'THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA'

Evening Star, Issue 19290, 1 July 1926, Page 4

'THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA'

le-ffIORROW'S ATTRACTION The first presentation of ‘ The Phantom of the Opera ’ in Dunedin will take place to-morrow, when tho film will bo shown simultaneously at the Octagon and Empire Theatres. If the play is analysed it is simple enough to understand why it is such a phenomenal success. In the first place, the story was written by Gaston Leroux, one of tho most subtle French authors of mystery novels auditories. Ho possesses Poe’s extraordinary ’ability to create feverish and terrible atmosphere in his work in the realm of the unnatural. Combined with this ho has tho gift of plausibility. Ho is able_ to give a color of truth to Ms terrifying imaginings. As master of this equipment he is one of the best-fitted mystery authors of the century. Inspired by the gloomy subterranean prisons and torture chambers of the Paris Opera-house, lie conceived one of the most remarkable mystery stories that has boon written since tho death of Poo. This story has lost none of its memorable qualities in the screen adaptation. Genius wrote the original story, and it was undoubted genius that adapted it. The settings and general production arc perfect. Tho story is centred around Christine Daal, a girl who is endeavoring to make a reputation for herself at the Paris Opera-house. There is a legend in the theatre concerning a phantom that throws its grisly shadow on tho stone walls of the underground dressing rooms, hut tho managers have never been sufficiently interested to make, exhaustive inquiries about it. Ono day Christine, while in her room at the Opera-house, hears a mysterious voice say that she will have success if she devotes hersolf completely to music and casts all worldly pleasure aside. She agrees to do this, and a mysterious communication to the managers requests tboni to allow Christine to sing Marguerite in ‘ Faust ’ in place of Carlotta, tho regular prima donna. They consent to do this, and tho young girl has an immediate triumph. Never before had so sweet and spiritual a voice been heard in the great building. Tho next night Carlotta demands that she shall sing the part; and, in spite of warnings from the phantom, they let her do it. That night the phantom speaks to the audience, anfl soon after the disastrous fall of a chandelier from tho ceiling of the theatre causes a stampede. “When Christine returns to her room tho phantom speaks again, and tolls her that he is about to demand her love in return for what he has done for her. Slio consents to give it to him, and the next night she follows a masked man down mysterious passages, through charnel chambers, and over black underground lakes. In a secret recess her lover waits for her. Ho wears a repulsive mask, and she cannot repress a feeling of antipathy towards him. However, as soon as ho plays tho organ she falls under his spell, and is about to succumb when she is suddenly tempted to remove tho mask. Tin’s she does, and exposed to her gaze is a face ten times more hideous than the mask. Love then is impossible, and she implores liberation. This _ the phantom man gives her on condition that she does not return to her soldier lover. However, as soon as she is free she goes to her lover, Raoul De Chagny, and they decide to elude the phantom. They are foiled in their first attempt, and then the battle is fought out underground among the gloomy cells with their fiendish torture equipment. A police officer discovers that the phantom is Erik, a criminal lunatic who has escaped from Devil’s Island. The battle goes on with the odds much in favor of tho tho people of Paris turn out against him, and then the lovers are freed from his evil influence, and Erik ends his life in the Seine. The picture is superbly produced. The part of Christine is played by Alary Philbiu, and that, of the phantom by ion Chaney. - '