Review of Phantom of the Opera (1943) by Richard L — 24 Feb 2013

'Phantom of the Opera' is the second film adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel. At the time of this film being made, World War II was raging, and many people did not want to he horrified by films because they were already horrified by the war.

This caused horror films at the time to be made with much less horror and more spectacle. That is why this version is much more tame than the 1925 Lon Chaney version. Claude Rains from 'The Invisible Man' portrays Erique Claudin/ The Phantom.

I think the main problem is that the Phantom generally appears very little through the middle parts of the movie. This is disappointing because Claude Rains gives a very good performance. The other bothersome thing about the movie is all the comic relief.

This mainly refers to the characters of Raoul and Anatole and how they too often get stuck in doorways together and say the same sentence at the same time. The movie also at times got uninteresting. On the positive side, the music is absolutely superb especially Claudin's "The Lullaby of the Bells.

" Susanna Foster has an absolutely terrific singing voice. There are some very good performances and occasionaly humorous comic relief. Overll, if you love seeing the Phantom very often in your movie and have it dark and Gothic, you would probably not like this version as much.

If you want a lighter version of "The Phantom of the Opera", you might like this version.