Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

AnhartLinkin This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Griff Lees Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

alexanderdavies-99382 One previous reviewer has missed the point of this second version of "The Phantom of the Opera." Yes, I expect there to be Opera scenes along the way. No, I wasn't expecting the phantom character to be relegated to the background. As a result, the scriptwriters might just as well have removed the word "Phantom" from the film's title. Claude Rains is good but not physically imposing enough. The comic elements were slightly better than I thought and at least they weren't cringeworthy! Some of the shots that show the phantom's shadows are very creepy and these should have been expanded. The colour looks good and the budget resembles that of a respectable "B" picture. Certainly in comparison with "Universal's" usual standards, the above film had about double the usual money spent on it. Alas, this can't prevent the 1943 "Phantom of the Opera" from being an inferior remake of the 1925 masterpiece. The make-up devised by Jack Pierce wasn't very good either - I was disappointed. Not a bad film by any means but no classic.

jacobjohntaylor1 This is a one of the scariest movie all time. It has a great story line. It also has great acting. It also has great special effects. 6.5 is underrating it. This about a warlock who get is music stolen and want revenge. This is based on the classic book by Gaston Leroux. This about one of the scariest villains in literature. This movie is a must see. It is a true horror classic. I need more lines and I am running out of the thing to say. I am going to repeat myself a lot sorry. Great movie great movie great movie great movie great movie. Nelson Eddy was a great actor. Susanna Foster was a great actress. Arthur Lubin was a great film maker.

Python Hyena The Phantom of the Opera (1943): Dir: Arthur Lubin / Cast: Claude Rains, Susanna Foster, Nelson Eddy, Edgar Barrier, Jane Farrar: Originally made as a silent film in 1925, and here it makes its debut with sound. Title suggests disruption of peace. Claude Rains stars as a struggling composer whose music is stolen and he suffers a fatal facial injury while attempting to retrieve it. He terrorizes the opera and favours a young female singer be given a better deal. Effective plot with detailed writing that indicates that doing wrong to express right will ultimately fail. Skillful directing by Arthur Lubin with great production design. Rains is excellent as a musician released from his job only to discover deceit. He is menacing as the phantom while pushing the talent of a woman who can do what he cannot anymore. Despite his madness it will only lead to damnation. Susanna Foster plays the woman who he is smitten with. There are those hoping to separate her from her talent but the phantom will have none of it. Her final scene is a great push for independence. There are two suitors out for her hand. Nelson Eddy has her best interest in mind while Edgar Barrier is out for control. Jane Farrar plays a diva out to remain the focal point of attention because she is obviously insecure. In the end she will win leaving one applauding and the other disappointed. It regards anger and how it can destroy when not controlled. Score: 9 / 10

walsh-campbell Though far from perfect, I love this movie. Claude Rains is a brilliant actor and his embodiment of the Phantom is my favorite--or rather, his embodiment of the man who becomes the Phantom. If the writers and the director had cooperated, Claude Rains could have been the greatest Phantom ever filmed. The problem is that this version of the Phantom did the best job of telling the Phantom's back-story and making him a sympathetic character, but did the worst job of making the Phantom terrifying.The Phantom is a serial killer, after all. He is thoroughly insane, immensely clever, utterly ruthless, and knows the environment of the Paris Opera better then almost anyone else--he could be anywhere. In this film, the writers and the director never successfully make us feel that sense of dread, the sense of horror at the Phantom's crimes. This aspect of the story is tossed off in an almost token fashion. In fact, the slight gestures meant to halfheartedly convey this--like the many shadows of the phantom doing his Snidely Whiplash imitation--are unintentionally funny. The Gothic horror story is pushed quite firmly to the background.In the foreground, we have a lush, colorful, lightly comic operetta about a beautiful young singer and the two rivals for her affection. While entertaining enough, it quite overwhelms the Phantom's sad, terrifying tale.