Phantom of the Opera 2004 Blu Ray Review
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Details
Director: Rupert Julian
Bandage: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, John St. Polis
Year: 1929
Length: 91 min
Rating: Cert PG
Region: Region Costless
Disks: 3 (1 BD, 2 DVD)
Label: BFI
Release Appointment: Dec 2nd, 2013
Video
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Resolution: 1080p / 24fps
Aspect Ratio: ane.19:1
Blazon: Tinted and Toned, Black & White, and Colour
Sound
Audio: 5.1 DTS-Hard disk Main Sound and PCM stereo audio (48k/24-bit)
Subtitles: NA
Extras
- Original 1925 version (b&w, 103 mins) with newly commissioned pianoforte accompaniment by Ed Bussey
- Original 1925 trailer and 1929 sound reissue trailer
- Reel 5 from lost 1929 sound reissue: the simply surviving element, discovered in the Library of Congress archives
- The 'man with the lantern' sequence: mysterious footage thought to have been shot for non-English speaking territories
- Lon Chaney: A Chiliad Faces (2000, Kevin Brownlow, 86 mins, DVD but): the definitive documentary on the legendary thespian and make-up artist
- Channel four Silents restoration souvenir plan (PDF)
- Illustrated booklet featuring new essays, an original review and film credits
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The immortal thespian and makeup genius Lon Chaney never looked better (or more frightening) than in this newly restored 1929 version of The Phantom of the Opera, brought to you past the British Film Institute (BFI). Digitally remastered in HD past Photoplay Productions, director Rupert Julian's lavish adaptation of Gaston Leroux's 1910 all-time-seller is given a compelling score by silent motion-picture show specialist Carl Davis (Napoleon) and is fully tinted throughout. The "Ruby Death crashes the Bal Masqué" scene—a prime example of the early utilize of Technicolor—looks eerily cute.
The Film
When the mysteriously disfigured Erik, aka the Phantom, falls in honey with the voice of Christine, a young opera singer (played past winsome Mary Philbin), he coaxes her to enter his dwelling in the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera House and teaches her to sing merely for him… Christine soon sings ameliorate than opera diva Carlotta, for whom she understudies. Erik threatens the managers of the Paris Opera House with mass destruction (conspiring to drop an enormous chandelier onto the audience) unless Christine replaces Carlotta in the role of Marguerite in Faust. Eventually, the repulsive, infatuated Phantom hopes to get up shut and personal with Christine, whom he expects will be grateful for the singing lessons and casting opportunity. Fatty chance with a mug like that! (Even the child-like mask Erik wears to cover his nightmarish face is grotesque)!
The Phantom of the Opera (1929)
The restored 1929 re-edit of The Phantom of the Opera is quite expert… except for a few airheaded moments involving wax-mustached "romantic leading human being" Norman Kerry and the pretty just vacuous Mary Philbin. Epitome quality varies a smashing deal, only this version is and so much ameliorate than the murky tattered prints I watched equally an adolescent. I really felt as though I were viewing The Phantom of the Opera for the first time. And the set up blueprint (now captured in astonishing item) is as impressive as The Hunchback of Notre Matriarch'south Cathedral of Notre Dame or the Ancient Babylon gear up built for D.W. Griffith'southward Intolerance. The interior of the Phantom set still stands at Universal Studios—remarkable for Hollywood, a town that has so disdainfully jettisoned or sold off so many of its historical artifacts.
Photoplay'due south 2013 restoration is so good, it makes up for all the melodramatic shenanigans onscreen. Yet, scenes from the 1925 edit that were cutting really helped the narrative flow and tied quite a few plot strands together.
Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin in The Phantom of the Opera (1929)
Lon Chaney is remembered to this day as a king of horror. He favored naturalistic performances and had an impressive range, which he displayed in many other outré pictures, including several directed by Tod Browning—notably The Unknown, The Large City and West of Zanzibar. Ruggedly handsome and globe-weary à la Bogart, Chaney was the first star graphic symbol histrion, oftentimes cast as a pathetic victim of unrequited dearest. I think Chaney hams it up a chip too much in Phantom, but apparently that's what the autocratic and singularly uninspired director Rupert Julian wanted, despite Chaney's objections that he was being asked to play the role too broadly.
Chaney's formulation of the Phantom is more than a triumph in makeup artistry than of the acting craft—a cultural icon every bit instantly recognizable everywhere as Charlie Chaplin'south Little Tramp and Arthur Conan Doyle'due south Sherlock Holmes. Fifty-fifty those who oasis't seen the original version of The Phantom of the Opera are aware of the Big Reveal moment, when the mask comes off and the Phantom's face up from Hell is exposed by the curious Christine.
Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin in The Phantom of the Opera (1929)
Video
Kevin Brownlow cipher to exist knighted for his restoration work on silent films, especially Napoleon (1927). Now, he and his company, Photoplay Productions, accept turned their attention to Chaney's 1929 version ofThe Phantom of the Opera and the results are predictably illuminating. Non all the print impairment has been eradicated, every bit that would have likely destroyed the film's texture, but those who recollect seeing this picture on homemade VHS, or even projected from 16mm prints at repertory theaters are in for a revelation. The prototype has gained so much depth and dash, information technology nigh looks modern. Image softness remains in certain shots, but this is inherited and is office of the movie's await. The new tinting looks spectacular too. Gorgeous sepia tones requite way to rich blues and reds, and then back to shimmering blackness and white. The famous color sequences—an early case of technicolor—look grainy but, similar the remainder of the flick, the comeback over previous releases is substantial.
By contrast, the original 1925 version with piano accessory looks just like those old mussed-up 16mm prints. It'due south still good to have it, if only for documentary value, only the restored 1929 version is the one most people will desire to spotter.
Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin in The Phantom of the Opera (1929)
Sound
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio rails copes beautifully with Carl Davis's newly recorded orchestral score. A regular collaborator of Kevin Brownlow'due south, Davis has hither re-imagined the musical landscape of Phantom. He is careful, nevertheless, to stay true to the catamenia in which Phantom takes place, incorporating themes from Gounod's Faust. The big reveal shot is underscored by a suitably powerful crescendo, imbuing the scene with the necessary tragic weight.
Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1929)
Extras
Amid the extra features on the BFI release are the definitive filmed biography of the legendary histrion and make-upwardly artist: the 86-infinitesimal Lon Chaney: A Chiliad Faces (2000 TCM documentary, directed by Kevin Brownlow, produced past Hugh Hefner and narrated by Kenneth Branagh, with commentary by Ray Bradbury, Ron Chaney and Forrest J Ackerman, amid others); the original 103-infinitesimal version of The Phantom of the Opera (1925, b&westward) with newly commissioned piano accompaniment by Ed Bussey (this version is not remastered); a very peculiar but informative trailer for the 1925 release, featuring footage that does non appear in the picture show, including a trick shot of a behemothic masked Phantom looming over the opera firm; and the fifth reel from the lost 1929 sound reissue (the simply surviving chemical element of that print, discovered in the Library of Congress archives). In 1929, Universal re-released the 1925 film in a "sound" version. The film was edited to speed upwardly the footstep—especially noticeable during the falling chandelier scene; several sequences had dialogue overdubbed onto them (although subtitles were rather confusingly retained); and a few new scenes were shot with synchronous sound, including two arias by Carlotta (played past trained opera singer Mary Fabian).
Lon Chaney in The Phantom of the Opera (1929)
Bottom Line
The Phantom of the Opera is the last of 9 home movie house titles released by BFI every bit part of its "GOTHIC: The Nighttime Heart of Film" series which includes many interesting and rarely seen titles. Opera and silent cinema lovers should grab a copy of this blu-ray today. It is a worthy testament to one of the greatest silent pic stars of all time.
Carl Davis on The Phantom of the Opera
Source: https://diaboliquemagazine.com/phantom-opera-uk-blu-ray-review/
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