The Phantom of the Opera (Universal) contains more opera than phantom, more trills than thrills. In this it differs from the original Phantom, which Universal produced in the shock-absorbing '20s as a shivery vehicle for the late multiform Lon Chaney. The 1943 Phantom is bantam-sized Claude Rains, who attempts to terrify by sheer force of character, scar tissue and Technicolor. Scuttling about in a robin's-egg blue mask, Cinemactor Rains scares nobody but his fellow cinemactors.
A sensitive bit of casting finally lands Baritone Nelson Eddy in his first horror picture. Here Eddy is Anatole Carron of the Paris Opera, who loves...
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