The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)

When a mysterious figure known only as the Phantom (Lon Chaney) who "haunts" the Paris Opera house falls in love with beautiful understudy Christine (Mary Philbin), he decides to take control of her career. He mentors her from afar (as a disembodied voice in her dressing room) and when he thinks she is ready he threatens opera star Carlotta with harm is she doesn't pretend to be sick and let Christine perform in her stead. She relents and Christine performs admirably. But things quickly get out of hand when the Phantom continues to insist that Christine perform and Carlotta refusing that culminates in a disaster as the Phantom causes the opera house's chandelier to crash to the floor during a performance. The Phantom then abducts Christine and takes her to his underground lair (said in a Dr. Evil voice, and if you just got that reference, you are truly enlightened). Up until now no one had seen the face of the Phantom because he has been wearing a mask, but curious Christine unmasks him and hilarity ensues.

Trivia: The Phantom's makeup was designed to resemble a skull. Lon Chaney attached a strip of fish skin (a thin, translucent material) to his nostrils with spirit gum, pulled it back until he got the tilt he wanted, then attached the other end of the fish skin under his bald cap. For some shots, a wire and rubber device was used, and according to cameraman Charles Van Enger, cut into his nose and caused a good deal of bleeding. Chaney put egg membrane on his eyeballs to give them a cloudy look. Cheeks were built up using a combination of cotton and collodion. Ears were glued back and the rest was greasepaint shaded in the proper areas of the face. The sight was said to have caused some patrons at the premiere to have fainted. The print restored by the Kino company is a 1929 re-release version that was re-edited, eliminating some scenes and inserting new material shot after the 1925 version was finished. These included a sound sequence with opera star Mary Fabian singing in the role of Carlotta. In the re-edited version, Virginia Pearson, who played Carlotta in the silent 1925 version, is credited and referred to as "Carlotta's Mother" instead. The only part of the set sill standing is the Opera House, though the only parts left completely untouched are the boxes and stage sides.

Okay back to the classics. This movie has probably the most iconic scene from any silent movie ever made, the unmasking of the Phantom. Lon Chaney is a true master of make-up effects and is known as the Man With A Thousand Faces. As a film this was pretty cool because it is about an opera and really had the feel of an opera. The music was beautiful, and the actors on screen had a musical flow to their movements, especially the ballerina gang (my term, they were a bunch of ballerinas that were always shown together in a small group. they would run from one side of the screen to the other, or run up the stairs all together with little flourishes and twirls).

Note: This is your last chance to guess my "D" movie.