Phantom Of The Opera (1943)

SEPTEMBER 8, 2020

GENRE: MUSICAL, REVENGE
SOURCE: BLU-RAY (OWN COLLECTION)

When I got the Universal Monsters Blu-ray collection a couple years ago during an Amazon sale, it was mostly out of a space-saving desire: my DVD versions (those green "book" types released in 2004) took up almost twice as much space as the boxed version, so I could get some shelf space back and improved transfers to boot. But when I took a look at its contents, I realized it also had a sort of bonus disc in the form of Phantom of the Opera, the 1943 version starring Claude "Invisible Man" Rains (or Claude "Wolf Man's Dad" Rains, if you wish). I don't think of him as one of the traditional Monsters, and I'm not a big fan of the Phantom story anyway, so I had never got around to seeing it before. But hey, it's in my collection permanently, might as well give it a look, right?

Instantly after hitting play I again bemoaned the film's inclusion in the set: it was in color! The only movie here that is, I think, making it stick out even more. I assume the fact that Rains was in two of their other films (the best two, IMO) gave it some connective tissue, but apart from the Robert Englund one none of these movies are full blown horror, and I kind of wish they used up that other disc (if one had to exist at all) to offer something like James Whale's Old Dark House or the 1932 Murders in the Rue Morgue. But oh well. The disc had a lovely bonus feature about the Universal Lot, which is the most fitting to put on a Phantom disc since the stage they used for the opera house was still there as of the supplement's production (ironically, after standing for almost 90 years, it ended up being demolished a year later).

As for the movie itself: eh. Again, not a big Phantom guy, though I must say that this one started off more intriguing than the others, as we meet the villain before he's the Phantom, which is unusual - the concept of his presence in the opera house is usually established at the beginning, filling in his history as we go. No, here we meet Erique Claudin (Rains), a violinist in the orchestra who is extremely gifted, but "not a good fit" or whatever. He is fired after working there for twenty years (part of his severance is a season pass, hahaha) and begins looking for new work, including trying to get his own composition published. And he comes close to realizing that dream, but a misunderstanding sends him into a fit of rage and he starts choking a guy who he thinks was trying to steal it. The man's wife picks up a handy tray of acid and throws it in his face, the choked guy dies, Claudin takes off into the sewers, and thirty minutes in, we have our Phantom!

From then on it's the usual stuff: Christine is too good to be in the chorus, gets a promotion when the headliner star falls ill, and becomes a sensation while the Phantom continues pulling the strings (some literal!) to keep her successful because of his obsession with her. A chandelier falls, a sewer rescue is mounted, a mask is torn away to reveal a hideous face... it's all the same, never that interesting to me story. And it's not even the lack of horror elements, because I've known about those for as long as I've been attempting to enjoy this particular story (my mom, when renting the Englund one when I was 10, told me they "turned it into a horror"); it's just a kind of thin story with a heroine that rarely does much, so there's no "in" really. And here, it weirdly gives us a reason to sympathize with him right off the bat and then doesn't use it to their advantage - he's just a murder-y jerk for the rest, and doesn't even go after the people he believes stole his music.

Rains is pretty engaging when he's on screen though; after he turns into the Phantom he's mostly seen in shadows (via cutaways that are never clearly defined with regards to their location in relation to the other people in the scene) for a while, and we only see the burn makeup for about nine seconds before (spoiler for 77 year old movie ahead) he is killed by dueling heroes Raoul and Anatole. Speaking of them, that's probably my favorite part of the movie besides Rains' performance - they're both smitten with Christine, for a usual love triangle kind of thing (the Phantom is not in love with her in this version - he was actually supposed to be her father but they dropped it), but the actors look alike as well, and as the movie goes on they play up the fact that they seem to be interchangeable. They both bring her the same flowers, they say the same responses to her simultaneously, etc. The final scene is downright wonderful as she turns them both down for a date, choosing option C (meeting up with adoring fans in the opera house), prompting the two men - bickering the entire movie - to become friends and enjoy the dinner together without her. Bros!

Back to the "Darth Phantom" thing though - even though they excised the reveal that Claudin was Christine's father who she never knew, there's a remnant left about how they both knew the same melody that was specific to their obscure small town, so it's a sort of sloppy removal and also makes the movie even less compelling than usual, since there's no reason for Phantom to be obsessed with her. And it's not the only "we changed something but not entirely" bit of confusion, as the opera staff begin talking about the Phantom as if he's already this urban legend in the place, in the VERY NEXT SCENE after Rains takes the acid bath! Someone even says something like "Oh, not those ghost stories again!", even though it's not only the first we've heard of it, but going by this adaptation's version of the story, the thing they're talking about (a missing mask) would clearly be the first thing he ever did there. My man wasn't going to start selecting his seat or prepping the chandelier to drop before getting the damn mask to hide his two-face.

Long story short, I appreciate the wrinkles they added to the basic narrative - honestly, this might be my favorite straight adaptation, for what it's worth - but this tale is just not for me, and I think at this point that will never change. I can maybe see myself giving the Schumacher one another look someday, if only for the now strange sight of seeing Gerard Butler in a "Handsome leading romantic role" to contrast with the glorified (and oft-AWESOME!) action junk he makes today, where he probably was second in line for Unhinged if Russell Crowe was unavailable. But otherwise, I think from now on I will insist on sticking to the ones that take the basic concept and move it into a mall or a rock venue (p.s. the Phantom's mask here was clearly an influence on De Palma's take) or something. The more they get away from Gaston Leroux's story, the more I seem to enjoy it. No offense, Gaston.

What say you?

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