Phantom of the Opera (Universal Studios Classic Monster Collection)

A great movie aA classic!

Before writing a film article on Claude Rains for CLASSIC IMAGES (December 2000), I took another look at 'Phantom' to appraise his performance. He's one of those rare actors who can make you feel sympathy when he plays the ill-treated violinist so that you understand why he turns into 'The Phantom'. His performance is just one asset of this handsome technicolor adaptation of the famous story.Why carp about the changes made for this version? It stands on its own as an entertaining melodrama studded with operatic sequences that give it added dimension. Nelson Eddy has never been in better voice and Susanna Foster is certainly up to the demands of her singing role as the new discovery of the Paris opera house.The comic aspects of the story are a bit overdone and the only real flaw in the film is having Eddy and Edgar Barrier do silly routines as suitors competing for the hand of Miss Foster. Aside from that, this can still be enjoyed as a horror story set against the Paris Opera background, thanks to the brilliant performance of Claude Rains as the violinist who must hide in the shadows.The sets are rich and detailed, whether showing the opera house or the sewers below. Understandably, the film won Academy Awards for color cinematography and color art direction. It should have been further awarded for its music. Edward Ward's haunting score was also nominated and contributes greatly to the overall enjoyment of the film.The horror is muted in this version--but the rich musical highlights are a compensation. Absorbing entertainment, even if purists object to some of the changes made in the screenplay. Makes a nice companion piece to the Andrew Lloyd Webber version starring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum.The extra features on the DVD make it a good buy, including the interview with Susanna Foster and some commentary by film historian Scott MacQueen, as well as production stills and a feature called "Unmasking the Phantom", which includes some interview footage with Foster and Turhan Bey.

I am an avid fan of "Phantom of the Opera" and currently own 7 different versions. This one is one of my favorites. IMDB.com rating is 6.5. This movie came out in 1943, one year before I was born, it was nominated for 4 Oscars winning 2. It won Best Cinematography, Color and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Color. The other 2 nominations were for Best Sound Recording and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture. While an older version it doesn't seem that dated. Susanna Foster; Claude Rains and Edgar Barrier steal the show. Susanna Foster plays Christine and was only 16 years old when this was filmed! She is terrific in the part and has a beautiful voice. Edgar Barrier plays Raoul and Claude Rains plays the Inspector and in this film version they quite comically vie for Christine's affection. It advertises a cast of thousands and stars Nelson Eddy as the Phantom. Also, if you're a "Phantom Fan" like me, you'll definitely enjoy the DVD bonus features which gives a ton of Phantom history and background. This "Phantom of the Opera" is also a terrific buy at it's current Amazon.com price.

The story 'The Phantom of the Opera' is nearly as old as stories of monsters in general. This version starring Claude Rains is a beautiful and colorful film that tells the origin of the phantom (unlike other versions) and tells the story in a unique way. Mr. Rains did not rely on heavy makeup to become the phantom. He saw the phantom as a tragic character and we do have feelings towards him as we learn what caused him to take on the guise as a 'monster'. This movie is fairly long and if you enjoy opera music, there is plenty to listen to during the film. That is one of the things that I am not as happy about. I love the story but at the same time I am not an opera fan. This version had too much opera music to sit through for my taste. This is not a condemnation of the film, just my own feelings. This is a good version of the story and I really like Claude Rains. But I still would always see the first version with Lon Chaney as the best version. But I recommend this film as a different perspective of the classic tale and well worth the price.

This film edges the 1962 Herbert Lom one. But a bit too much opera. The chief opera at the close is not what it sounds, a Russian opera by one of their many masters of the genre, but a weaving of vocal into a Tchaikovsky symphony. (War time rights to the music is the reason.) Claude Rains as always is superb and Fritz Leiber is the spitting image of Franz Liszt. The tenor and the cop offer comic relief. A-OK!

For me this has always been the ultimate Phantom of the Opera movie with Claude Rains in the role of the Phantom. I've never cared for the newer musical version of The Phantom. While the Claude Rains version has music in it when there are operas being performed in the theater it doesn't overwhelm the plot of the movie and is very enjoyable. This is one of those wonderful movies that I used to watch when shown on tv some 30 or so years ago but has seemed to disappear from live broadcasts over the years. So many really good movies don't get air time anymore in favor of a limited variety of movies, most of B grade or "lower" that the cable networks like to repeat over and over and lately even Turner Classic Movies has become guilty of repeating the same movies over and over while other "good" movies never get air time. Cable TV is expensive and doesn't live up to the variety of programming we should be getting for our money these days. I will continue to hunt for and buy movies on DVD to add to my home library because of this and I suspect one day will opt to do without cable tv to have more money available to buy the really good stuff on DVD and streamed movies on services like Amazon.

Love it Thankyou Amazon!

One of the best movies ever. Claude Rains is excellent. The opera singing is stupendous. Enjoy!

very enjoyable