Director: Rupert Julian
Writer: uncredited, “from the celebrated novel by Gaston Leroux”
Stars: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin and Norman Kerry
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Index: That's a Wrap!
Just six months after a mysterious phantom wreaked havoc at the famous Paris venue, the Moulin Rouge, in the feature by René Clair, a fresh phantom followed suit at an even more famous Paris venue, the Opera House.
Lon Chaney’s make-up, designed himself, is a marvel that had the audience screaming and perhaps fainting in their seats when Christine unwisely rips off his mask to reveal the horror of his disfigured features. The scenes at the Bal Masque, shot in Process 2 Technicolor, are still gloriously striking, the Red Death’s robe a vivid reminder of blood. No wonder it meant a series of Universal horror movies that would define the genre for decades. After all, Chaney had given them their most successful film two years earlier, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The success of this thematic follow up guaranteed a whole lot more. It merely took the advent of sound to progress the genre further.
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