FILM 2199: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925)

TRIVIA: Not a single photograph of Lon Chaney as The Phantom was published in a newspaper or magazine or seen anywhere before the film opened in theaters. Universal Pictures wanted The Phantom's face to be a complete surprise when his mask was ripped off.

According to Charles Van Enger, the film's cameraman, he himself had a very strong reaction as Lon Chaney's unsuspecting "guinea pig". Chaney had summoned Van Enger to his dressing room, but without telling him why. When he got there and was standing about a foot behind the actor, Chaney suddenly spun around in full Phantom makeup! "I almost wet my pants. I fell back over a stool and landed flat on my back!" Chaney laughed so hard and Van Enger, who by then was "mad as hell" yelled, "Are you NUTS?" Unable to clearly talk with his fake teeth in, he spit them out: "Never mind Charlie, you already told me what I wanted to know."

Lon Chaney devised his own make-up.

The Phantom's distinctive bed was re-used as Gloria Swanson's in Sunset Blvd. (1950).

Inside Sound Stage 28, part of the opera house still stands to the side where it was filmed some eight decades ago, making it the oldest standing interior film set in the world. Though it remains impressive, time has taken its toll and it is very rarely used. Urban legends claim the set remains because when workers have attempted to take it down in the past there have been fatal accidents, said to be caused by the ghost of Lon Chaney.

Lon Chaney did a lot of work with his performance through his hands. The son of two deaf mutes, he learned to be very expressive with them, and as this is a silent performance, the hands are required to convey quite a lot.

Lon Chaney put egg membrane on his eyeballs to give them a cloudy look.

The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

I’m making my way through the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider. See my blog post about my copy of the book here…

You can buy an updated version (which I will get after I’ve made my way through this edition) here…

I really hope you can come on this journey with me – if you do I’d love to know which films you’ve enjoyed the most!

Watch this here…