Tim Casey
10-15-2003, 03:01 AM
I bought The Phantom Of The Opera Ultimate Edition DVD set from Image Entertainment, thinking that this would be the last time I purchase this wonderful film. Maybe.
They certainly went overboard with the extras and the presentation. There's two visual versions of the film in the set - the 1929 high quality 35mm re-issue print from Eastman House that you've seen on all previous laserdisc / DVD versions, and a full 1925 New York premiere version from a battered but usable 16mm home viewing version that you may or may not have seen (the old double laserdisc version had a similar print, but the contrasts weren't as strong).
The extras include three soundtracks for the 35mm print - a Carl Davis orchestral score, most of the original 1929 Vitaphone-type soundtrack, and a commentary track by Scott MacQueen which plays over the Vitaphone soundtrack. The commentary track is the best, since the info is superb and he pauses when some dialog finally pops up. The dialog is always excruciatingly awful and is always overdubbed, but it's cool to hear it at least once in your life. other great extras include a video interview with Carla Laemmele, an audio-only interview with cameraman Charles Van Enger recorded in 1973, a 25-minute reconstruction of the original 1925 LA premiere through publicity photos, and a shorter, similar reconstruction of the 1925 San Francisco premiere version - probably the most horrendous thing that's ever been done to a major motion picture. The San Francisco version will leave you in stitches.
Unfortunately the main 35mm presentation of the film suffers from some kind of frame rate anomality. The picture runs a bit slower than usual. Many of the frames are blurred and maybe one in fifteen are duplicates, making it extremely difficult to watch.
All in all, it's a great collector's set, especially if you already have a favorite print of the film that you'd watch for regular viewing (mine has my own self-composed soundtrack and some scenes I restored from photographs as well as some scenes grabbed from the 1925 16mm print, but nowhere near the amount of extras on this set: http://www.lowbudgetrecords.com/videocatalog.htm#phantom).
They certainly went overboard with the extras and the presentation. There's two visual versions of the film in the set - the 1929 high quality 35mm re-issue print from Eastman House that you've seen on all previous laserdisc / DVD versions, and a full 1925 New York premiere version from a battered but usable 16mm home viewing version that you may or may not have seen (the old double laserdisc version had a similar print, but the contrasts weren't as strong).
The extras include three soundtracks for the 35mm print - a Carl Davis orchestral score, most of the original 1929 Vitaphone-type soundtrack, and a commentary track by Scott MacQueen which plays over the Vitaphone soundtrack. The commentary track is the best, since the info is superb and he pauses when some dialog finally pops up. The dialog is always excruciatingly awful and is always overdubbed, but it's cool to hear it at least once in your life. other great extras include a video interview with Carla Laemmele, an audio-only interview with cameraman Charles Van Enger recorded in 1973, a 25-minute reconstruction of the original 1925 LA premiere through publicity photos, and a shorter, similar reconstruction of the 1925 San Francisco premiere version - probably the most horrendous thing that's ever been done to a major motion picture. The San Francisco version will leave you in stitches.
Unfortunately the main 35mm presentation of the film suffers from some kind of frame rate anomality. The picture runs a bit slower than usual. Many of the frames are blurred and maybe one in fifteen are duplicates, making it extremely difficult to watch.
All in all, it's a great collector's set, especially if you already have a favorite print of the film that you'd watch for regular viewing (mine has my own self-composed soundtrack and some scenes I restored from photographs as well as some scenes grabbed from the 1925 16mm print, but nowhere near the amount of extras on this set: http://www.lowbudgetrecords.com/videocatalog.htm#phantom).