Sometimes, maybe you’re not up to writing a whole long text on something, but you want to populate the movie review archive of your blog. In times like those, you need a blurb. On your blog. Blargh.
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Lon Chaney stars, co-directs, and of course, does all his own makeup work in this classic of the silent era which manages to still deliver some solid thrills almost a century later. And it is a big piece of work. Huge crowd scenes, a striking setting, endless underground catacombs and waterways, two scenes of painted color that really pop (first, the masked ball, and then a really gorgeous scene on top of the opera house where Christine and Raul plot their escape as the phantom watches from beneath a giant gargoyle, his cape billowing crimson in this otherwise monochromatic film). Some set pieces are enjoyably creepy and/or funny, notably as ballerinas run around terrified of shadows, and the phantom takes Christine on like 5 forms of transport (an exaggeration, but a slight one) to get from the opera house to his underground apartment in the catacombs.
There’s even some good action and derring-do as Raul and his friend venture underground to rescue the damsel in distress and get caught in the phantom’s various traps which seem like they could exist in an Indiana Jones movie. Though there is some oddness to their approach as they are convinced that he could at any time drop a noose round their necks and walk around constantly with their hands in the air to prevent this. That doesn’t happen, but everything else does. Perhaps, they could have just…been careful and paid attention to their surroundings.
From a modern perspective, the pacing can sometimes drag and I think the screenplay really depends on this being a well-known story in the public consciousness and, therefore, skips over some important details here and there, but on the whole, the film stands up and makes for very pleasant Sunday morning viewing.