Monday, Oct. 28: See 'The Phantom of the Opera' (1925) in a 100-year-old Maine theater

A poster for the original release of 'Phantom of the Opera' (1925) starring Lon Chaney.

Halloween is upon us! And if you're still not in the spirit (har!), then the Phantom is for you.

'The Phantom of the Opera,' that is—the classic 1925 thriller starring Lon Chaney and (as the poster says) a cast of 5,000 others.

And your final chance to see it this season (with me accompanying it, anyway) is Monday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine.

An original 100-year-old silent moviehouse, it's a great venue for this picture. Also, it's the last event before the Leavitt shuts down for the off-season, so there's a kind of ghoulish finality about the whole affair.

So come on out to the coast on Monday night and join us for 'Phantom.' Afterwards, if you're not ready for Halloween—well, perhaps you're already a member of the undead.

Bwah hah hah hah! More info in the press release below.

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Lon Chaney terrorizes Mary Philbin in 'The Phantom of the Opera' (1925).

MONDAY, OCT. 21, 2024 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Phantom of the Opera' with live music at Leavitt Theatre on Monday, Oct. 28

Just in time for Halloween: Classic silent horror flick starring Lon Chaney shown on the big screen with live music

OGUNQUIT, Maine—Get into the Halloween spirit with a timeless silent horror film!

'The Phantom of the Opera' (1925), the silent big screen adaptation of the classic thriller, will be shown with live music on Monday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Leavitt Fine Arts Theatre, 259 Main St., Route 1 in Ogunquit, Maine.

All are welcome to this family-friendly event; tickets are $15 per person general admission. 

The screening, the latest in the Leavitt Theatre's silent film series, will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating scores for silent films.

The show will allow movie-goers to experience the silent 'Phantom' the way it was intended to be seen: on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.  

'The Phantom of the Opera,' starring legendary actor Lon Chaney in the title role, remains a landmark work of the cinematic horror genre. To modern viewers, the passage of time has made this unusual film seem even more strange and otherworldly.

It's an atmosphere that silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis will enhance by improvising live music on the spot for the screening.

"The original 'Phantom' is a film that seems to get creepier as more time passes," said Rapsis, who accompanies films at screenings throughout the nation. "It's a great way to celebrate Halloween, and also the power of silent film to transport audiences to strange and unusual places."

'The Phantom of the Opera,' adapted from a 1910 novel by French author Gaston Leroux, featured Chaney as the deformed Phantom who haunts the opera house. The Phantom, seen only in the shadows, causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to force the opera's management to make the woman he loves into a star.

Ready for his close-up: Lon Chaney as the Phantom.

The film is most famous for Lon Chaney's intentionally horrific, self-applied make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film's premiere.

Chaney transformed his face by painting his eye sockets black, creating a cadaverous skull-like visage. He also pulled the tip of his nose up and pinned it in place with wire, enlarged his nostrils with black paint, and put a set of jagged false teeth into his mouth to complete the ghastly deformed look of the Phantom.

Chaney's disfigured face is kept covered in the film until the now-famous unmasking scene, which prompted gasps of terror from the film's original audiences.

"No one had ever seen anything like this before," Rapsis said. "Chaney, with his portrayal of 'The Phantom,' really pushed the boundaries of what movies could do."

Chaney, known as the "Man of a Thousand Faces" due to his versatility with make-up, also played Quasimodo in the silent 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) and circus performer 'Alonzo the Armless' in Tod Browning's 'The Unknown' (1927).

The large cast of 'Phantom of the Opera' includes Mary Philbin as Christine Daaé, as the Phantom's love interest; character actor Snitz Edwards; and many other stars of the silent period.

'The Phantom of the Opera' proved so popular in its original release and again in a 1930 reissue that it led Universal Studios to launch a series of horror films, many of which are also regarded as true classics of the genre, including 'Dracula' (1931), 'Frankenstein' (1931), and 'The Mummy' (1932).

The silent film version of 'Phantom' also paved the way for numerous other adaptations of the story, up to and including the wildly successful Andrew Lloyd Webber musical from 1986 that continues to run on Broadway and in productions around the world.

‘The Phantom of the Opera’ (1925) will be shown on Monday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m. at the Leavitt Fine Arts Theatre, 259 Main St., Route 1 in Ogunquit, Maine.

All are welcome to this family-friendly event; tickets are $15 per person general admission. Tickets available at the door or online at https://www.leavittheatre.com/