This is the best presentation of this movie that I have ever seen. I remember that one presentation (followed by Rouben Mamoulian's 1931 Jekyll & Hyde) was on BBCtv around 1975. Then our TV set broke down and I saw neither! My heart dropped to the floor and I wanted to die. Life was so bloody unfair! Seen both movies since though - love them both lots. I have seen Phantom with church organ accompaniment at Sheffield Cathedral in 2004. Great it was! Now this presentation I watch tonight (11th January 2025). I lived to tell the tale and watch the versions. Liked the music with this Phantom. Never seen the masked ball in colour before, either. For something of a 100 years ago, it's impressive. I'll watch this one again - I'm a fan!
An outstanding reconstruction - this makes the film come alive, and the music - outstanding! It really is such a compelling film in spite of some of the limitations of the directorial style. This score is wonderful and has such wonderful ability to match the on-screen action. Thank you for this labor of love.
Wonderful! I've always been very very curious to hear what the original score sounds like. Two things: 1. Why'd you use the alternate, "1929 unmasking" vs the original "1925 unmasking?" I use quotes, because both were filmed in 1925, of course. 2. I haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet. In what place(s) does the Mystery Drama Prelude pop up? Most interested to hear the original "Phantom's theme." Again, excellent effort!
Thank you for the kind words! 1) When I originally "reconstructed" the film it was to make the most complete version possible for a performance I was going to do. I was more concerned with using the best footage available rather than making a historic reconstruction of the 1925 film. Although there are slight differences in camera angles between the two versions timing wise they should be very similar. 2) The real name of the Phantom theme is "Prelude to Mystery Drama" by Maurice Baron. This piece of music contains two parts, Part "B" is the Phantom theme and is first used when the managers enter box 5. It is used several times throughout the film. Part "A" is also used when Raoul and the Persian are in the catacombs. As I explained previously, I used a lot of the music from the original score but I also added additional music, moved some of the music around and also added some original music. The original score had a lot of places where a cue either didn't fit very well or would play for a very long time (often with the note "repeat until next cue").
You should read the actual novel by Gaston Leroux. It’s a good read and I seem to recall that it does differ in some ways from the 1925 silent film version. I fell in love with 1925 silent film in large part because of the soundtrack that includes Franz Schubert’s unfinished 8th symphony. This versions soundtrack was good but I prefer the Franz Schubert version. It was that version of this film that made me a fan of Schubert and also made me read the novel.
That is part of the music that actually starts at 51:56. The music for that entire scene was written by my good friend and fellow theatre organist Chris Gorsuch. Chris passed away several years ago and I included some of the themes he wrote for "Phantom" as a tribute to him.
The 1929 edit was comprised from outtakes and the screen ratio is different. Combining the 2 films is a mistake. There are 2 seperate parties that are using AI to restore the 1925 edit. They scanned the existing John Hampton 16mm copies at UCLA. It's just a question of who puts it on the market first.
As I have answered before...I have never promoted this as a restoration of the 1925 film but rather as a reconstruction. My goal when I put this together in 2008 was to make the most complete version that was watchable on a large screen for a live performance so I wanted the best available footage for that. I spent many many hours in Photoshop and After Effects cleaning up titles and footage to get this version to this level. It will be interesting to see what an "AI" restoration looks like but since the 16mm prints are not the same aspect ratio as the original 35mm footage there will still have to be "recreated" parts of each frame, or a new aspect ratio will have to decided on. Any new version with that much restoration would most likely be copyrighted and I would not be able to post it on RUclips anyway.
While the existing 16mm prints do show the hanging scene much earlier, the original published score by Belwin in 1925 shows it exactly where I put it, I'm not sure why the scene location was changed, possibly a late edit in the final print in 1925? You can find a copy of the original score here: www.sfsma.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Phantom%20of%20the%20Opera.pdf The hanging scene is on page 71 of the score. While you are entitled to your opinion about image quality, most of the people paying money to see one of my silent film concerts would not like to see the grainy overexposed version that was included in the original Milestone/Image Entertain DVD that I was working with in 2008.
Fine, but you have used to much of the reissue print to fill out much of this. It is still not a true restoration because of it. Excellent score, however.
Agreed, my goal when I first put this together was to include the missing footage so my audiences would be able to see the complete film when I perform it, that's why I call this a "reconstructed" version - not restored. I think it also makes a nice contrast to show the difference in quality between the footage taken from the 35mm source material and the 16mm material. I did compare the two versions side by side and only used the reissue material when it matched (with the exception of "A" and "B" footage differences - which most people wouldn't notice) or when cutting between the two sources in the middle of a scene would be more of a distraction.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
This is the best presentation of this movie that I have ever seen. I remember that one presentation (followed by Rouben Mamoulian's 1931 Jekyll & Hyde) was on BBCtv around 1975. Then our TV set broke down and I saw neither!
My heart dropped to the floor and I wanted to die. Life was so bloody unfair!
Seen both movies since though - love them both lots.
I have seen Phantom with church organ accompaniment at Sheffield Cathedral in 2004.
Great it was! Now this presentation I watch tonight (11th January 2025).
I lived to tell the tale and watch the versions. Liked the music with this Phantom.
Never seen the masked ball in colour before, either. For something of a 100 years ago, it's impressive.
I'll watch this one again - I'm a fan!
An outstanding reconstruction - this makes the film come alive, and the music - outstanding! It really is such a compelling film in spite of some of the limitations of the directorial style. This score is wonderful and has such wonderful ability to match the on-screen action. Thank you for this labor of love.
Thanks for restoration and added footage 🙂
i’ve watched the silent film before and never knew about these missing scenes! tysm for this!
Wonderful job. Bravo!
Wonderful! I've always been very very curious to hear what the original score sounds like.
Two things:
1. Why'd you use the alternate, "1929 unmasking" vs the original "1925 unmasking?" I use quotes, because both were filmed in 1925, of course.
2. I haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet. In what place(s) does the Mystery Drama Prelude pop up? Most interested to hear the original "Phantom's theme."
Again, excellent effort!
Thank you for the kind words!
1) When I originally "reconstructed" the film it was to make the most complete version possible for a performance I was going to do. I was more concerned with using the best footage available rather than making a historic reconstruction of the 1925 film. Although there are slight differences in camera angles between the two versions timing wise they should be very similar.
2) The real name of the Phantom theme is "Prelude to Mystery Drama" by Maurice Baron. This piece of music contains two parts, Part "B" is the Phantom theme and is first used when the managers enter box 5. It is used several times throughout the film. Part "A" is also used when Raoul and the Persian are in the catacombs.
As I explained previously, I used a lot of the music from the original score but I also added additional music, moved some of the music around and also added some original music. The original score had a lot of places where a cue either didn't fit very well or would play for a very long time (often with the note "repeat until next cue").
Did I just put this on because I’ve read that it’s the most book accurate version? Yes. Have I read the actual book? …no
You should read the actual novel by Gaston Leroux. It’s a good read and I seem to recall that it does differ in some ways from the 1925 silent film version. I fell in love with 1925 silent film in large part because of the soundtrack that includes Franz Schubert’s unfinished 8th symphony.
This versions soundtrack was good but I prefer the Franz Schubert version.
It was that version of this film that made me a fan of Schubert and also made me read the novel.
Can you tell me the song playing between 54:17 and 55:31 ?
That is part of the music that actually starts at 51:56. The music for that entire scene was written by my good friend and fellow theatre organist Chris Gorsuch. Chris passed away several years ago and I included some of the themes he wrote for "Phantom" as a tribute to him.
The 1929 edit was comprised from outtakes and the screen ratio is different. Combining the 2 films is a mistake.
There are 2 seperate parties that are using AI to restore the 1925 edit. They scanned the existing John Hampton 16mm copies at UCLA.
It's just a question of who puts it on the market first.
As I have answered before...I have never promoted this as a restoration of the 1925 film but rather as a reconstruction. My goal when I put this together in 2008 was to make the most complete version that was watchable on a large screen for a live performance so I wanted the best available footage for that. I spent many many hours in Photoshop and After Effects cleaning up titles and footage to get this version to this level. It will be interesting to see what an "AI" restoration looks like but since the 16mm prints are not the same aspect ratio as the original 35mm footage there will still have to be "recreated" parts of each frame, or a new aspect ratio will have to decided on. Any new version with that much restoration would most likely be copyrighted and I would not be able to post it on RUclips anyway.
👍👍
In the 1925 edit, Joseph is hanged much earlier. The 1925 edit is preferable, image quality be damned.
While the existing 16mm prints do show the hanging scene much earlier, the original published score by Belwin in 1925 shows it exactly where I put it, I'm not sure why the scene location was changed, possibly a late edit in the final print in 1925? You can find a copy of the original score here:
www.sfsma.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Phantom%20of%20the%20Opera.pdf
The hanging scene is on page 71 of the score.
While you are entitled to your opinion about image quality, most of the people paying money to see one of my silent film concerts would not like to see the grainy overexposed version that was included in the original Milestone/Image Entertain DVD that I was working with in 2008.
Fine, but you have used to much of the reissue print to fill out much of this. It is still not a true restoration because of it. Excellent score, however.
Agreed, my goal when I first put this together was to include the missing footage so my audiences would be able to see the complete film when I perform it, that's why I call this a "reconstructed" version - not restored. I think it also makes a nice contrast to show the difference in quality between the footage taken from the 35mm source material and the 16mm material. I did compare the two versions side by side and only used the reissue material when it matched (with the exception of "A" and "B" footage differences - which most people wouldn't notice) or when cutting between the two sources in the middle of a scene would be more of a distraction.
This is a foolish comment. Proper response would be, "Thank you." And you have misspelled "to".
Yes! Finally! An orchestral score that is actually (for real) adapted from the original 1925 score and not one of those official scores. 🥲