Phantom Of The Opera, The (1943)

The first sound version of Gaston Leroux’s much-filmed novel has Claude Rains as the thwarted composer, mutilated after a ghastly accident, infatuated with a chorus girl and aspiring artist (Susanna Foster), hiding out in the Paris Opera and making far from helpful attempts to further her career.

Played to the hilt for entertainment value with large slabs of pathos, a touch of horror, a comedic sub-plot involving the chorus girl and two competing suitors (Nelson Eddy and Edgar Barrier), full-blown operatic sequences and filmed in rich Technicolor hues (the film won an Oscar for cinematography).  It is, however, an over-acted misfire that is wet when it tries to amuse and risible when it tries to be serious (the only exception being the unmasking of the Phantom at the end of the film, something which is done quite well although immediately wasted with B grade special effects depicting the Opera crumbling).

Probably the only thing that works is Edward Ward's Oscar-nominated score with his "Lullaby of the Bells” leitmotif but this is hardly enough to satisfy unless you are a chronic nostalgia buff or like your ham sliced thick, in which case you're home and hosed.

 

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