The Phantom of the Opera

United States

1925

93 Min

Black and White

1.33:1

English

Subtitled in None

Audio in English

Currently 4.0/5 Stars.
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DIR Rupert Julian, Edward Sedgwick, Ernst Laemmle, Lon Chaney

SCR Elliott J. Clawson, Raymond L. Schrock, Tom Reed, Gaston Leroux, Bernard McConville, Frank M. McCormack, Jasper Spearing, Richard Wallace

DP Charles Van Enger, Milton Bridenbecker, Virgil Miller

CAST Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, Snitz Edwards, John St. Polis

MUSIC Gustav Hinrichs, Max Winkler

Synopsis

Erik, a deformed musician, lives in the cellars of the Paris Opera House. His love for a singer leads to his death. –BFI

Director

Rupert Julian

Rupert Julian (25 January 1879 – 27 December 1943) was the first New Zealand cinema actor, director, writer and producer.

Born Thomas Percival Hayes in Whangaroa, New Zealand, Son of John Daly Hayes (Jr) and Eliza Harriet Hayes. Rupert Julian performed on stage and in film both in his native country and Australia before emigrating to the United States in 1912, where he started his career as an actor in New York before working in silent movies. He turned to directing in 1915, often directing his wife Elsie Jane Wilson (a director herself), and earned a substantial sum for his film The_Kaiser,_the_Beast_of_Berlin which he wrote, produced, and directed, while also starring in the title role. This made him something of a star in Hollywood at the time, and opened doors to larger projects with Universal Studios.

He was assigned to complete Merry-Go-Round in 1923 when director Erich von Stroheim was fired from it. In 1924, he directed Lon Chaney in the first cut of The Phantom… read more

Edward Sedgwick

The son of actors Edward Sedgwick Sr. and Josephine Walker, Edward Sedgwick made his own show business entree as one of the Five Sedgwicks, a circus and vaudeville acrobatic act. Two of the “other” Sedgwicks were Edward’s twin sisters Eileen and Josie, who later pursued successful silent-movie acting careers. In 1915, Sedgwick broke into films as a comedian, frequently cast as a zany baseball player. He became a serial director in 1921, then moved on to the Tom Mix western unit. Sedgwick’s lifelong love of baseball came in handy as he helmed the ballpark sequences of Mix’s Stepping Out (1923), Buck Jones’ Hit and Run (1924), William Haines Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927), Buster Keatons The Cameraman (1928) and the 1934 mystery Death on the Diamond. While at MGM in the late 1920s, Sedgwick found a kindred spirit in fellow baseball buff Buster Keaton. At Keaton’s insistence, Sedgwick directed all of Keatons silent and sound MGM features, including the aforementioned The Cameraman. Spite Marriage… read more

The son of actors Edward Sedgwick Sr. and Josephine Walker, Edward Sedgwick made his own show business entree as one of the Five Sedgwicks, a circus and vaudeville acrobatic act. Two of the “other” Sedgwicks were Edward’s twin sisters Eileen and Josie, who later pursued successful silent-movie acting careers. In 1915, Sedgwick broke into films as a comedian, frequently cast as a zany baseball player. He became a serial director in 1921, then moved on to the Tom Mix western unit. Sedgwick’s lifelong love of baseball came in handy as he helmed the ballpark sequences of Mix’s Stepping Out (1923), Buck Jones’ Hit and Run (1924), William Haines Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927), Buster Keatons The Cameraman (1928) and the 1934 mystery Death on the Diamond. While at MGM in the late 1920s, Sedgwick found a kindred spirit in fellow baseball buff Buster Keaton. At Keaton’s insistence, Sedgwick directed all of Keatons silent and sound MGM features, including the aforementioned The Cameraman. Spite Marriage (1929), Free and Easy (1930), Dough Boys (1930), Parlor, Bedroom and Bath (1931), Speak Easily (1932), Sidewalks of New York (1933) and What, No Beer? (1933). This proved a mixed blessing: though the MGMs were, as a group, Keatons most profitable features, they also contained some of his worst moments on screen. In the mid-1930s, Sedgwick was briefly a producer/director at Hal Roach Studios, responsible for the Jack Haley vehicles Mister Cinderella (1936) and Pick a Star (1937). The latter film featured a guest appearance by Laurel & Hardy. who in 1943 reteamed with Sedgwick for the MGM feature Air Raid Wardens. Considered a relic of a bygone era by the 1940s, Sedgwick sat out the waning years of his MGM contract, chumming around with such old cronies as Buster Keaton. In 1948, Keaton, employed as a gag man for Red Skelton, suggested that Sedgwick would be an ideal director for the upcoming Skelton vehicle A Southern Yankee. Alas, Sedgwick was not up to the challenge: though he receives solo directorial credit on Southern Yankee, the film was directed in its entirety by S. Sylvan Simon. Edward Sedgwick’s final film was Universal’s Ma and Pa Kettle Back on the Farm (1951). —allmovie guide

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Lon Chaney

Even after 65 years, the phrase “Man of a Thousand Faces” brings to mind only one name: Lon Chaney Sr. The son of deaf-mute parents, he learned at an early age to rely on pantomime as a communication skill. The stagestruck Chaney worked in a variety of backstage positions at the opera house in his hometown of Colorado Springs; he was eventually allowed to appear on stage, and, before his 17th birthday, was on tour with a play he’d co-written with his brother. Sensitive about his youth and plain features, Chaney hid behind elaborate makeup when appearing on-stage. Forced into single parenthood after divorcing his first wife Cleva Creighton (the mother of his son Creighton, Lon Chaney Jr.), Chaney had to find a more steady source of income than the theater. He began picking up extra work at Universal Studios in 1912, making himself valuable — and ultimately indispensable — with his expertise with character makeup. He rose from featured player to star at Universal between 1913 and 1920… read more

Even after 65 years, the phrase “Man of a Thousand Faces” brings to mind only one name: Lon Chaney Sr. The son of deaf-mute parents, he learned at an early age to rely on pantomime as a communication skill. The stagestruck Chaney worked in a variety of backstage positions at the opera house in his hometown of Colorado Springs; he was eventually allowed to appear on stage, and, before his 17th birthday, was on tour with a play he’d co-written with his brother. Sensitive about his youth and plain features, Chaney hid behind elaborate makeup when appearing on-stage. Forced into single parenthood after divorcing his first wife Cleva Creighton (the mother of his son Creighton, Lon Chaney Jr.), Chaney had to find a more steady source of income than the theater. He began picking up extra work at Universal Studios in 1912, making himself valuable — and ultimately indispensable — with his expertise with character makeup. He rose from featured player to star at Universal between 1913 and 1920, sometimes doubling as director and scriptwriter. Chaney’s breakthrough film was 1919’s The Miracle Man, in which he played a phony cripple. It was the first of many films in which he underwent severe physical discomfort to achieve a convincing screen effect; in The Penalty (1920), for example, he not only bound his legs to play a double amputee, but also contrived to jump from great heights and land on his knees. As Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), Chaney wore a rubber hump weighing as much as 70 pounds, and the film made him a bona fide star.

After Universal’s Phantom of the Opera (1925), the actor moved to MGM, where he starred in several highly successful Grand Guignol horror films directed by Tod Browning. Some of Chaney’s best work during this period was actually done without makeup, in such bread-and-butter vehicles as Tell It to the Marines (1926) and The Big City (1928). Offscreen, he was a loner, preferring to live far from Hollywood with his son and second wife. When sound pictures took hold in 1929, Chaney initially refused to participate, concerned that he’d have to come up with a different voice for each performance; he finally acquiesced with 1930s The Unholy Three (a remake of his 1925 silent film success), in which he not only utilized four different vocal characterizations but also proved to be a superior performer in his natural voice.), but a growth in his throat developed into bronchial cancer. He died in 1930 at the age of 47; in his last days, his illness rendered him unable to speak, forcing him to rely on the pantomimic gestures of his youth in order to communicate with his friends and loved ones. —allmovie guide

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