The Phantom of the Opera [Blu-ray]

Director: Arthur Lubin Arthur Lubin

Overview

This Technicolor retelling of the Gaston Leroux "grand guignol" classic The Phantom of the Opera has a little more opera than phantom, but that's because the stars are soprano Susannah Foster and tenor Nelson Eddy. Claude Rains carries the acting honors on his shoulders, playing a pathetic orchestra violinist who worships aspiring opera-singer Foster from afar. The girl is unaware that Rains has secretly been financing her music lessons with instructor Leo Carrillo. When he runs out of money, Rains attempts to sell the concerto that he's been working on all his life. Mistakenly believing that his precious concerto has been stolen from him, Rains attacks and kills the music publisher he holds responsible. Terrified, the publisher's mistress throws a pan full of acid into Rains' face. Rains runs screaming into the night, and is not heard from for the next reel or so. Soon afterward, the Paris Opera house is plagued by a series of mysterious accidents. The managers are informed via letter that the "accidents" will continue if Foster is not immediately promoted to leading roles. Only after reigning diva Jane Farrar is drugged into incapacitation is Foster given her big break. Farrar accuses Foster's boyfriend, police inspector Nelson Eddy, of doping her in order to advance Foster's career. Farrar is later strangled, and Eddy is accused of the crime. The culprit is, of course, Rains, who now poses as the masked-and-caped "phantom." Maniacally determined that no one will impede Foster's success, Rains causes a huge chandelier to crash down on the opera audience when Foster fails to appear onstage (she'd been kept from performing by police-chief Edgar Barrier, who hoped in this manner to flush The Phantom out of hiding). A chase through the catacombs below the opera house ensues, with Rains holding Foster prisoner. When Rains briefly lets down his guard, the tremulous Foster removes his mask. It's "yecccch," all right, but nowhere near as frightening as the unmasking scene in the silent Lon Chaney version of Phantom of the Opera. The same can be said for the rest of this 1943 remake, though in fairness it appears as though the film wasn't really designed to scare anyone, but instead to serve as a suspense yarn with musical interludes. Hume Cronyn makes his second film appearance in Phantom in a microscopic role. The huge sets designed for this picture were hastily reused for the 1944 Universal melodrama The Climax, starring Boris Karloff and (again) Susannah Foster.

Product Details

Release Date:	06/04/2013
UPC:	0025192179112
Original Release:	1943
Rating:	NR
Source:	STUDIO DISTRIBUTION SERVS LLC
Sound:	[Dolby Digital Stereo]
Language:	English
Time:	1:29:00
Sales rank:	26,113

Special Features

The Opera Ghost: A Phantom Unmasked; Production Photographs; Feature Commentary by Film Historian Scott MacQueen; 100 Years of Universal: The Lot; Theatrical Trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Claude Rains	Erique Claudin
Susanna Foster	Christine Dubois
Nelson Eddy	Anatole Garron
Edgar Barrier	Raoul D'Aubert
Leo Carrillo	Signor Feretti
Jane Farrar	Biancarolli
J. Edward Bromberg	Amiot
Fritz Feld	Lecours
Frank Puglia	Villeneuve
Steven Geray	Vercheres
Barbara Everest	Aunt
Hume Cronyn	Gerard
Fritz Leiber	Franz Liszt
Nicolle Andre	Lorenzi
Gladys Blake	Jennie
Elvira Curci	Biancarolli's Maid
Hans Herbert	Marcel
Kate Lawson	Marie
Miles Mander	Pleyel
Rosina Galli	Christine's Maid
Walter O. Stahl	Dr. Lefours
Paul Marion	Desjardines
Tudor Williams	Martha Singer
Anthony Marlowe	Martha Singer
Beatrice Roberts	Nurse
Marek Windheim	Renfrit
Muni Seroff	Reporter
Belle Mitchell	Feretti's Maid,Reporter,Reporter
Ernest Golm	Office Manager
Renee Carson	Georgette Pleyel's Girl Friend
Lane Chandler	Officer
Stan Blystone	Officer
Cyril Delevanti	Bookkeeper
John Walsh	Office Boy
Richard Bartell	Reporter
Alphonse Martell	Policeman
Wheaton Chambers	Reporter
Edward Clark	Usher
William Desmond	Stagehand
Hank Mann	Stagehand
Fritz Field	Actor
George Waggner	Composer
Edward Ward	Composer
George Wagner	Composer

Technical Credits

Samuel Hoffenstein

John Jacolby

Eric Taylor

Hans Jacoby

Arthur Lubin	Director
George Waggner	Producer
Samuel Hoffenstein	Screenwriter
John Jacolby	Screenwriter
Eric Taylor	Screenwriter
Hans Jacoby	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

Universal lavished Technicolor on this, the studio's long-awaited remake of the 1925 Lon Chaney classic. The powers at be also secured the services of Claude Rains in the title role but although a fine character actor, the soft-spoken Britisher may not be everyone's idea of a horror star. Leery of the typecasting that almost inevitably had bedeviled predecessors Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, Rains refused the kind of grotesque makeup that shocked the movie going audience nearly 20 years earlier, allowing Universal makeup wizard Jack Pierce to apply only a very moderate and not very hideous scar. Thus, the drama's much-awaited set piece, Christine's (Susanna Foster) unveiling of the true condition of her secret benefactor, proves not only anti-climactic but also somewhat absurd. What, you may justly ask, was all the fuss about? Although a huge box-office hit back in 1943, some commentators already then questioned the lack of true horror and the same complaint may be raised today. Happily, director Arthur Lubin and ace cameraman Hal Mohr manage to create quite a bit of excitement and atmosphere -- the opening tracking shot, serving to introduce the drama's main characters, remains as effective as Orson Welles' similar but much more famous tour-de-force in Touch of Evil (1957) -- and Universal's magnificent (and still standing) theater set never looked better. In other words, this version of Phantom of the Opera is more Grand Opera than Grand Guignol, a clear indication, in fact, that the confection was originally intended for the studio's popular songbird, Deanna Durbin.

All Movie Guide - Hans J. Wollstein