H o r r o r o n t h e S i l e n t S c r e e n
hen Phantom premiered in 1925, the film had an orchestral score, color sequences - including the famous technicolor Bal Masque de l'Opera sequences - fantastic sets and costumes, and spectacles like "The wild rush of infuriated thousands - tearing through the flooded labyrinths of terror - in frenzied pursuit of the Phantom!"
Phantom, was a big damn deal, hyped from coast to coast and starring "The Man of a Thousand Faces," the most bankable star of his time, Lon Chaney. The popularity of Chaney's unwholesome, unhappy movies says a lot about post-war (World War I) audiences. What we would say today is that these people had some serious issues to work out.
Wits of the '20s had a joke, when someone was about to squash a bug, the gibe was "Don't step on it - it might be Lon Chaney." That image has lasted; Chaney is now remembered for his grotesqueness - armless men, twisted cripples, hunchbacks - but he began as a gangster.
The Phantom
T H R E A D S : 16 topics, 25 links.
Copyright © 1995 HotWired Ventures LLC. All rights reserved.
