1:21:03
when shooting is cancelled due
to things beyond the producer's control,
1:21:07
like that noisy tin roof.
1:21:09
Frequently, interior sets are built
in the auditorium space.
1:21:13
When I visited the stage
in 1989 with Mary Philbin,
1:21:16
the stage was filled with
a full interior of a suburban house
1:21:19
for the Bill Cosby comedy Ghost Dad.
1:21:22
The Phantom stage has engendered
"sub-urban" legends
1:21:26
in Universal City and adjoining
North Hollywood and Burbank.
1:21:29
When my eldest daughter
was at Burbank Elementary,
1:21:32
her teacher regaled the class
with the true story of an electrician
1:21:36
who had fallen from the catwalk,
and his ghost now walked the stage.
1:21:41
The buzz is that the stage is haunted, but
I have yet to find any first-hand accounts.
1:21:48
Claude Rains may have been concerned
about his future as a leading man,
1:21:51
but Lubin was concerned about delivering
a horror picture with some horror.
1:21:56
Lubin told me "Whoever heard
of a horror picture without horror?"
1:22:00
"Using an old trick, I hid
a second camera with a close-up lens."
1:22:04
"When the mask was torn off,
1:22:06
I was able to get what Claude
was most concerned about not showing,
1:22:10
a full-face close-up showing
the pain and anguish
1:22:13
that only a consummate actor
was capable of."
1:22:16
"This stunning climax and Claude's
magnificent characterisation
1:22:20
left no doubt that most
of his suggestions were right,
1:22:23
except for the damn mask."
1:22:25
Now, as we'll see in a moment,
the unmasking shot itself
1:22:28
is a complex camera setup,
1:22:30
and it's taken with a short prime lens,
with focus pulled as the camera dollies in.
1:22:36
There's no way that Rains didn't know
they were doing this.
1:22:39
Obviously, he allowed them to do one
big reveal shot coming in to a close-up,
1:22:44
and with the shallow depth of field,
the light and the rack focusing,
1:22:47
he passes in and out of focus so quickly
1:22:50
that you never get
a real sharp read on his face.
1:22:53
That may have been all Rains allowed, but
with a hidden camera, and a long lens,
1:22:58
Lubin was able to take, simultaneously,
other angles of Rains without his mask