MovieChat Forums > Phantom (1922) Discussion > Alfred Abel

Alfred Abel

posted 16 years ago by jtyroler
4 replies | jump to latest

One of the comments mentioned he seemed too old for the part - I agree. According to his bio, he was born in 1879, making him about 43 years old when this was filmed - kind of old to be living at home with his mother.

[–] rogerskarsten 14 years ago

And Frida Richard, who played the mother, was only six years older than Abel!

[–] vinidici 11 years ago

But Frida Richard did look much older than her actual age. I'd thought (wrongly) she was about 60 at the time of filming.

Abel was miscast, for sure. Not knowing the actor's actual age until looking him up at IMDb, I thought his character was in his early 30's, being portrayed by an actor who was about ten years older than the role.

Okay folks, show's over, nothing to see here!

[–] FranLovesBetteD 9 years ago

It would be interesting to know how old the character was supposed to be; regardless, I agree that he looked too old for the kind of "idealistic boy" he was playing. I liked him a lot in "Metropolis", but in "Phantom" I found his performance to be kind of dull and monotonous.

Fortunately, the rest of the cast gave terrific performances, especially the actress who played his mother, as well as the aunt. Lil Dagover was radiant and charming, as usual, and wish Lya de Putti would have been given a longer screen time.

Animal crackers in my soup
Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop

[–] Tartarlamb 9 years ago

Aside from Abel's evident miscasting, I agree totally that Lya de Putti is underused. Of course, she is the titular phantom, so it makes sense for her to be elusive.

Abel was a great actor, but not only was he too old for this role by far, it's also a tough role. The only actor I think who could make this (typical for Murnau's male protagonists) spineless, sentimental idiot likable would be Ivan Mozzhukin—who regularly brought life to these kind of bookish mama's boy types.