Random Phantom of the Opera Stuff

Movie Recommendation: The 1925 Silent Film

 The earliest surviving film version of The Phantom of the Opera was a film released in 1925 which starred silent film stars Lon Chaney and Mary Philbin as Erik and Christine. I watched it for the first time a couple of months ago, and I was in no way disappointed. 

 The movie mainly followed along with the plotline of the book while changing a few things, so it wasn't exactly like the book, but I didn't mind that. The only two major things that were changed were how Erik died and the Persian's role in the film. Erik's death was changed from how it was in the book, and instead of the Persian there was Inspector Ledoux, a secret policeman who had been watching Erik closely after his escape from prison (I don't know if this change was originally planned because I thought he was supposed to be the Persian until he told Raoul who he really was). 

 The best thing about the movie was definitely Lon Chaney's performance as Erik/The Phantom. His acting was superb, of course, and he was also allowed to do his own makeup and create his own look for the movie. His appearance in the movie is actually said to be the most accurate description of Erik's appearance in film, so it's nice to think that maybe that was what he was going for when he created the look. 

 One reason I thought to write a chapter about it for this book is because of how much the set design for this movie reminded me of the set design from the 2004 movie. The catacombs Erik takes Christine through, the ballroom where the masquerade ball took place, and at one part when Christine faints while in Erik's lair, he lays her down in a bed that looked just like the bed the Phantom lays Christine down in at the end of "Music of the Night" in the 2004 movie. I thought that maybe whoever was in charge of the set design for the movie might have looked to the silent film for inspiration, but I read that the production designer was actually inspired by the French architect Charles Garnier, who was the designer of the real Paris opera house, so it's nice to see that both movies got the set design from the real place. 

 Anyway, the silent film is a excellent movie that I would really recommend seeing if you haven't already!