:05:02
He may not have been Orson Welles,
but Lubin had a talent for storytelling.
:05:07
We're listening to "Heaven Protect Thee"
:05:09
from the third act of von Flotow's
1847 German opera, Martha.
:05:14
It's the only genuine opera in the film,
used because it was in the public domain.
:05:18
It was the one opera staged by Lubin, who
told me that it was within his experience.
:05:23
Tudor Williams is the bass.
:05:24
He also sang in How Green Was My
Valley, Maytime and Citizen Kane.
:05:28
Anthony Marlowe is the tenor
with the annoying vibrato.
:05:32
William Tyroler was the choral director.
:05:34
He had been the operatic consultant
on the 1925 Phantom
:05:37
and would also handle the choruses
on Phantom's follow-up, The Climax.
:05:41
He worked for the Chicago Civic Opera,
the San Francisco Opera and the Met.
:05:46
Gaston Leroux's novel and the 1925
Chaney film use Charles Gounod's Faust,
:05:50
with its diabolic theme
of a deal with the devil,
:05:53
to counterpoint the story of Erique
as the fallen Lucifer.
:05:56
Getting real operas that would be suitable
for 1943 audiences was a problem
:06:00
because Universal was cheap,
and the war in Europe
:06:03
made it virtually impossible
to negotiate with publishers and agents.
:06:07
Later on I'll talk about the difficulties
involved with the opera scores.
:06:11
William von Wymetal, a former stage
manager at the Metropolitan Opera,
:06:15
staged the two original operas
we see later,
:06:17
just as he had staged Faust
for the 1925 Chaney picture.
:06:21
"He knew nothing about placing
the camera" Lubin said.
:06:23
"All he knew was the musical number as
one piece. I'd break it down into shots."
:06:27
"Eddie Ward would work with Wymetal,
and we had a full orchestra,
:06:31
about 34 players, in the pit."
:06:33
This is Edgar Barrier,
a talented radio actor
:06:35
who had returned to Hollywood
with Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre
:06:39
and been scheduled to appear
with Welles in Heart of Darkness.
:06:42
Barrier had started in summer stock,
graduated to the Theatre Guild,
:06:45
and played with Alfred Lunt
and Lynn Fontanne.
:06:48
Educated in Switzerland and England,
he was fluent in several languages.
:06:52
Barrier worked in Hollywood
in the early sound period,
:06:55
making foreign versions
of American talkies,
:06:57
such as Jacques Feyder's
Le Spectre vert, "The Green Ghost",