{"id":21309,"date":"2011-12-20T13:40:17","date_gmt":"2011-12-20T20:40:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=21309"},"modified":"2021-01-01T01:24:53","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T08:24:53","slug":"phantom-of-the-opera-1943","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=21309","title":{"rendered":"Phantom of the Opera (1943)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Christine, you&#8217;re going to be a great and famous singer &#8212; I&#8217;ll help you.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-of-the-Opera-1943-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-of-the-Opera-1943-Poster-214x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"214\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-21310\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-of-the-Opera-1943-Poster-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-of-the-Opera-1943-Poster-91x128.jpg 91w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-of-the-Opera-1943-Poster.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 214px) 100vw, 214px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA middle-aged violinist (Claude Rains) secretly funds the voice lessons of a beautiful young understudy (Susanna Foster) at the Paris Opera. When he is dismissed from his job, Rains tries to earn money to continue Foster&#8217;s lessons by selling a concerto he&#8217;s composed, but is disfigured by acid when, in a fit of rage, he kills the man who he believes has stolen his work. He escapes from the police and goes underground at the opera house, determined to make Foster a star at any cost.\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Character Arc<\/li>\n<li>Claude Rains Films<\/li>\n<li>Disfigured Faces<\/li>\n<li>Horror<\/li>\n<li>Hume Cronyn Films<\/li>\n<li>Love Triangle<\/li>\n<li>Opera<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nUniversal Pictures&#8217; remake of its <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=21225\">own silent-era horror classic<\/a> is an entirely different cinematic experience altogether &#8212; one which, unfortunately, can&#8217;t hold a candle to its atmospheric predecessor. As noted in <a href=\"http:\/\/moria.co.nz\/horror\/phantom-of-the-opera-1925.htm\">Richard Schreib&#8217;s review of the 1925 Lon Chaney version<\/a>, that film&#8217;s director &#8220;keeps the character of the Phantom deliberately mysterious \u2013- as opposed to [in] other versions&#8221; (such as this one), &#8220;which create too much sympathy and not enough mystery for the Phantom.&#8221; Indeed, this later version is less a supernatural horror film than an operatic love triangle underscored by a tragic character study &#8212; a messy melange of genres which never really gel. In a significant departure from the original novel by Gaston Leroux, the first half-hour or so is given over to providing a back-story for the Phantom, who turns out to be a reasonably sympathetic, if deeply disturbed, violinist who, for reasons left frustratingly opaque &#8212; is he her father? (in the original novel, her father is a deceased fiddler) &#8212; holds a lifelong obsession with making Christine (Foster) a star. Rains is as compelling to watch as always, but &#8212; despite the clear effort made to flesh out his character &#8212; his Phantom feels &#8220;unfinished&#8221; somehow; it&#8217;s almost as though, in their attempt to humanize the Phantom, the filmmakers stripped him of his mystery while unintentionally opening up a host of other unanswered questions. <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, as noted in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/71049\/phantom_of_the_opera.html\">Time Out&#8217;s review<\/a>, the film is at least &#8220;very pretty to look at, with lush Technicolor, handsome sets, and even a fetchingly sculptured mask to give Claude Rains&#8217; rather benign Phantom the look of a contented feline.&#8221; However, the &#8220;endless operatic snippets for Eddy and Foster to warble [make] it all a somewhat tiresome waste of Rains&#8217; performance.&#8221; In addition, while there was a clear romantic rival for the Phantom&#8217;s affections in the original film, here this element of the plot has been needlessly opened up to include a pair of &#8220;humorously&#8221; rivalrous suitors for Foster &#8212; not just policeman Raoul D&#8217;Aubert (Edgar Barrier), but tenor Anatole Garron (Nelson Eddy) as well (presumably because Rains, as hinted above, never posits overtly romantic yearnings towards Christine). Foster is charming in her way (and certainly beautiful), but Barrier and Eddy are simply insipid male co-leads. Other than Rains&#8217; performance, the best element of the film by far are its reasonably atmospheric sets, including the use of the same Paris Opera House replica that appears in the original silent version. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong> Click <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Phantom_of_the_Opera_%28adaptations%29\">here<\/a> to read a list of the <u>dozens<\/u> of multi-media adaptations (so far) of <em>Phantom<\/em>&#8230; &#8212; a story which clearly resonates on an archetypal level for many. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Oscar-winning sets<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Sets21.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Sets21-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-21321\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Sets21-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Sets21-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Sets21-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Sets21.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Claude Rains as Erique Claudin\/&#8221;The Phantom&#8221;<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Rains2.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Rains2-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-21322\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Rains2-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Rains2-128x72.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Rains2-300x168.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Phantom-Rains2.png 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; this one is only must-see for true Phantom-philes. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0036261\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.nytimes.com\/movie\/review?res=9904E3D91438E33BBC4D52DFB6678388659EDE\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/fantasticmoviemusings.com\/2015\/05\/30\/phantom-of-the-opera-1943\/\">SciFilm Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.tvguide.com\/phantom-of-the-opera\/review\/109138\">TV Guide Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Christine, you&#8217;re going to be a great and famous singer &#8212; I&#8217;ll help you.&#8221; Synopsis: A middle-aged violinist (Claude Rains) secretly funds the voice lessons of a beautiful young understudy (Susanna Foster) at the Paris Opera. When he is dismissed from his job, Rains tries to earn money to continue Foster&#8217;s lessons by selling a concerto he&#8217;s composed, but is disfigured by acid when, in a fit of rage, he kills the man who he believes has stolen his work&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=21309\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21309"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60964,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21309\/revisions\/60964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}