Review of Phantom of the Opera (1943) by Greg W — 30 Apr 2014

Directed by Arthur Lubin (Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944), The Thief of Baghdad (1961) and The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964)), and adapted from Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel. This had been previously adapted by Universal in 1925, however with the success of other horrors made by Universal, they decided to remake it, this time in glorious Technicolor, which looks so vivid for it's day.

Set at the Paris Opera House, violinist Erique Claudin (Claude Rains) has been in the orchestra for 20 years and is starting to lose his touch, and he's dismissed. He doesn't have enough money, as he's been the benefactor of young soprano Christine Dubois (Susanna Foster).

However, he has a concerto which he has taken to music publishers Maurice Pleyel (Miles Mander) & Georgette Desjardins (Paul Marion), who seemingly steal his concerto. A fight breaks out, and is disfigured by etching acid.

Erique flees and hides in the sewers of the Opera House. He takes revenge against those who rubbed him up the wrong way, but he still has love for Christine. It's an old fashioned tale of revenge, and it's a story that keeps coming back in different forms, from Hammer's 1962 take, to Phantom of the Paradise (1974) to Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical, but this version is visually stunning and considerable money was clearly spent on this version, and it won 2 Oscars as well.