Directed by Arthur Lubin
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Universal)
Middle aged violinist Claude Rains is fired from the Paris opera house when he develops problems with his fingers. He has no savings to fall back on because he spent it all on music lessons for his secret crush on a young opera singer. He tries to sell one of his own music compositions to a publisher, then becomes enraged when he hears it being played after they turn him down. He murders the publisher, but not before an assistant disfigures his face with acid trying to stop him. Forced into hiding, he takes up residence in the bowels of the opera house. Still obsessed with the singer, he resorts to extortion and more murder to make her a star. Gorgeously photographed in sumptuous Technicolor, with plenty of music for opera fans and a stunning opera house set recreated on the Universal stages. A tepid romantic rivalry keeps it from being a true classic, and Rains can't touch the performance of Lon Chaney in the original silent version as the phantom, but still quite rewarding.
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