"The Phantom of the Opera was one of Lon Chaney's most florid performances and the jewel of his silent screen career, primarily because the beast-and-the-beauty fable fitted his particular talent so harmoniously. Chaney came to embody the romanticism of disfigurement...This sense of conviction made him unique in a genre that he virtually invented, and he was treated to vehicles that were lavish for a studio as small as Universal. The underground fantasia of Phantom-stygian canals, funereal chambers, and layers upon layers of catacombs-was even richer in lyrical passages than Chaney's gargoylish acrobatics aboveground in his previous The Hunchback of Notre Dame. An obvious intelligence motivates Phantom, especially in all of Chaney's master scenes, but also in the risky integration of operatic scenes into a silent movie...From its beginning, the 1925 Phantom was one silent film project inseparable from scores especially designed for it and, whenever possible, should be projected with music." --Andrew Sarris, Village Voice Dennis James, America's preeminent organ accompanist for silent films (see photo-box, this page) has adapted an orchestral score written for an earlier cut of Phantom and transcribed it for the organ. He has integrated classical music of the period of the story-once again providing an original interpretation as only he can do. The film's Technicolor sequences have been included in the restored archival print from the George Eastman House which we present tonight. In it, the masked ball scene is all gold interiors and red costumes-a choice of colors that gave 2-strip Technicolor the qualities of 3-strip.