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The story, of course, is familiar from multiple productions - Chirstine (Mary Philbin), a young opera singer, is tutored by Erik (Lon Chaney), a master who hides out of sight, the Paris Opera House's legendary phantom. The adoring Erik sabotages Christine's rival to win her a lead role, and eventually abducts his protegé into his realm of catacombs when it appears the surface world doesn't appreciate her beauty and talent, leading her more conventional beau Roaul (Norman Kerry) to give chase.

Of course, the first shocker is the makeup Lon Chaney designed and wore as the Phantom, a painful mask that distorts his face to resemble a bare skull. The basic design has been aped a great deal in the decades since, but seldom as well; the pulled-back nose and lips must have hurt like hell. Such a fine piece of work deserves a grand unveiling, and we're given that, as the character who had stayed in shadows and wore a mask has that disguise removed, with the lighting getting turned up just enough to make the image leap out at the audience. It's a great jump moment made no less exciting by the audience being able to see it a mile away.

Just as impressive is the film's use of color. Although primarily filmed in black and white, it uses every technique available in its day to get color on screen and uses it well. The print is tinted in many scenes, but not haphazardly, unlike many silent films which seem to be just trying to vary the visual presentation. Scenes taking place in the catacombs are green, giving them a candle-lit, stony look even if they were shot on a brightly lit sound stage. Other sequences have a blue or reddish cast, as appropriate. Then, just when the audience has gotten used to this system, the film switches to two-strip Technicolor for the Bal Masque, and all the reds and pinks in the decoration and ladies' dresses are suddenly vibrant. Later, we'll see the Phantom in a hand-colored red cape during a rooftop chase. All these different techniques could easily become gimmicks, but director Rupert Julian and his cinematographers are savvy enough to use them as tools, using color to build atmosphere.

Box 5, the new company formed by Alloy Orchestra Ken Winokur to restore and distribute silent films such as Phantom, has done a fine job with their first project. I was initially a bit underwhelmed by the image, given how prominently the restoration had been mentioned in the promotion, but soon found it to be impressive, especially when the Bal Masque sequence began - it looks like it could have been made very recently, so sharp is the picture, and the painstaking hand-coloring of the red bits, is very nice indeed. As is par for the course with silent pictures, there are many versions of the film; this one appears to be among the shorter ones, running 79 minutes at twenty-four frames per second, though it may include some of the footage included in the 1929 sound re-release (a credit lists Virginia Pearson as Carlotta's mother). The score performed by the Alloy Orchestra is up to their usual high standards; suitably eerie through much of the film, operatic and bombastic where called for, and exciting during the adventure sequences as Raoul and a soldier make their way through the booby-trapped tunnels. (My brother, who had never seen a silent movie with live accompaniment - heck, at 21, he may never have seen a silent movie - pronounced the experience very cool indeed)

All of this makes Phantom an impressive technical tour de force, and all that makeup/cinematography/music supports high-quality storytelling. Lon Chaney's Erik is memorable for more than his hideous visage; Chaney makes the character imposing and otherworldly long before we see his face, which an impressive display of acting almost entirely through body language. Mary Philbin is a bit more distressed than a modern damsel might be, perhaps, while the other primary male characters do tend to blend together a little. On the flip side, though, are plenty of amusing bit characters delivering the necessary exposition about the theater's ghost, making what could be a dry first act move along very well.

This story has been adapted a lot - Chaney's portrayal was not the first and I doubt that the recent musical feature will be the last version we see. I wouldn't be shocked, however, if this is still the definitive version, even after another eighty years.

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originally posted: 01/05/06 13:48:29
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