It’s the first color Universal Monster movie! Phantom of the Opera is presented in gorgeous technicolor, this is the only one of the original Universal Monster movies that won the Oscars it was nominated for, Best Cinematography (Color) and Best Art Direction (Color).

While one could argue that the Universal Monster series started with the original Phantom of the Opera and not Dracula, this version, while lush and beautiful ends up being more melodrama than Phantom. But I’m not saying anything that hasn’t been said before.

With lots of opera, lush set designs, and gorgeous costumes the film plays close (ish) to the original novel by Gaston Leroux, with a number of changes to facilitate the cinematic narrative.

An orchestra violinist, Claudin (Claude Rains) is obsessed with the musical training and success of a young ingenue, Christine (Susanna Foster). His obsession is never quite explained for the story, but it causes some gentle eyerolling by Christine’s two would-be suitors, Anatole (Nelson Eddy) and Raoul (Edgar Barrier).

When his concerto, a labor of love, is stolen and produced, Claudin is hideously disfigured and takes to the tunnels under the opera house manipulating events to allow Christine’s fame and abilities to grow.

Unfortunately, the musical company aren’t going to easily succumb to the Phantom’s demands, and that could make things very dangerous in the final acts of the film.

There’s a great sequence with the the chandelier, a miniature, but made to look massive within the film’s imagery. There’s also some romantic interplay, some competition between Raoul and Anatole, and not enough time given exploring the horror of the Phantom.

It’s not a horrible film, but it definitely seemed to be more interested in telling a lush story, and not quite falling in line with the rest of the horror films the studio was making.

And it seems a real waste to have someone like Claude Rains as the titular character and not give him enough to do. He’s not in it enough, his presence is around, but the film should ring with his distinctive voice, he should tower over the entire story, but it’s not told that way, which is too bad.

Foster is pleasant enough as Christine, but there doesn’t seem to be any real spark between two and her competing romantic leads, everyone seems to be going through the motions, but I never bought into the possibility of a relationship between any of the characters.

We’ll see what the next film in the series does, when I encounter Son of Dracula!!