during production, but her performance comes across as awkward, especially during the scenes with Raoul and Ledoux trapped in the torture chamber. Kerry, on the other hand, just goes through the motions of any conventional leading man type of the time and it feels like he doesn’t care at all about his performance.

Chaney is what saves the film. In addition to his unbelievable makeup job, Chaney also is able to inject life into the story’s villain. The book sort of portrays the phantom as being a mixture of the protagonist and the antagonist, someone who does evil things but also does them because of how widely misunderstood he is. The movie tries to portray him only as a villain, explaining that he is an escaped convict from Devil’s Island. Chaney, however, is able to instill the emotions in the character that are necessary to portray him as he was in the book, making great use of gestures like when he’s on top of the Opera House and discovers Christine betrayed him or when he is devastated that Christine removed his mask and discovered the truth about him. It almost feels as though Chaney is trying to fight the Hollywood system and is trying his hardest to defeat the powers-that-be who were ruining the film. Luckily for us, he won, and even if the title cards try to prove different, he made the character more than just an escaped convict from Devil’s Island. Also by doing this, Chaney made the film as a whole a memorable experience.

Not that there aren’t other good things about the film. The set and costume design is absolutely fantastic and some of the supporting performers including Snitz Edwards and Arthur Edmund Carewe do well in their roles despite the muddled plot. Even Philbin has a few good moments, such as when she first meets the phantom and seems genuinely scared upon the sight of his mask (it should come as no surprise that she recalled Chaney directing this scene instead of Julian, proving she could be a decent actress when working with a capable director). But it is the incredible makeup mixed with the emotional complexity of the title character that truly makes this film worth going back to. Even if it isn’t Chaney’s best film, what’s good is so good that I can’t help but enjoy it. Take it for what it is: a flawed masterpiece.

8 out of 10