FROM THE ORIGINAL CINEMASTERS ARCHIVE
Phantom of the Opera
Alright I’m going to be up front about this one. This movie was not on my list. I hadn’t found it streaming somewhere and thought I should check it out. It came as a recommendation from a good friend of mine and I was happy to take it and run with it. And because that is the inspiration for this watch, I will say that my review of this experience will be pointedly more positive than perhaps some of the other entries in this series. I do want to note that this is not entirely because of the origin for the watch. This movie is most definitely a classic and I quite enjoyed it on my own. It’s mostly a matter of the reality that I wouldn’t have probably watched it otherwise. At least not for the 31 days deal. I will say I have limited experience with the classic Universal monsters but they don’t typically rise to the occasion for the Halloween season for me. It’s not that they aren’t relevant. They absolutely are. Honestly when I think about it, I don’t know that I’ve even seen all of them as is. Maybe I should prioritize that.
I will say that this is not the original 1928 Lon Chaney Phantom of the Opera. I believe that one may have been a silent film. I can appreciate the silent film era. I don’t really believe I’ve watched a full fledged silent movie of that time frame in my life. So I suppose it would be a bit of an adventure sometime to check it out. However, Amazon had an offering of the 1943 version and the 2006 one as well. I watched the 1943 version as it was the one that I received today. After having watched this classic film version, I am quite curious to check out the updated version as well to see where, if any, they diverge.
The first thing I noticed about the 1943 version of the film is how incredibly impressive it was. It had been restored to a 4K production and the image on it was beautiful. I denoted to my friend while watching the movie that cinema of that age use to be such an incredible spectacle. There was something grandiose about the entire production and it just made the movie feel like it was this massive undertaking. It was very impressive while still not being too over the top to get into the story. The closest connection I had to this film was a singular episode of the 90’s NBC hit sitcom, “Wings” where the local theater company put on a production of “Phantom of the Oprah” and the Disney Movie Channel original movie “Phantom of the Megaplex. I have not watched that one in it’s entirety. So I was loosely aware of the plot but at the same time had no real idea of exactly the direction the film was going to take.
What I liked about this film was the overwhelming nature of how cinema used to exist in that time. The whole production of it was this magnificent display and it reminded me how there wasn’t CGI and there was no computerized special effects. If they wanted to put something together it had to be completely orchestrated by the people involved. The sets were fantastic. The wardrobe was impeccable. Everything about this movie just filled me with such wonder. And then to realize that this movie was made in the middle of World War II. There was something about it that just seemed so amazing. I know the 4K restoration is a modern invention and I am very grateful for that simply because it offers such clarity into a world that we cannot and do not appreciate as much in our modern era. There’s so much even about the way people talk and act towards one another in this movie that I enjoyed so much. There’s the love triangle with the Baritone and the Detective both pursuing Christine. It’s delightfully endearing and eventually played for a quaint little punchline at the end of the film. There’s the fact that a full on opera is being performed in the middle of the film. I should note because it made me chuckle that the opera being performed is the same that Christopher McDonald is putting on in the Norm MacDonald comedic vehicle “Dirty Work”, Don Giovanni. There is an orchestra and singing. And it’s not that these are unique to this time period. We have these same elements in movies today. It’s just that there’s something so much more impressive to me that this whole production was put together in the 1940’s
Honestly, as far as classic movies go I tend to really just have an appreciation for them in general. I don’t find much reason typically to dislike them. There’s nothing in this movie that jumps out at me as something I didn’t care for. I like to view these things through the lens of when they were made and not assess flaws one might notice in our modern age. Really, even if I wanted to, I don’t think this movie suffers from anything. It’s an immortal classic for all the right reasons. I took the plunge on this one before I even watched it. I’ve got the 4K in my collection. Granted, my referral came from a pretty reliable source so I didn’t feel like I was really risking much. But I’ve gotta say that the risk paid off in my estimation. This is one I’ll gladly revisit in the future. And while it gets that Halloween seal of approval for being a classic Universal monster movie, you could watch this one any time of year. So it gets a solid A from me and I highly recommend checking it out to anyone who’s never checkout of this iconic film. So until next time, I’ll catch you on the flip side.