Review of The Phantom of the Opera (1925) by Mark W — 16 Oct 2011

Monday, October 17, 2011.

(1925) Phantom Of The Opera.

SILENT HORROR/ DRAMA.

During the 17th century, grand Opera house is being haunted by what some people are calling 'The Phantom', even though it's not enough to prevent people from going there instead of some place else! In one of the opera acts, he falls in love with a particular Opera singer who was a stand in for someone who has taken ill, but older and infamous, resulting 'The Phantom' to threaten by means of sabotaging every performance if they continue to use this veteran opera singer, and use this use this other girl from now on.

Ordinarily, I'd give this film a 50% or less, since I thought it was rather outdated, uneffective, and lacking common sense because there appears to be a lack of police presence except for like one cop, whose udercover. The love interest of the girl in question appears to be a tall Aristocratic snob, and their seems to be a lack of inconsistency, since I've always thought two horse carraiges can always out maneuver hoardes of people chasing it while on foot, which they eventually catch up to it in a matter of minutes. The leading lady in question also seems to be superficial, since she'd rather fall for a tall handsome looking person than to a person who could make her to a success, meaning that their really isn't a single character I can root for, or identify as an underdog, and that includes the Phantom himself, who at the first 45 minutes has him being portrayed as physically abnormal in terms of look but is really misunderstood and harmless, but as the film progresses, he's someone whose escaped from a mental asylum and capable to kill, without any information on how he became disfigured or how he settled into the opera house in the first place- we know absolutely nothing about the opera house or how it was built, who built those hidden doors, and how was it possible that they're not hidden enough to prevent other people from discvering them. The ending is obviously influenced by D. W. Griffith's racist 1915 film "Birth Of The Nation" and that by the time the film was over, we would never know the reason why the Phantom acted the way he did or how he had a talent for writing opera or singing opera, since he was taken hold by the mobs fury, almost like Mary Shelly's Frankenstein film in 1931, except that in that film the mob was more credible, since it were near villages and not part of the city!

Now, the things that's good about it are the notion that the film might be the first to show hidden doors and unsuspecting booby traps, like underground fortresses and the inspiration it started as a result, such as the more superior "V for Vendetta" to the "Indiana Jones films" (booby traps) I can be grateful for that but I can't see myself watching this film again, for I haven't learned anything more than when I finished watching it.

2.5 out of 4.