Phantom of the Opera (
1943The year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :-16th Academy Awards:*Background to Danger, by Raoul Walsh with Peter Lorre*Bataan*Bombardier, starring Pat O'Brien, Randolph Scott, and Anne Shirley...
) is a Universal horror film starring
Nelson EddyNelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and movie star who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he...
,
Susanna FosterSuzanne DeLee Flanders Larson was an American film actress best known for her leading role as Christine in the 1943 film version of The Phantom of the Opera....
and
Claude RainsClaude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 47 years; he later held American citizenship. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them The Invisible Man, the corrupt senator in Mr...
, directed by
Arthur LubinArthur Lubin was an American film director and producer who directed several Abbott & Costello films and created the TV series Mr. Ed.Arthur Lubin was born Arthur William Lubovsky in Los Angeles, California in 1898...
, and filmed in
TechnicolorTechnicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation , now a division of Thomson SA. Technicolor was the second major color film process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color motion picture process in Hollywood...
. The original music score was composed by
Edward WardEdward Ward was a film composer and music director who was nominated for seven Academy Awards during a career that spanned thirty-seven years and included more than 150 projects.-Academy Award nominations:...
.
The auditorium set, a replica of the
Opéra GarnierThe Palais Garnier, also known as the Opéra de Paris or Opéra Garnier, but more commonly as the Paris Opéra, is a 2,200-seat opera house on the Place de l'Opéra in Paris, France...
interior, created for the
1925 versionThe Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 silent film adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel of the same title directed by Rupert Julian. The film featured Lon Chaney in the title role as the masked and facially deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to...
was reused (it still exists). Other than the sets, this "remake" had little in common with the earlier film. There was no attempt to film the masked ball sequence, although the famous falling of the chandelier was re-enacted on an epic scale, using elaborate camera set-ups.
Phantom of the Opera (
1943The year 1943 in film involved some significant events.-Top grossing films :-16th Academy Awards:*Background to Danger, by Raoul Walsh with Peter Lorre*Bataan*Bombardier, starring Pat O'Brien, Randolph Scott, and Anne Shirley...
) is a Universal horror film starring
Nelson EddyNelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and movie star who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he...
,
Susanna FosterSuzanne DeLee Flanders Larson was an American film actress best known for her leading role as Christine in the 1943 film version of The Phantom of the Opera....
and
Claude RainsClaude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 47 years; he later held American citizenship. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them The Invisible Man, the corrupt senator in Mr...
, directed by
Arthur LubinArthur Lubin was an American film director and producer who directed several Abbott & Costello films and created the TV series Mr. Ed.Arthur Lubin was born Arthur William Lubovsky in Los Angeles, California in 1898...
, and filmed in
TechnicolorTechnicolor is the trademark for a series of color film processes pioneered by Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation , now a division of Thomson SA. Technicolor was the second major color film process, after Britain's Kinemacolor, and the most widely used color motion picture process in Hollywood...
. The original music score was composed by
Edward WardEdward Ward was a film composer and music director who was nominated for seven Academy Awards during a career that spanned thirty-seven years and included more than 150 projects.-Academy Award nominations:...
.
The auditorium set, a replica of the
Opéra GarnierThe Palais Garnier, also known as the Opéra de Paris or Opéra Garnier, but more commonly as the Paris Opéra, is a 2,200-seat opera house on the Place de l'Opéra in Paris, France...
interior, created for the
1925 versionThe Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 silent film adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel of the same title directed by Rupert Julian. The film featured Lon Chaney in the title role as the masked and facially deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to...
was reused (it still exists). Other than the sets, this "remake" had little in common with the earlier film. There was no attempt to film the masked ball sequence, although the famous falling of the chandelier was re-enacted on an epic scale, using elaborate camera set-ups. The
cinematographersCinematography , is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for the cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
were
Hal MohrHal Mohr, A.S.C. was a famed movie cinematographer. He is one of only six cinematographers to have a "Star" on the famous Hollywood Walk of Fame, the others being J. Peverell Marley, Ray Rennahan, Leon Shamroy, Haskell Wexler, and Conrad L. Hall...
and
W. Howard GreeneWilliam Howard Greene was an Academy Award winning cinematographer. He was born in Connecticut and died in Los Angeles....
.
Plot
Erique Claudin (Rains) has been a violinist at the
Paris Opera HouseThe Palais Garnier, also known as the Opéra de Paris or Opéra Garnier, but more commonly as the Paris Opéra, is a 2,200-seat opera house on the Place de l'Opéra in Paris, France...
for twenty years. Recently however, he has been getting pains in the fingers of his left hand, which affect his violin-playing. He is dismissed because of this, the owner of the opera house assuming that he has enough money to support himself. This is not the case however, for Claudin has spent it all by anonymously funding the music lessons of Christine Dubois (Foster), a young
sopranoA soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
whom Christine's music teacher assumes Claudin has secretly fallen in love with. In a desperate attempt to gain money, Claudin tries to get a concerto he has written published. After submitting it and not hearing a response, he becomes worried and returns to the publishers, Pleyel & Desjardins, to ask about it. No one there knows what happened to it, and do not seem to care. Claudin persists, but Pleyel rudely tells him to leave and goes back to the
etchingEtching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
s he was working on.
Finally giving up, Claudin stands there for a moment and hangs his head sadly. Someone begins to play music in the next room, and he looks up in shock when he hears it. It is his concerto that is merely being endorsed and praised by
Franz LisztFranz Liszt was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher....
. Convinced that Pleyel is trying to steal his concerto, Claudin leaps up and begins to strangle him. Just as he tosses the body of Pleyel to the floor, Georgette, the publisher's assistant, throws etching acid at Claudin. Screeching and wailing, he dashes out the door clutching his face. Now being hunted down by the police for murder, he flees to the sewers of the Opera.
Claudin steals a prop
maskA mask is an article normally worn on the face, typically for protection, concealment, performance, or amusement. Masks have been used since antiquity for both ceremonial and practical purposes...
from the costume department to cover his now-disfigured face and becomes obssessed with Christine. Meanwhile, Inspector Raoul D’Aubert (Edgar Barrier) wants Christine to quit the Opera and marry him. But famed opera baritone Anatole Garron (
Nelson EddyNelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and movie star who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he...
) hopes to win Christine away from Raoul.
Now Christine is the understudy for the Opera’s female diva Mme. Biancarolli (Jane Farrar), who will do anything to stay in the limelight. But during a performance of the opera
Amore et Gloire, Biancarolli drinks a glass of wine and is drugged. The director then puts Christine on in her place and she dazzles the audience. Secretly unknown to Mme. Biancarolli, who suspects that Garron and Christine are guilty, Erique drugged Biancarolli’s wine in disguise.
When Biancarolli refuses to let Christine sing again, Erique enters her dressing room and kills her. After some time, D'Aubert comes up with a plan: not let Christine sing during a performance of the opera
La Prince Masque du Caucasus and that Liszt will play the concerto after the performance. But Erique strangles one of D'Aubert's men and heads to the domed ceiling of the auditorium.
He then brings down the large chandelier on the audience and cause chaos to spread. As the audience and the crew flee, Erique takes Christine down to his lair, pursued by the police. He hears Liszt playing his concerto, and he plays along with it on his piano.
He urges Christine to sing, and as she does, the police get nearer to finding Claudin. Christine pulls off his mask and sees what has happened to Erique. At that moment, Raoul and Anatole break in, and fire at their 'Phantom'. The shot misses, and causes the entire lair to cave in, as the two men and Christine escape. Christine explains that she and Erique had come from the same town district and that she had somehow "always felt drawn to him." Back at the Phantom's lair, in memory, one of the final scenes shows Erique's mask propped against his violin.
Later, Anatole and Raoul demand that Christine finally choose between them, but she surprises them both by choosing to marry neither and pursue her singing career instead. She leaves to join her adoring fans, and the two snubbed men go off to commiserate together.
Cast
The film featured some of the most popular stars of its time, such as
Nelson EddyNelson Ackerman Eddy was an American singer and movie star who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. A classically trained baritone, he is best remembered for the eight films in which he...
,
Susanna FosterSuzanne DeLee Flanders Larson was an American film actress best known for her leading role as Christine in the 1943 film version of The Phantom of the Opera....
,
Claude RainsClaude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 47 years; he later held American citizenship. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them The Invisible Man, the corrupt senator in Mr...
, and Edgar Barrier.
Newcomer Susanna Foster plays Christine Dubois, a soprano at the Paris Opera House.
Nelson Eddy plays Anatole Garron, a
baritoneBaritone is a type of classical male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek βαρύτονος, meaning 'deep sounding', music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second G below middle C to the F above...
and instructor of the Paris Opera. He is one of Christine's two suitors, tossing wit and sarcasm at the rather starched Raoul D'Aubert, Christine's other suitor.
Broderick CrawfordBroderick Crawford was an American actor.-Early life:Crawford was born William Broderick Crawford in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Lester Crawford and Helen Broderick, who were both vaudeville performers...
was considered for role of Claudin, the Phantom, before it was given to Rains. A subplot which made Rains's character Christine's father was jettisoned because it gave the romantic elements of their relationship
incestIncest is any sexual activity between close relatives irrespective of the ages of the participants and irrespective of their consent, that is illegal or socially taboo. The type of sexual activity and the nature of the relationship between persons that constitutes a breach of law or social taboo...
uous overtones.
Edgar Barrier played Raoul, taking little more than the name from
Gaston LerouxGaston Louis Alfred Leroux was a French journalist and author of detective fiction.In the English-speaking world, he is best known for writing the novel The Phantom of the Opera , which has been made into several film and stage productions of the same name, such as the 1925 film starring Lon...
's original story.
Also of note in the cast were
J. Edward BrombergJoseph Edward Bromberg was a Hungarian-born American character actor in motion picture and stage productions dating mostly from the 1930s and 1940s....
,
Hume CronynHume Blake Cronyn, OC was a Canadian actor of stage and screen, who enjoyed a long career, often appearing professionally alongside his second wife, Jessica Tandy.-Early life:...
and
Fritz LeiberFritz Reuter Leiber Jr. was an American writer of fantasy, horror and science fiction. He was also an expert chess player and a champion fencer....
as composer
Franz LisztFranz Liszt was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist and teacher....
.
During the same year that the film was released,
Phantom of the Opera was adapted into an audio presentation for the
Lux Radio TheaterLux Radio Theater, a long-run classic radio anthology series [NBC Blue Network ; CBS ; NBC ] which first adapted Broadway stage works, and then films to hour-long radio programs performed live before studio audiences...
. Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster and Edgar Barrier reprised their roles, but instead of Claude Rains,
Basil RathboneBasil Rathbone, MC , was a South African–born British actor most famous for his portrayal of Sherlock Holmes and of suave villains in such swashbuckler films as The Mark of Zorro, Captain Blood, and The Adventures of Robin Hood.- Early life :He was born Philip St...
played Erique Claudin.
Score
Edward WardEdward Ward was a film composer and music director who was nominated for seven Academy Awards during a career that spanned thirty-seven years and included more than 150 projects.-Academy Award nominations:...
wrote the score. The film has many elements of a musical, with lengthy
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
sequences, and has been criticized for being more musical than horrific. For the opera sequences, Ward adapted music from
Tchaikovsky'sPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
[The subject's names are also transliterated Piotr, Petr, or Peter; Ilitsch, Ilich, Il'ich or Illyich; and Tschaikowski, Tschaikowsky, Chajkovskij and Chaikovsky...]
Symphony No. 4Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36, was written between 1877 and 1878. The symphony's first performance was at a Russian Musical Society concert in Saint Petersburg on February 10 /February 22 1878, with Nikolai Rubinstein as conductor.- Form :The symphony is in four...
as well as using themes by Chopin. He also composed an original theme,
Lullaby of the Bells, which was heard in the film as the Phantom's
piano concertoA piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...
.
Cancelled sequel
Following the success of
Phantom of the Opera, Universal announced that a sequel would be made, titled
The Climax. Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster were to return, along with Claude Rains as the Phantom, most likely meaning that his character did indeed survive the cave in at the finale of the first film; indeed, in the final shot of the mask and violin atop the rubble, there is a sound of moving rock. The sequel, however, was later cancelled due to story troubles and problems concerning the availability of Claude Rains.
The ClimaxThe Climax is a horror film produced by Universal Pictures, first released in the United States on October 20, 1944. The credits state this is based on a play by Edward Locke, but the plot has little connection to Locke's play.- Plot :...
was indeed released the year after
Phantom of the Opera, but it was not a continuation of the previous film and featured completely new characters.
Other significant film versions
- The Phantom of the Opera (1925 film)
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 silent film adaptation of the Gaston Leroux novel of the same title directed by Rupert Julian. The film featured Lon Chaney in the title role as the masked and facially deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House, causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to...
- The Phantom of the Opera (1962 film)
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1962 British film based on the novel by Gaston Leroux. The film was made by Hammer Film Productions.-Plot:The film opens in Victorian London on a December night in 1900....
- The Phantom of the Opera (1989 film)
The Phantom of the Opera: The Motion Picture is 1989 film based on Gaston Leroux's novel and was directed by Dwight H. Little.-Synopsis:...
- The Phantom of the Opera (1990 miniseries)
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1990 television miniseries based loosely on Gaston Leroux's novel and directed by Tony Richardson.- Story :...
- The Phantom of the Opera (1998 film)
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1998 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento, adapted from the novel Le Fantôme de l’Opéra by Gaston Leroux. However, there are many differences between the book and the movie.- Plot :In Paris 1877, rats save an abandoned baby in a basket and raise him in the...
- The Phantom of the Opera (2004 film)
The Phantom of the Opera is a 2004 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical of the same name. Directed by Joel Schumacher, the film was also produced and co-written by Lloyd Webber...