The Phantom Of The Opera
Horror
Universal Studios  (1925) 73 mins NR (Not Rated)

7.8 (4,395 votes)
Far beneath the Paris Opera House are underground rooms and waterways from ancient ruins. But it is there that a man, disfigured for life, dwells and becomes known as the Phantom of the Opera (Lon Chaney). From his isolation, he makes secret trips to the opera and there becomes fascinated by an unknown opera singer Christine (Mary Philbin). He uses threats and acts of violence, such as sending the large chandelier of the opera house crashing on the audience in hopes of convincing the directors of the opera productions to cast Christine in the lead roles. Christine learns that her benefactor is the Phantom when she finds a mysterious door behind the mirror in her dressing room and follows it into the underground. She is told that her price for fame is that she must love the Phantom and not to return to her fiance Raoul (Norman Kerry)....

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Cast and Crew
Lon Chaney  ......  Erik, The Phantom
Snitz Edwards  ......  Florine Papillon
Gibson Gowland  ......  Simon Buquet
Norman Kerry  ......  Vicomte Raoul de Chagny
Mary Philbin  ......  Christine Daae
John St. Polis  ......  Comte Philip de Chagny
Director  .....  Rupert Julian; Edward Sedgwick; Lon Chaney
Producer  .....  Carl Laemmle
Writer  .....  Richard Wallace; Gaston Leroux; Walter Anthony
Notes
Goofs:
Miscellaneous: The opening credits are accurate to the 1929 re-edited version, listing Mary Fabian as Carlotta and Virginia Pearson as Carlotta's mother, however the ending credits still credit Pearson as Carlotta. This is due to the fact that the "1929" cut is actually made of two negatives: one from a 1929 silent version and one from the original 1925 version. It's most likely that the credit sequence is from the latter. (more)

Trivia:
The film was re-released in sound in 1929 using Vitaphone/Western Electric sound disks. Approximately 40% of the film was re-shot in synchronous sound and the rest had a music/soundtrack added or was dubbed over. The Kino edition is a silent version of the 1929 cut (as are, with few exceptions, most others), which was a common practice at the time for theaters that did not have sound systems installed. For the sound edition Lon Chaney was not available, and contractually Universal was not allowed to have vocal synchronization of the Phantom. However, the studio had third-person lines written and dubbed over shots of the Phantom's shadow. The actor who spoke these lines is uncredited, but it is probably Universal regular Phillips Smalley. (more)

Filming Locations:
Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Quotes:
Simon Buquet: His nose. There is no nose! (more)

Awards:
1 win (more)