The property is sold and the new owners are warned of an alleged phantom, which is in infatuated with an unknown singer named Christine Daae, played by Mary Philbin. The story begins in the Paris Opera House, a location built on catacombs, ancient labyrinths, and torture chambers. The film ultimately allowed Universal to pocket roughly $540,000 in profits, a notable sum for 1920s cinema. The film cost approximately $630,000, including $50,000 in retakes.

The original ending, which found Erik dead at the foot of his organ, was rewritten to cast the phantom into the streets of Paris being chased by an angry mob, a decision designed to spice up the final actions scenes. Legend has it that Chaney was responsible for directing some scenes while Julian was autocratically storming around the set. Julian prompted several rewrites of the script, and his bullish nature irked many on the set. He knew a gift horse when he saw one, and the success of horror/fantasy films such as The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Kaiser, The Beast of Berlin (in which The Phantom's director, Rupert Julian, acted as the villain) were fortuitous signs for Phantom's success. In the original film version, Lon Chaney, who was primarily working for MGM but drifted for this film to Universal, plays the phantom. He weaved all of these styles into 'Phantom.' Influenced by Edgar Allan Poe and Jules Verne, Leroux's writing was marked by an eclectic mix of mystery, horror, Gothic romance, fantasy, and action. Of course the original source, Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel, first spawned this legendary ghoul. The most recent one, released in 2004 and directed by Joel Schumacher, is an adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Weber's ridiculously successful Broadway musical.

At least five film remakes have been made since the original in 1925. But clearly I am not alone.Ī testament to any great work of art is its pervasiveness in popular culture, and one of the greatest examples of such testaments are to Phantom of the Opera (1925). They were my first introduction to this timeless ghoul, and the 'holding' this phantom has had on me has lasted ever since.

Those are the lyrics from the heavy metal giant Iron Maiden's timeless classic 'Phantom of the Opera' released in 1980.

The phantom of the opera 2004 trivia