He was also famous for designing and applying this makeup himself, doing so with such dedication that it sometimes caused permanent health damage: his vision, for example, was impaired by a wax wart that he wore over his eye for Hunchback. Chaney would ultimately become one of the first real Hollywood superstars, known primarily for his roles that required grotesque and elaborate makeup. After several years of theater work, he ended up at Universal in 1913. Born in 1883 to deaf and mute parents, Chaney developed a skill for pantomime that was essential to his home life and made him an ideal silent-film actor. But they would soon be eclipsed by the man playing the eponymous Phantom, Lon Chaney.Īlthough this is the only film we’ll be discussing in which Chaney appears (at least for now), I can’t talk about Universal Horror without giving you a brief synopsis of his life and career.
The film would reunite Julian with his Merry-Go-Round stars Norman Kerry and Mary Philbin, who were both popular stars at the time. Clawson, who had worked with Julian since 1916, became the screenwriter and penned a close adaptation of Leroux’s novel - closer than what the final film became, as we shall see. Two years earlier, he had successfully taken over the troubled production of Universal’s big-budget drama Merry-Go-Round, establishing himself as a director you could trust to steer a film project smoothly. For the director, Laemmle selected Rupert Julian, one of the studio’s biggest filmmakers at the time. Universal had held the film rights to Phantom since 1922, when Carl Laemmle had actually met Gaston Leroux. But surviving the jealous wrath of the Phantom isn’t going to be as easy as they think… Christine escapes back to the surface and reunites with Raoul, and together they plan to flee the country. He reveals himself to be Erik (Lon Chaney), a talented but hideously deformed composer who wants Christine to stay underground with him forever. Things go haywire when the Phantom kidnaps Christine after a performance gone wrong, making good on his promise to appear in person and demand her love. Viscount Raoul de Chagny (Norman Kerry) wants Christine to marry him, but while she loves him back, she has already pledged herself to her unseen master. Thanks to his tutelage (and more than a little backstage meddling), Christine has risen to become the opera’s top performer in just a short time. All his plans revolve around Christine Daae (Mary Philbin), an innocent chorus singer that the Phantom has taken under his wing.
Dubbed “the Phantom” or “the opera ghost,” he can seemingly make the building itself bend to his will and cause chaos if his esoteric demands are not met. The Plot: For months, the Paris Opera House has been haunted by the presence of a shadowy, unpredictable figure.
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