Merry-Go-Round 1922 N/R, 110 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Rupert Julian, Erich von Stroheim Cast: Norman Kerry, Mary Philbin, Albert Conti, Cesare Gravina, Edith Yorke, George Hackathorne, Dale Fuller, Lillian Sylvester, Maude George, Charles King
Director Erich von Stroheim was fired from Universal Studios before the conclusion of this film, but it still reflects his touches even though it was finished by Rupert Julian. Count Franz Maxmillian von Hohenegg (Norman Kerry) is scheduled to be wed to a countess but falls in love with an organ grinder, Agnes (Mary Philbin). He goes through with the wedding anyway, heads off to war, is chastised by a dying Sylvester (Cesare Gravina)–Agnes' father–returns from the war a widower, and determines to make amends to Agnes.
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The Phantom of the Opera 1925 N/R, 86 min. Genre: Horror / Thriller / Drama
Director: Rupert Julian Cast: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Snitz Edwards, Gibson Gowland, John Miljan, Chester Conklin, Arthur Edmund Carewe, John St. Polis, Alexander Bevani, Edward Cecil, Edith Yorke, William Tracy, Roy Coulson, Ward Crane
This is a very good, silent horror film with Lon Chaney at his best in the role of Erik, the Phantom, who lives in the sewers beneath the Paris Opera House and comes up to coach beautiful singer Christine (Mary Philbin). Through a series of terrors, including causing an enormous chandelier to crash on the audience, the Phantom forces the lead soprano to resign from the opera. Then, he lures Christine into his lair beneath the opera house and tells her that he loves her but that he will only let her go if she will break off her relationship with Raoul de Chagny (Norman Kerry). Christine agrees but then rushes to Raoul, and they plan to run away after the performance. The Phantom overhears her and kidnaps Christine asking only that she never remove his mask, but she sneaks up behind him, rips off the mask, and reveals the terror of what lies beneath. Now, it is the job of Raoul and secret service agent Simon Buquet (Gibson Gowland) to rescue Christine.
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| 1. Merry-Go-Round (1922)
2. The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
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