Lon Chaney takes the title role in this silent, black and white version of Gaston Leroux's classic tale. What starts as a seemingly plodding melodrama soon turns to grotesque Gothic horror, with Chaney making quite the most hideous phantom ever. Mary Philbin is equisite as Christine, the hapless heroine, who unwittingly drives the phantom into disastrous despair, while the gripping climax, accompanied by a crashing musical crescendo, is truly awesome.