The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
For the longest time of my life, I have only heard of the musical version of this story. Also, I have never had the slightest idea of what the story actually consists of, and I always thought that the Phantom is actually an attractive good man, hahaha. How wrong I was.
At any rate, it seems I have seen more silent films with live music than on a „normal“ screen and I would happily let it stay that way. I am sure there are many silent gems that I am never going to see, but I am glad enough to see some classics with live accompaniment. While „Metropolis“ was by far the most astonishing performance I have seen, – I was fascinated by how the pianist dripped in sweat -, this performance was great with the whole orchestra playing.
Perhaps this version of the Phantom of the Opera is not the one you should start with. Many elements of the story are rather confusing, especially the behavior of Christine Daaé, the main character. In this version, it looks like she randomly followed some beautiful voice and when she saw his face, she decided just as randomly that he must be a monster. I was actually sad when they killed the Phantom in the end; I think he had the potential to become a really interesting film character, but in this version, for the most part he remains the pointless villain.
One film I really want to see live is „Spione“ by Fritz Lang – so who cares if he, his wife and the main actress of the movie are all evil nazis, I want to see the films nevertheless.
There are quite a few films I probably would never have watched if it was not because it was a live performance, and this is one example. In the end, I would not recommend the film but I enjoyed seeing it with the symphony orchestra.