Phantom of the Opera [VHS]

Phantom of the Opera [VHS]
by Arthur Lubin

Phantom of the Opera [VHS]

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Category: VHS Video
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Product details

Actor: Claude Rains, Edgar Barrier, Leo Carrillo, Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster
Director: Arthur Lubin
Cinematographer: Hal Mohr
Producer: George Waggner
Writer: Eric Taylor
Writer: Gaston Leroux
Writer: Hans Jacoby
Writer: John Jacoby
Writer: Samuel Hoffenstein
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, NTSC, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered
Running Time: 92 minutes
Release Date: 1992-03-01
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Universal Studios
Studio: Universal Studios

VHS Movie Reviews of Phantom of the Opera [VHS]

Movie Review: Phantom Remade
Summary: 4 Stars

In this remake of the 1925 classic, Claude Rains portrays the masked Phantom with Susanna Foster as Christine and Edgar Barrier as Raoul.

This film is full of vivid color and marvelous opera sequences. This film focuses much more on the opera than the Phantom. The film's style precedes that of Lloyd Webber's musical.

This version takes considerable liberties with Leroux's original story. Some events are still intact, such as the chandelier crash scene and, of course, the unmasking. However, some scenes like the masked ball are not included at all. The Phantom's back story was also completely revised. With all these changes, fans that are looking for and updated, colorized version of the 1925 film may be disappointed. If they had made many more changes, I could hardly call this a Phantom of the Opera movie.

Overall, if you are looking for a different take on the Phantom story, you may like this version.

Movie Review: The Phantom Rocks
Summary: 5 Stars

Phantom of the Opera is one hour and thirty-three minutes long and was released on August 27, 1943. There some major difference from the Lon Chaney (1925) and Claude Rains (1943) versions. The 1925 version is black and white while the 1943 was filmed in Technicolor. Another Lon's charter is Erik a skill musician and a master of Black Magic. Claude's character is a pit violinist named Erique Claudin. As for as we know, Lon Chaney's Phantom was born with that facial feature. Erique Claudin was thrown acid on his face while killing a Pleyel, a music publisher. Also with the 1943 version we have musical and operetta scores. The 1943 version won two Academy Awards; one for Best Art Direction and another for Best Cinematography. The movie, art direction, and music scores are great. Granted Claude Rains Phantom is not as scary as Lon Chaney, but it is an excellent movie to watch.

Movie Review: The best Silent Film I have seen
Summary: 5 Stars

The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Rupert Julian and starring the Legendary Lon Chaney who is called "The Man of a Thousand Faces", is the first Silent Film that I have ever seen. I was absolutely shocked that I liked it so much. This movie is said to have been his best work and the most bizarre presentation of his thousand faces ever to grace the screen and I have to agree.

Marveled as a horror movie, I would say that it's closer to a mystery with a lot of suspense. The setting is the famous Paris Opera House and The Phantom stalks the caverns and crevices of the playhouse. Obsessed with understudy Christine Daae played by Mary Philbin, The Phantom ensures that she gets her time to shine.

Movie Review: A sad, menacing, sympathetic performance by Claude Raines, plus nice screaming by Susanna Foster
Summary: 4 Stars

The 1943 version of Phantom of the Opera has always had, for me, an endearing quality of good-hearted wholesomeness, even with face-destroying acid, deranged obsession, and love so strong it corrupts. On the other hand, the obvious wholesomeness -- Nelson Eddy's game attempt at light romantic comedy and Susanna Foster's peaches-and-cream singing and acting -- are quickly cloying. However, for the sheer comforting pleasure of this great old story of a murderous, misunderstood madman at the Paris Opera, I prefer this version, as weak as it sometimes is, to the grand guignol of Lon Chaney's silent movie or the florid pomposity of Lloyd-Webber's turgid musical. Why? Because it is satisfying fun without uber-drama or much meaning. Does anyone not know the story? Probably not, so we'll pass that by.

What other pleasures does this movie hold besides a great romantic and melodramatic story and the most threatening chandelier in Paris? There's that lush Technicolor look that shows off with rich color the sets, the costumes and the complexions of the actors. Claude Raines as Enrique Claudin gives a touchingly mad performance as a humble violinist who wrote a great concerto and who fell hopelessly in love with Christine Dubois (Susanna Foster), a beautiful young soprano for whom he beggared himself secretly paying for her vocal lessons. Eddy, as Anatole Garron, the star baritone at the Opera, and Edgar Barrier as Raoul D'Aubert, a senior officer with the Surete, are amusing as the Mutt and Jeff competitors for Susanna Foster's favors. The ornate and gilded stage set of the interior of the Opera gives movie "quality" a new meaning. And the dark, dank, damp catacombs beneath the Opera, reached by slimy stone steps and lit only by guttering candles in hand-held lanterns, are just part of the shivers in store for those foolish enough to follow the Phantom to his lair. There is also the deep, black lake of despair and the music, drifting down from another world. Or, as Claudin describes it to Christine, "You'll love it here when you get used to the dark. And you'll love the dark, too. It's friendly and peaceful. It brings rest and relief from pain. It's right under the Opera. The music comes down and the darkness distills it, cleanses it of the suffering that made it. Then it's all beauty. And life here is like a resurrection." Raines was such a fine actor he could make Claudin a tragically sympathetic character. I'm sure Christine would have been persuaded if she'd only stopped screaming.

The DVD transfer is first-rate, lush and full of color. There are several extras including a commentary track.

Movie Review: Phantom of the Opera (1943)
Summary: 5 Stars

I liked this movie. The dvd is great too. It has been transferred to DVD with great care. Great color and sound.

This is basically a romance with an element of horror. Claude Rains and Suzanna Foster are good as well as Nelson Eddy.

The dvd has some great extras

Write your own review

Summary of Phantom of the Opera [VHS]

This 1943 version of the horror story is more Technicolor musical than scare piece. Claude Rains plays the unfortunate, masked anti-hero, but he doesn't get the room to showcase a promising and sympathetic performance. Susanna Foster and Nelson Eddy, on the other hand, get plenty of screen time to warble. Well worth a visit just for the look of the film, which won an Oscar for cinematography. --Tom Keogh

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