The Phantom of the Opera
In this black and white silent movie, Lon Chaney ('The Man of a Thousand Faces' who built his career on playing disabled characters) stars as Erik, the Phantom, in what is probably his most famous and certainly his most horrifying role. It is also his most empathetic role, as the audience feels sorry for him at the same time as fearing him. This film was made in 1923 and shelved for two years because of concerns that the audience wouldn't watch a film of this length.
The story concerns Erik, a facially disfigured man, abused all his life, who wears a mask to cover up his impairment and lurks around the damp, dark passages deep in the cellars of the Paris Opera House. To the public, he is a much-feared fiend who haunts the Opera House. Erik secretly coaches understudy, Christine, to be an opera star.
The Phantom sets about trying to get the lead soprano to resign through a startling sequence of terrors, including sending a giant chandelier crashing down on the opera patrons, permitting Christine to step in. Luring Christine into his subterranean lair, the Phantom confesses his love. But Christine is in love with Raoul de Chagny. The Phantom demands that Christine break off her relationship with Raoul before he'll allow her to return to the stage of the Opera House. She agrees, but as soon as the Phantom releases her, she runs to Raoul and they plan to flee to England after her performance that night. The Phantom overhears the conversation and, during her performance, he kidnaps Christine, taking her to the depths of his dungeon. It is left to Raoul and a Secret Service agent to track down the Phantom, rescue Christine and rip away the Phantom's mask in a chilling finale.
Echoing author Mary Shelley's sympathetic treatment of the man-made monster in Frankenstein, this film is unusual in early cinema for portraying the complexity of the disabled monster-person. The Phantom has taken to living his subterranean existence because of the negative attitudes of his fellow humans. Yet he has all the emotional complexity of any other person. In desperation, he kidnaps his beloved Christine, but when she rejects him, he and all facially disfigured people have their isolation reinforced.
Make sure you prepare the ground by covering the material in the Introducing disability in class guidelines before looking at issues in any specific film.
