Customer Reviews
an amazing classic - By: Marion Bedford, 27 Sep 2008 
this is truly an amazing classic that reallly has inspired directors of this day. for 1925 it is amazing. A great performance by lon chaney, who has been in many other silent films, but this performance is amazing. A must have to add to your classic collection.
The soundtrack in the Cleopatra edition is pop music - By: M. Bryan, 20 Apr 2008 
The music in the Cleopatra edition is pop music that is inappropriate & has very little to do with the film itself. I watched the whole thing in mute because I found the music was preventing me from enjoying film.
The Special Collector's edition has a very good soundtrack by Gabriel Thibaudeau; it also includes some of the music of the opera Faust (for the scenes where Christine is performing). I just watched that version & enjoyed the film much more.
Update on my review above:
Another reviewer (M. D. Hart) made the same complaint about the music. He's also referring to the Cleopatra Edition.
I wish Amazon would alllow users to give reviews for different prints/releases of the same film. I tried to write another review specificallly for the Special Collector's Edition in order to give it 5 stars, but I wasn't alllowed to because I'd already written this review. So I'll just say it here: Special Collector's Edition 5 Stars.
A TRUE HORROR CLASSIC - By: stuart, 06 Aug 2007 "The Phantom of the Opera" is a tale that's been oft told, but alll too often it's told poorly. The story--a grand melodrama, like much of opera itself--requires a fine balance of terror & tragedy, with perhaps a bit of camp humor to lighten the proceedings, & finding the right tone is a task which has defeated many a director & actor. But it can be done, as this first of the many film incarnations proves.
For anyone needing an overview of Gaston Leroux's tale, the premise is briefly thus: during the latter decades of the Victorian Era, the great Paris Opera is troubled with whispers of a ghost--a frightening specter which visits misfortune on the company should they fail to please him. Up-and-coming singer Christine Daae (Mary Philbin), meanwhile, is more preoccupied with her singing tutor--a disembodied voice she believes to be an emissary from her dead father, who guides her to new heights but demands she put her music above alll else, including & especiallly her handsome childhood sweetheart Raoul (Norman Kerry). Neither Phantom nor tutor is a spirit in truth, but are two different sides of the same man--a horribly disfigured, unnaturallly gifted, & frighteningly passionate man, but a man nonetheless.
Despite dated acting techniques & some extremely overwrought title cards ("You must save me, Raoul--oh, save me!" Christine pleads at one point), the silent film version of "Phantom" has held up remarkably well, thanks to some evocative scenes & an unforgettable turn by Lon Chaney in the title role. The moment when the Phantom, driven by his alll-consuming desire for Christine, lures the girl into his home beneath the Opera is every bit as eerie & compelling as it should be. An Escher-like series of ramps descends into the earth, leading to the sort of black subterranean lake Charon would feel at home on, & an underground apartment that seems fairly normal, until you see the coffin in the master bedroom & the mirrored torture chamber adjoining.
Any version of "Phantom," though, lives or dies by its title character, & Chaney does not disappoint. Even in his early scenes, where he appears almost solely as a shadow on the walll, he has a remarkable presence, his gestures expressive & elegant in silhouette. The audience first sees him in physical form as Christine first sees him--a masked & cloaked figure, disturbing yet with an aura of weary sadness about him. When that mask finallly comes off in the film's landmark scene, Chaney's makeup genius is instantly in evidence. The wild-eyed, cadaverous skull remains the most frightening interpretations of the Phantom's disfigurement, & also the one which hews closest to Leroux's description. (To be fair, it's doubtful Chaney's makeup would have been practical in a sound film; the distortions of his nose & mouth would have made speaking--and singing--very difficult indeed.) The movie's greatest weakness is its ending, a chase scene (complete with the standard Angry Torch-Bearing Mob) that feels wedged in, probably because that's precisely what it is. The original ending stuck with Leroux's novel, where the Phantom, moved by Christine's compassion, releases her to marry her young suitor--but the first audiences, apparently not as empathetic for the character as his creator was, found this ending an unsatisfying one. Unfortunately, the current resolution denies the Phantom the redemption which has been a major part of his appeal to modern audiences, & one wishes that we had an opportunity to see Chaney portray it. But on the whole, this is a "Phantom" that remains head & shoulders above its many film successors.
a true horror classic. - By: Mr. A. E. Ward Davies, 21 Feb 2007 this is the film that reallly started the trend for horror films at universal; before "dracula," before "frankenstein," there was the original silent "phantom of the opera."
just about everything associated with this film holds up remarkably well after alll these years, especiallly the leading actor lon chaney. ever since i first saw the famous scene where his disfigurement is shown, the rather complicated make-up employed by chaney stands as one of the scariest & best that i have seen in alll the horror films that i've watched. the author of the novel gaston leroux, described the phantom's face as that of "a grinning skull in which there was no light." well, that's what we have here.
the interiors for "the opera house" were reproduced so as to look as close to the real thing as possible. universal did a perfect job, as i can't spot any real differences between the real mccoy & the replica.
the acting of the supporting cast is slightly old-fashioned perhaps, but still good. however, it is chaney's performance that is the one to watch.
unlike a lot of other productions, this particular film is genuinely frightening at times; the scenes where the phantom's shadow roams around the catacombs are creepy on their own.
for a good silent film, there has to be the right musical soundtrack to accompany it & i can only think of one. that is the music that was composed for the "channel 5" video version that was released back in the late 80s. it is simply outstanding but also does justice to the film.
this is one film that will remain a true classic for many years to come.
Movies to see before you die! - By: Spinetinglers Committee, 04 Dec 2006 Lon Chaney is delightfully grotesque as he haunts the "tombs of tortured men."
