The Phantom of the Opera. 1925. USA. Directed by Rupert Julian, Lon Chaney, Ernst Laemmle, Edward Sedgwick. With Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry. Silent, with piano accompaniment. 35mm print courtesy of George Eastman Museum. 92 min.
Owing to the decades long run of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage musical, Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera is as familiar to audiences today as it was when it was originally published as a novel in 1909. Despite multiple sound film versions, Universal’s 1925 silent is still considered its most memorable screen adaptation, thanks in large part to Lon Chaney’s self-styled makeup, costuming and performance which were based on an iconic color illustration by Andre Castaigne. The studio applied a hybrid of tinting, a lithographic dye-transfer technique and two-color Technicolor to further enhance the film's graphic appeal. Known for having a complicated production, exhibition and preservation history, the copy of the film screening in our series is the 1999 George Eastman Museum’s restoration.