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The Phantom of the Opera
finally opened in September,
:14:19
final cost $632,000.
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It was a sensation,
grossing more than $2 million.
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It was one of the last hurrahs
of the silent cinema.
:14:31
Then, in 1927, everything changed:
:14:35
movies had found their voice.
:14:39
Universal was so delighted
with the reception of The Phantom,
:14:42
that naturally, when sound came in,
:14:45
one of the thoughts was
"Let's do it again with sound."
:14:49
The "Return of the Phantom"
was announced,
:14:51
all-talking, all-singing, all-Technicolor,
:14:55
but no Chaney.
:14:57
The Man of a Thousand Faces resisted
becoming The Man of a Thousand Voices.
:15:02
When Lon Chaney did speak, it would
be for Louis B Mayer, not Carl Laemmle.
:15:08
Universal's talking Phantom
required some technical sleight of hand.
:15:12
Universal retrofit
the original Phantom in sound.
:15:16
Prohibited by contract
from dubbing Chaney's voice,
:15:19
Universal wrote his dialogue in the third
person, as if delivered by an emissary,
:15:24
and looped it only over shots of his
shadow, avoiding mouth synchronisation.
:15:29
Don't be afraid.
:15:32
No harm shall come to you, Christine.
:15:36
The Master is waiting.
:15:39
Walk to the mirror.
:15:44
Have no fear.
:15:50
40 per cent of the film
was reshot in synchronous sound.
:15:53
Trade papers called
the result "breathtalking".
:15:56
But the microphone rang down
the curtain on the careers
:15:59
of both Mary Philbin and Norman Kerry.