Phantom Of The Opera 1925
Perhaps the rarest of all talents in the history of Hollywood was none other than Lon Chaney, a guy who not only was widely considered THE greatest actor of the silent era in terms of the emotional pantomime which is required of the silent acting artform (in many minds better than Chaplin who almost exclusively did comedy and pathos) and had it literally ingrained into him growing up by having both of his parents be deaf and dumb which forced them to communicate through sign language, but he also remains the only movie star of ANY era to actually do ALL of his own makeup, a feat that astonishes many to this day since many of Chaneyâs best self applied makeup jobs have never been fully figured out by modern makeup artists as in just how in the hell he managed to so convincingly achieve those effects that he did onscreen (including playing amputees years before Gary Sinise had his legs erased by CGI). Moreso, Chaney was known to shun the public eye, rarely appearing in public âofficiallyâ and almost never allowing any photographs of his actual face to be published in magazines or newspapers, thus keeping his aura of being âThe Man Of A Thousand Facesâ intact all the way up to his tragically shocking death in 1930 just at the advent of sound at the fairly young age of 47. Though many of Chaneyâs best known and most heavily made up roles were of the horror variety, he was also an exceptional dramatic actor, comedian and even a dancer! However, what many feel was his greatest role would come in 1925 in what would be the first ever adaptation of Gaston LeRouxâs legendary novel (and the only version for which LeRoux himself would personally be alive to see), a character that would later be done by the likes of Claude Rains, Herbert Lom, Robert Englund and of course Michael Crawford amongst many more. But Chaney would be the first to essay the part of Erik Destler, musical madman and composer who lives underneath The Paris Opera House, rolling in the muck of the sewers and existing as an open secret in the musical community above him as some kind of a âghostâ, only here The Phantomâs backstory seems strongly rooted in him being a deformed human being who is very much mortal (although possibly born with his deformities) and is not only a composer but also a practitioner of the âblack artsâ (which would make him either a magician or a warlock or both) who apparently was committed to an institution for the criminally insane but managed to escape and make his way back to Paris where he resides underneath The Opera House waiting to seek his expected vengeance. For almost half the movie Chaney resides underneath a weird looking translucent mask where we can see both his eyes and his jaw moving whenever he talks, but Chaney had something very special planned for this occasion, a makeup job for which he had told people would be considered âexperimentalâ and to that end all posters, magazine articles and promotional material were made to NOT feature any pictures of Chaney in full makeup (and all actors who had interacted with him on set were sworn to secrecy) in order to put forth the idea that the world would only finally see his incredible Phantom makeup for the first time on the big screen when the film premiered. And the final effect? Absolutely stunning, reportedly causing many to faint in the movie theatres out of pure, utter fear since Chaney had somehow managed to turn his own head into that of a human skull, complete with a stunning âmissing noseâ effect that continues to confound and baffle experts today as to how he actually did it, with the most commonly accepted theory being that he somehow found a way to attach hooks to the inside of his nostrils and then pull and stretch them back in such a way to make it appear that he had no cartilage in his nose whatsoever. It is that along with the false teeth that he used (whenever The Phantom appears to be laughing remains an unsettling sight to this day) that defines exactly why Chaney remains such a legend just for the sheer amount of dedication that he gave to immersing himself completely in his roles, even in this extreme getup that purportedly put him in a large amount of facial pain whenever he was in full makeup. The film itself is somewhat hit or miss, no doubt because it was considered a troubled production in its day, one which saw director Rupert Julien walk off the set and quit due to not only having severe issues with Chaney but also with the rest of the cast and crew as well. Chaney himself wasted little time taking on the reins as the new director (particularly during scenes where he was in full makeup) but even then the issues continued as actress Mary Philbin (Christine) accused Chaney of constantly hitting on her all the time (or as they call it today, sexual harassment) and swore never to work with him again. Regardless, the whole thing got finished and remains one of the most remarkably lavish productions of all time with its magnificent Paris Opera House set (built and filmed in Hollywood) featuring thousands of extras in the crowd along with its early experimentations in color, as many scenes are given a particular âtintâ depending on where the location of the scene taking place is and then there is the truly spectacular âMasque Of The Red Deathâ masquerade ball scene, a setpiece that was reportedly hand painted in order to show off its various colors and at least looks as presentable as any color film that was made in the 1940s when Chaneyâs Phantom enters the festivities as The Red Death and even later on there is a stunning bit where his red cloak continues to remain red even against a black and white background. The movie still suffers from the stagy qualities that almost all silent movies suffered from back then and many people who prefer to have their movies with sound will have next to nothing to gain here (although a dubbed in sound version without Chaneyâs participation was released in 1930 but is considered to be lost today). The big moments including the chandelier flying down from the ceiling (after lead singer Carlotta defies The Phantomâs threats to bow out of performing the lead role in the opera so that Christine might take her place) are still here but the overall pacing of the known story seems quite a bit off, with Christine being established as the object of The Phantomâs lust even before the first time she ever comes onscreen and an almost neverending series of ânotesâ (usually from The Phantom) that are given extended closeups for just enough time for us to read them (much appreciated) and understand exactly where the story is heading next. Other features of the story which (to my best knowledge) remain exclusive to this version is Christine being instructed by The Phantom that she is to remain safe provided that she does NOT try to touch or remove his mask (apparently Chaneyâs Phantom seems to have a thing about that) which Christine of course disregards so that we can have one of the all time great scary moments in movie history (reportedly even the actress Philbin had no idea what he was going to look like when she pulled it off so her reaction was genuine). Thereâs also a (normal looking) mysterious character (Arthur Edmund Carewe) whom we see lurking around during the first half who it turns out is from the âsecret policeâ and he has actually been tracking The Phantom since his escape from the institution, studying his movements and behavior patterns since he got settled in underneath The Opera House and eventually stepping up to try and save Christine from The Phantomâs clutches. Other details to note is that this is easily the scariest and most sinister interpretation of Joseph the ill fated stagehand who has been featured in nearly every version as a casual victim of The Phantomâs (usually for talking shit) and ironically here after his killing it turns out to be his brother who rounds up a lynch mob so that they can give The Phantom some of their own brand of justice. In the end, Chaneyâs Phantom DOES commit a selfless act and still gets burned for it, bringing a touch of pathos to a film that is flawed, uneven and dated but still features what remains one of the all time greatest monster makeups as applied by the legendary actor himself, a man that carried his own makeup kit everywhere he went even as nobody would recognize him when he was just being himselfâŚ
7/10