Phantom of The Opera (1943) Review
Spoiler-free so you can read before you watch
Horrorific content by adrian on January 24th, 2019 | Movie Review | Classic Horror, Love Sick, Drama
It's about a love sick composer who terrorizes an opera house after becoming disfigured.
Phantom of The Opera was directed by Arthur Lubin (who also directed Black Friday and The Spider Woman Strikes Back) and stars Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster (from The Climax) and Claude Rains (from The Wolf Man).
The screen's classic of terror!
This is the second version of this classic horror, the first being the 1925 silent film. This one looks outstanding in Technicolor but is a lot less of a horror than I was expecting. It was also way more of a musical than I could stomach. Seriously, half the runtime is literally watching an opera.
Too much opera, not enough phantom.
I also felt many of the scenes dragged on for way too long. For example, the scene where Anatole, our resident phantom, cuts the chandelier loose goes on forever, so long that all suspense just kinda dwindles away and you're stuck watching him saw, and saw, and saw.
Decent movie, but it left me feeling like maybe I didn't watch the best version out there. Of course, I was also expecting horror, but I don't know why I was expecting that. This is an early 1940's movie. Back then, they were all basically plays featuring drama, romance and mystery. It was like watching a slightly more suspenseful, and thankfully much shorter, Gone With The Wind. Again, decent movie, just not a horror movie.
Worth Watching?
Phantom of The Opera (1943) Review is part 1 of 2 in the Phantom of the Opera series
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