This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of "Thursday Movie Picks", the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. We're in October, which of course ends with Halloween, so the subjects this month are all technically Halloween-related. This first Thursday in October has the theme of masks. I don't know that the intent of this month's Thursday Movie Picks themes was to have horor movies, but in my case they're not quite going to be horror movies on the whole since it's not the genre I'm most well-versed in. This week I'm picking three features and a short:
Phantom of the Opera (1925). Lon Chaney plays the disfigured man who lives under the Paris Opera house, and hears the voice of an opera singer (Mary Philbin) and immediately falls in love with her. Of course, he has to keep the mask on or else everybody will be horrified. There's a spectacular two-strip Technicolor sequence and the movie is, on the whole, stunning for a 1925 silent.
The Man in the Iron Mask (1939). Louis Hayward has a dual role as French King Louis XIV and his twin brother who only comes to light after Louis is an adult. The King has the brother arrested and imprisoned with the titular iron mask, the point being that the brother won't be able to shave and will eventually be strangled by the beard. (By the same token, crucifixion victims died from suffocation after they were no longer able to keep their head up and their airway open. What a way to die.) Like The Phantom of the Opera, this one has been done multiple times.
To Catch a Thief (1955). A key sequence in the movie has reformed cat burglar Cary Grant go to a costume party as a black African prince, complete with mask, and dance the night away, to establish where he's been all night while the real cat burglar is up on the roof ready to rob everybody else. Of course, it's really the chief of police out their dancing, while he's sent Cary up on the roof to find the actual cat burglar.
King of the Duplicators (1968). This short, which shows up on TCM from time to time, is a look at MGM's makeup man Fred Tuttle. A fair portion of the short involves making paster facial casts of the actors, which I suppose could be seen as a sort of mask, which are an aid for making the same type of makeup for a character over and over.
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2 comments:
Can't believe I never thought of Man in the Iron Mask!! It's such a perfect fit. This is a good version, I also liked the Richard Chamberlain on in the 70's however the 90's DiCaprio take didn't do much for me.
Never would have thought of To Catch a Thief. It a beautiful looking film but not one of my favorite Hitchcock's despite the high quality cast. Still a decent film and a good catch.
I'll have to look out for that short on TCM, it sounds like an interesting one.
We match on Phantom. I was a bit challenged by this theme and then decided to get around it by doing a sort of theme within the theme with the various versions. The Chaney one is masterful considering its age.
I'm certain there are dozens more versions of Phantom but I went with these three.
The Phantom of the Opera (1925)-Moody, expressionist original version of the Gaston Leroux novel tells the tale of a disfigured man (Lon Chaney) who resides under the Grand Opera House of Paris and becomes enamored by a young singer (Mary Philbin). He becomes obsessed with making her a success resorting to extremes to bring that about. Contains a most impressive color sequence which considering it’s almost 100 years old is beautifully composed from the primitive elements available at that time. There have been many versions but this remains a singular experience thanks to both Chaney’s self-designed makeup hidden for most of the running time behind a mask and skill at expressing emotion through it.
The Phantom of the Opera (1943)-Rejiggering the origin story somewhat this version starts with opera violinist Erique Claudin (Claude Rains) hopelessly in love with raising soprano Christine DuBois (Susanna Foster) who is also pursued by baritone Anatole Garron (Nelson Eddy) and police inspector Raoul Daubert (Edgar Barrier). Claudin secretly sponsors Christine’s vocal training until he is dismissed due to arthritis in his hands. Having submitted a concerto to an unscrupulous publisher Claudin discovers his work stolen and in a fit of anger strangles the man just as his assistant enters and throws a tray of acid in Claudin’s face. Permanently scarred he dons a mask and haunts the cellars of the opera house pursuing his goal to make Christine a star at any cost. Incredibly lush looking film was nominated for four Oscars. Unsurprisingly Rains is excellent and both Eddy and Susanna Foster were major opera stars of their day so the performance sequences are solid.
The Phantom of the Opera (2004)-Filmed take of the enormously successful Andrew Lloyd Webber version does not capture the magic that was present onstage. Curiously inert considering the entire thing is sung and staged for movement with the mask once used to hide the phantom’s disfigurement far more aesthetically pleasing now that he has been transformed into some sort of romantic stud ideal. Considering he’s not a trained singer Gerard Butler does well enough in the lead but you’ll miss Michael Crawford soaring power on the songs. The rest of the cast is efficient but unmemorable except for Minnie Driver who has fun as the bitchy diva Carlotta, though her voice is dubbed.
I love the original Phantom..Lon Chaney owns this role. I almost picked To Catch a Thief and love it that you picked this one. It a great climax to this film and the costumes were great. I always wanted to see this version of The Man in the Iron Mask and the one from the 70s. I know it's based on a true story but the man in the mask wore velvet and was given everything he wanted except for his face to be seen, his voice to be heard and his freedom.
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