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The Phantom of the Opera
- 2 Disc Special Edition
" Beneath the splendid riches of the Paris Opera House lie ancient
catacombs with a dark and forbidden secret. Once used as torture chambers,
these passages now house the Opera Ghost (Lon Chaney), vowing vengeance
on the human race and obsessed with young opera ingenue Christine (Mary
Philbin). Featuring terrifying make-up and gothic setpieces which remain
thrilling today, this spine-tingling, macabre masterpiece can now be
viewed in all its grand guignol glory. Utilizing the best 35mm print
of the 1929 reissue from the George Eastman House and material from
the UCLA Film and Television Archive, this stunning video master features
a magnificent orchestral score by Carl Davis (Napoleon) and a stunning
restoration of the Technicolor masked ball sequence!" - Image
Entertainment
"The Phantom of the Opera is not a great film if you are
concerned with art and subtlety, depth and message; "Nosferatu"
is a world beyond it. But in its fevered melodrama and images of cadaverous
romance, it finds a kind of show-biz majesty. And it has two elements
of genius: It creates beneath the opera one of the most grotesque places
in the cinema, and Chaney's performance transforms an absurd character
into a haunting one." - Roger Ebert
Selected for the Library of Congress National Film Registry of American
Film.
DVD - 2 Disc Special Edition
- Audio Commentary by film historian Scott MacQueen
- Carl Davis orchestral score
- Original Vitaphone soundtrack
- "1929 Version (98 minutes) restored by Photoplay
- 1925 original feature version with a score by Jon Mirsalis
- "Carla Laemmle Remembers" a 7-minute video interview
with David Skal
- 1925 and 1930 reissue trailers
- FAUST (opera extract) from the 1929 Tiffany sound feature, MIDSTREAM
- Audio Gallery: Additional dialogue from the 1929 Vitaphone disks,
and interview with Phantom cinematographer Charles Van Enger
- Stills Galleries featuring deleted scenes from original San Francisco
and Los Angeles premieres
- Productions with original two-color Technicolor, Tints and "Handschiegl"
color process
Curator's Comments:
Read
Roger Ebert's essay on this DVD Classic.
Director: Rupert Julien,
Edward Sedgwick (uncredited), Lon Chaney (uncredited), Ernst Laemmle
(uncredited)
Black and White / Color (2-strip Technicolor) / Color (tinted)
208 minutes
Released: 1925/1929
Rated: NR
Country: U.S.A.
Language: Mono (talking sequences, musical score and sound effects)
(1929 re-release) / Silent
Genre: Drama, Horror
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