A Talkie Version ?
I just saw an ad for this film as a full talkie. It was a re-release and dated 1929. What's up with that? Did they dub it... shoot new scenes?
shareFrom what I read of it, they mostly dubbed the existing 1925 film, but shot a few new scenes, ie turned Carlotta into Carlotta's mother and shot new scenes with an opera singer as Carlotta. I can't remember much else of what was reshot.
I do recall reading that Lon Chaney was unavailable to dub his own scenes, so his scenes were narrated or, ugh, I'm sorry, I can't remember specifics on that. It was something about not using someone else to do his lines for the talkie version.
If for no reason other than to sate my curiosity, I actually would like to see that version.
House: Climb out of your holes, people!
As far as I know, most (or all) versions available today are based on the talkie. They just removed the spoken dialog to "restore" the silent film.
shareSate your curiosity about the 1929 version if you must, but I think if you or anyone were to see the real 1925 version, one viewing may be all you'd want - and here's how you can and why you should:
http://www.amazon.com/Phantom-Opera-Ultimate-Original-Restored/dp/B000 0AKY58/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1348795135&sr=1- 1&keywords=The+ultimate+phantom+of+the+opera
Other than the fact that the surviving film copies/negatives were much better to work with restoration-wise, and thus giving us modern viewers a much nicer visual quality, the 1929 version is, IMHO, yet another horrible botch job by Universal of the 1925 film, wanting to capitalize on the then-new talkie craze.
The dubbed-over dialogue was considered awful even by contemporary reviewers of the day, plus some of the inconsistencies pointed out in the "Goofs" section here were because of horrible film editing with several scenes out of their original sequence.
If I could afford to do so, I'd gladly spend $20.00 to buy a copy of this wonderful 2-DVD set to give to any and all Lon Chaney POTO fans who want to see his incomparable portrayal that to date has truly and solely brought forth Leroux's Phantom as he was meant to be! The set's extra features are also wonderful to help give you a more complete background and understanding how the movie came (and almost DIDN'T come) to fruition!
"Think slow, act fast." --Buster Keaton
I meant the version with the sound. I'm just curious about it in a weird "I want to see every version of this adaptation" kind of way. I have that 1990 VHS release of the '29 version with the Wakeman soundtrack.
I have seen the '25 version (downloaded from - what is that site? - Internet Archive? The one that has public domain films available.) and I love it. It's such a pity, though, that the ending with Erik dying of a broken heart is lost (except for a still/screenshot). That's something I'd really love to see.
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I thrive on the macabre.