#Phantom of the opera movie 1943 series#
Well, re-watched, it is actually a solid horror/drama with much to recommend it, even if in the end it falls short of what it should have been.ĭespite being about a ‘monster’ and sometimes released on DVD with some of those films, The Phantom Of The Opera is rarely considered part of the Universal Horror series alongside the many films about Frankenstein, Dracula et al. It has certainly overshadowed Universal’s second go at the story made in 1943 which was a film I hadn’t seen in decades and didn’t remember very fondly. The best version is probably the very first from 1925, directed by Rupert Julian with Lon Chaney sporting some of the most effective makeup ever in the title role. Hammer’s effort from 1962 though, despite coming from Terence Fisher who made many of their classics, always strikes me as a considerable let down and this is coming from someone whose love for Hammer knows no bounds. Brian De Palma’s 1974 variant The Phantom Of The Paradise is totally bonkers in the very best way. Dario Argento’s 1998 version, for example, was a disappointment though tolerable and to me nowhere near as bad as many say. Some of these films are good, some less so.
Word soon gets around that a ghost is haunting the building….Īlthough the last few decades it has primarily been famous because of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage musical version, Gaston Leroux’s 1911 novel about the disfigured composer who haunts the Paris Opera House had already been filmed many times. Georgette, the publisher’s assistant, throws etching acid at Claudin, who flees to the sewers of the Opera House. Claudin tries to get a concerto he has written published, but the publisher steals his music and Claudin goes mad and strangles him. He is dismissed and has no money to support himself because he has been anonymously funding Christine’s music lessons, with whom he also had fallen in love. Erique Claudin has been a violinist there for twenty years, but has recently been losing the use of the fingers of his left hand, which affects his violin-playing. REVIEWED BY: Dr Lenera, Official HCF CriticĬhristine Dubois is a young soprano at the Paris Opera House whom baritone Anatole Garron is in love with. Starring: Claude Rains, Edgar Barrier, Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster Written by: Erik Taylor, Samuel Hoffenstein