The Invisible Man / Phantom of the Opera [DVD][1933/1943]

This must be one of the greatest bargains of the century. Two terrific films on two seperate discs for under a tenner. Both feature that great actor Claude Rains. The Invisible Man was his first Hollywood film and though he is only seen for about 5 seconds he dominates the film as the crazy scientist who makes himself invisible with an irreversible experiment.
There are terrific special effects for a film made in 1933 and moments of great comedy.
The Phantom of the opera is a remake of the 1925 silent classic with Lon Chaney.This version from 1943 is in glorious Technicolour which rightly won the Academy Award for photography that year. There is little horror but terrific music and some subtle comedy involving the two male leads Edgar Barrier and Nelson Eddy.
With each disc of the film there is a detailed documentary about the making of the film plus lots of info on previous Universal horror films and the many sequels to these two films. It is a shame that the price has recently gone up to £9.99. I was lucky enough to purchase it from Amazon earlier this week for £7.49. Nevertheless at £9.99 it is still a tremendous bargain.

"The Invisible Man" finally proved to me that just because a film is old, it doesn't have to be poorly made (like Tod Browning's "Dracula", two years older than this and a lot duller). James Whale's film is scary and compelling, and features brilliantly believable special effects and a startlingly good lead performance.

It is, of course, Claude Rains' show from the moment he speaks. He imbues the invisible lunatic with a rasping menace quite unlike any of the other Universal "Monsters", and the strange omnipotence of his character makes the film fascinating, even if it is profoundly downbeat. Touches of very silly humour keep it from being too dark, and they're mostly quite welcome; they only worrying point is the love interest, Flora, whose character exists purely for people to use as a kind of trophy. That apart, this is a fantastic film.

Shame, then, about "The Phantom of the Opera", which spends so long getting us to sympathise with the Phantom that any element of fear or excitement that could come later on is destroyed. Rains is certainly sympathetic as Claudin, but his switch to a homicidal maniac is totally unbelievable (whereas the character of Griffin went from bad to worse in "The Invisible Man", and it all felt very plausible). "Phantom" also features woefully bad comic touches, like two characters getting stuck in a door or talking at the same time, which further ruin any illusion that this might have been a scary film. Not to mention the long, indecipherable opera bits or the fact that Rains' Phantom is about a foot shorter than the rest of the cast. Finally it's not a very faithful adaptation, whereas "Invisible Man" only fiddles with a few aspects to transfer the book to film.

As with all the Universal double releases, this is great value for money, and at least the first film is remarkable. The second remains watchable and is in colour, and it's not a total wreck; just pretty unavoidably poor in comparison. And in collections like this, comparisons are inevitable.

A wonderful tribute to one of Hollywood's finest charecter actors, the great Claude Rains, featuring his leading debut as "The Invisible Man".

The Invisible Man features special effects which although seventy odd years old are still thrilling to behold. Rains perfomance as the meglomaniac scientist, Griffin is taut and filled with menace; a considerable achievement considering the only time he appears on screen is his death scene.

Rains rich speaking voice lends genuine terror to the role particulary in a wonderful rant where he ponders on a world running scared at the brush of his invisible finger.

The Invisible Man was ground breaking in its day with an unseen leading star and its awe inspiring special effects which still entertain and enthrall today.

The Phantom of the Opera is the relatively weaker of the two films. It is beautifully photographed in technicolour and features a macnificent operatic score delivered by two wonderful voices Susanna Foster and Nelson Eddy. Indeed its focus on opera rather than phantom somewhat anticipates Lloyd Webars later effort.

The film looks and sounds great but whilst Claude Rains delivers a wonderfully sympathetic performance as Claudin, the ageing musician, his interpretation of the phantom is sadly restricted by the plot.

Gone is any supernatural element to the phantom, being replaced by an acid throwing incident which deprives the plot of any real mystery, in that here is a phantom but everybody knows who he is!

As the masked menace Rains delivers a number of chilling setpieces, his revaltion to and murder of Biancorrolli, the chandelier incident and a suitably menacing perfomance on the organ prior to unmasking.

However, the phantom loses all real menace once he captures Christine. His dialogue becomes weak and pitiful, a love struck teenager, tongue tied and posing Christine no real threat. The unmasking scene is totally undermined by the very understated make up which Rains insisted upon. ( a bad case of acne!)

Nonetheless, the film has value in terms of atmosphere and visual impact. Rains delivers his material in his usual masterful way and cannot be blamed for its shortcomings.

In conclusion it is more opera than phantom, not a patch on the Lon Chaney silent version and a precursor to the acid throwing versions of Schell, Lom etc.