All in all, the silent Phantom was not black-and-white.Ī silent movie relies heavily on facial expression and arm movement. In the ensuing scene, on the rooftop of the Opera, the Phantom’s Red Death costume contrasts with the blue-tinted statue where he conceals himself (and the statue is tinted blue, because the night scene is tinted blue). To highlight all of this (here I bow to Wikipedia), a Technicolor process was used. Then, dramatically, the Phantom appears robed in red, with a large red plume issuing from his black hat. In the Bal Masque scene, all the costumes are in color: red, pink, green. In contrast, the area backstage and beneath the backstage, where the Phantom comes, has a greenish tint that looks mysterious. Thus, the office for the opera-house managers has a brownish tint it looks prosaic. I had expected to see a black-and-white film, but, in fact, much of the silent Phantom of the Opera alternates between brownish-tinted scenes and greenish-tinted scenes. Like the intertitles, all these notes are neatly presented to the audience on a separate strip of film.Ī silent movie relies on color. Meantime-apart from all dialogue, there are various notes that the Phantom sends to the opera-house managers. Also, since I had both seen the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and read the book, of The Phantom of the Opera, I had a general idea of what the characters were saying. It was awkward at first to watch a soundlessly moving mouth and then read the person’s statement, but it quickly became second nature. All the dialogue, which could not be recorded (before 1927), had to be written on titles to be shown to the audience. But that is just what I’ve watched-a 1925 silent film version of The Phantom of the Opera, starring Lon Chaney.Ĭertainly, it has to rely on intertitles. It’s hard to imagine a Phantom of the Opera movie-or any movie-without any sound (apart from background organ music). It is hard to imagine a Phantom of the Opera without songs.
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