The Phantom of the Opera Reviews

ohhh him so handsome :(
i could treat him right… i could fix him… just give me one chanc–

Great story, great plot, great silent film. Highly recommend.

Tragic, Haunting, and incredibly iconic, Chaney’s Phantom of The Opera is a must see for all lovers of silent horror. While it lacks the style of German horror of the period, it makes up for it with sheer drama, spectacle, and a breathtaking performance from Lon Chaney. 7.5/10

one of my more favorite phantom adaptations, it has a lot of the iconic details from the book like the scorpion, the mirrors, the calling cards; terrible costume design on the mask, glad the mask from 1943 stuck around in public consciousness

I dig it, I like all the colors and love the story! They did the suspense really well

Very good movie and accurate to the book, and I just discovered I like silent films

Sorry Phantom, but, I don’t understand your handwriting buddy.

peak

i have very mixed opinions on this because i really like the practical effects of this movie. the way the color is painted on the black and white portions, the color in the ballroom scene, the fact that erik is the red death and everything else is colorless. the actual set design of the theatre and the chambers below. the shadow work — especially in the hanging scene. the phantom mask — absolutely terrifying, that is some uncanny valley type stuff, and then the makeup put on for the disfigurement. but then there’s also so much i don’t like which leaves a bad taste in my mouth. the title cards: the grammar and language use is clunky, the dialogue feels unrealistic. christine makes me so mad because she’s a reduction of her character in the novel: a damsel in distress who has no empathy for erik, instead only viewing him as a monster rather than what she believed to be the angel of music, like where did that bit go? erik in the movie is just a lonely man rather than obsessive and torturous, an “othered” man by society, fostering sympathy, but still somehow i like him more than christine simply because her portrayal is a bastardization from the book!! and then the mob at the end, like why was that needed? that came out of nowhere and no one asked for it, it’s not in the book, and was unnecessary for the ending of the movie

My first silent movie. It was really good.

A hundred years later and Lon Chanel’s masterpiece is just as terrifying as ever.

I've seen the 1943 version before, and it was okay, but I did not really care for the story, and the same can be applied here with the original silent film. I'll always respect it, though, and what it did for the horror genre.

Great early horror movie. The reveal of the Phantom's face is just as impactful as then.

Talk about an iconic protagonist

This was a surprisingly good silent film. I liked the lighting and the atmosphere of this movie, it definitely did a good job creating an early horror aesthetic.