Phantom of the Opera (1925)
Date of first viewing: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Format: DVD
After a day of watching classic horror films, this silent movie left me breathless. Like a moving painting, a story told in shadows on the wall, beautifully-timed orchestration, a heroine like a porcelain doll you don't know whether to protect or smash, a hero (villain?) with as much pathos as the elephant man, humor and terror and opera and ballet and a grand chandelier falling from the ceiling. Such a poignant image: the deformed face of the unmasked phantom juxtaposed against a statue of Apollo on the roof of the opera house as he overhears the woman he loves plotting her escape from him.
It's a beauty and the beast story gone tragically wrong, which is just right for a cold, gray November day.
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