1:13:01
"I wanted the horror" said Arthur Lubin
1:13:03
"but I think the studio
really wanted a musical."
1:13:06
"They made the decision that if you want
Claude Rains, you must do as he wants."
1:13:11
"Before Claude would sign,
he wanted to talk to me."
1:13:14
"He refused to have his face scarred
like Lon Chaney."
1:13:17
"His argument was
that if his public saw him like that,
1:13:20
he would never be able
to play leading roles again."
1:13:24
Lubin went on to say "That was
our big problem in the beginning."
1:13:27
"We wanted him to always be seen
with the scarred face,
1:13:31
but Claude wouldn't allow it."
1:13:32
"There was a great deal of argument
about it and testing of his damn mask."
1:13:37
The eventual compromise that
Jack Pierce would work out with Rains
1:13:41
allowed one side of Rains' face
to display acid burns.
1:13:45
The phantom
would remain masked throughout,
1:13:48
his disfigurement glimpsed
only for a moment at the picture's end.
1:13:57
The chandelier was duplicated
in a Styrofoam-like material
1:14:00
for the moment of landing
on the stunt players.
1:14:02
But curiously,
it does not appear in the film.
1:14:05
Golitzen told me
that only one take was made,
1:14:08
and that the winch operator
mistook the take for a run-through
1:14:12
and failed to correctly drop
the chandelier.
1:14:14
Alex made a sour face
when he told me this.
1:14:17
Possibly it did not work well. Probably
it looked more like the flimsy that it was,
1:14:21
or it was too badly damaged
to be hoisted for a retake.
1:14:24
The final descent is a combination
of three travelling matte shots,
1:14:28
very briefly flashed, with editing used
to unify and carry the idea.
1:14:33
When we see the full-scale chandelier,
1:14:35
it is only after it is settled in the
auditorium with a cloud of dust around it.
1:14:58
It's amusing to watch Lon Chaney's
phantom untie a single hank of rope