After watching The Invisible Man for the first time as part of the recently released Universal Classic Monsters: The Essential Collection on Blu-ray, I moved to The Phantom of the Opera last night. Prior to watching this 1943 version directed by Arthur Lubin and starring Claude Rains as the Phantom (aka Erique Claudin), I had only seen the 1925 silent version starring Lon Chaney, which I must say was far more disturbing and effective than I found this version.
Awash in Technicolor and continually stalled by operatic breaks in the narrative, as lush as the colors may look on this restored Universal Blu-ray, I wasn’t nearly as taken with it as I hoped I would be.
I felt Claudin’s transformation from innocent, 20-year veteran violinist of the Paris Opera to wronged musical composer to outcast and murderer was poorly developed and paced. His obsession with operatic soprano Christine Dubois (Susanna Foster) was weak at best and not in the least believable. Even the hint at a “Phantom” haunting the opera house from Steven Geray as Vercheres comes across as forced into the story and never once believable considering it only comes after Claudin has made his transformation.
The film was nominated for four Oscars and ultimately won for Art Direction-Interior Decoration in a color film and Cinematography in a color film. I guess, you could consider watching it merely for its design and lavish visual appeal, but this first talkie version of the now-famous story isn’t half as effective as the 1925 silent version, which just happened to be one of the films included in my very first What I Watched piece.
Inside the Classic Monsters Collection I still need to watch The Creature from the Black Lagoon, which I hope to watch soon enough and bring you my thoughts on that one. If you missed my write-up on The Invisible Man you can find that here. Suffice to say, my reaction to that film was 100% the opposite of my reaction to this one, but the collection still remains something certainly worth purchasing.
And, for those that haven’t seen it, here’s the 1925 silent.
