The Phantom of the Opera 1924 Silent Film Classic 2002 Horror Movie Review

Some years ago the Brabants Orkest presented with Carl Davis the Pantom of the Opera. Carl Davis conducted the orchestra synchrone with the movie. It is a very special happening to see a movie this way. So when I saw it was available on DVD the dissision was made easily.


Not only the 1929 version with the score of Carl Davis is available. There is also a reconstruction of the soundtrack of the 1929 speaking version of the movie. Personally I like the silent version with the score from Carl Davis better. And there is the 1925 New York version. Finally there are interviews with people who worked at this movie. So this is a good documentation of this famous movie. 


All the strong points of silent cinema are available:

- there is a score specially made for this movie,

- scenes are tinted to indicate place or mood (common practice at that time),

- filmspeed is correct so that you don’t have the comedy capers effect,

- there are scenes with the early Techicolor two color system (I think this is the oldest commercially available movie with Technicolor),

- there are hand colored scenes, so you have a red cloack in an otherwise blue tinted frame.


If you are interested in early cinema, this is a good purchase. Recommended!