Even without this help the direction is great and the film feels rich in darkness to suit the material. The film has had a helping hand in the restored version, the phantom's appearance as the Red Death is colour treated to give him a blood red cape which stands out in scenes of full colour or, as on the roof, where his cape is the only colour. These wonderful sets are made even better by the cinematography which makes excellent use of shadow and light, the film has a great atmosphere to it and this is almost entirely created by the lighting and sets. The film benefits greatly from a superb series of sets, each large, gothic and foreboding. Philbin is excellent as the woman with an unwanted admirer and Chaney is a great phantom tragic and hideous throughout. Each actor has to exaggerate their expressions and movements but not do so to the point of being comical, they all do well.

The cast are to be praised for the job they do telling the story without words it is a very different style of acting from today, but they do it well. The story is simply told but doesn't lose the tragic elements even if they are silently told. The main thing that struck me about the film was the sheer grandeur and scale of the film. I'm not sure it if makes any great difference, but the version I watched was a restored version of this film with a new score and some colour treatment on the film stock. He demands her love, but Christine plans to flee with her real lover a plan that the phantom cannot allow.

However when she meets the man, he is the phantom horribly scarred and insane. Meanwhile stories of a phantom go around the opera house and threatening notes are received that force Carlotta to call off sick, giving Christine her chance to shine, and shine she does. She receives coaching from a mysterious man that she can only hear but not see in her dressing room. Christine Daae is the understudy for Carlotta in the opera Faust at the grand opera house in Paris.

The phantom of the opera movie online