That final version was a resounding success, grossing more than $2 million at the time.Īfter the introduction of sound at the end of the 1920s, Universal wanted to cash in on the new format. 6 at the Astor Theatre in New York it opened in Los Angeles about a month later.

Comedy director Edward Sedgwick was brought in to direct some lighter scenes with Chester Conklin, but those were all discarded after another preview audience gave the thumbs down to the tacked-on sequences.Ī third and final version finally had its premiere on Sept. Several scenes weren’t lit properly, including the smashing crash of the chandelier at the opera house, and had to be re-filmed.Īnd, just so you know, Hollywood test marketing is hardly a new thing: After one sneak preview, audiences suggested the film needed a romantic subplot as well as some comic relief. The actor and director Rupert Julian clashed from the outset, and their relationship became so toxic that Chaney wouldn’t talk or take direction from Julian, who was best known for completing the film “ Merry-Go-Round” after Erich von Stroheim was fired (that film also featured Philbin). Though “The Phantom of the Opera,” which also boasts a Technicolor sequence when the Phantom appears at the masquerade ball, is considered one of Chaney’s best films, it was a tumultuous production. Finally, he wore a serrated set of false teeth. He used black paint to accentuate the nostrils and used dark eyeliner to achieve that sunken-eyed look. By attaching a strip of fish skin to his nose, he achieved the up-tilted nose. Chaney earned that nickname with his uncanny ability to transform himself into various characters, including Quasimodo in the 1923 masterwork “ The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” He created the Phantom’s skull-like visage by using cotton and collodion for his exaggerated cheekbones.

Chaney phantom of the opera mask