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Dear Silent Hall of Fame Users:

    You have come to this website, because you like silent films and silent movie stars.  There are many places like this.  But unlike other sites, here at Silent Hall of Fame you can make a real difference.  You can help us show for the first time many films featuring your favorite silent stars that have not been seen in generations.  This will bring their names back into the public discourse.  But you can do much more than that: you can help your favorite silent stars receive belated recognition and glory.

    Until now there has never been an organization with the purpose to place a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for movie personalities from a century ago.  Silent Hall of Fame is this historic organization.  Silent Hall of Fame is the only organization of its kind.  We will make history and we invite you to become a part of history by sponsoring a silent movie star for the Hollywood Walk of Fame.  All contributions are tax deductible.

   Please use this button for a one-time donation. Use the button on the right-hand side for a recurring donation.

 

Rare Gems on DVD

Our users have spoken, and we have listened. You want to see rare and hard to find films, and we have created for you the Silent Gems Collection, available on eBay. This DVD collection includes rare and for the first time available films with our stars, as well as other silent masterpieces. These are high quality films that are hard to find anywhere else. Please click on this link to see the collection: Silent Gems Collection

Important Update:

You don't have to leave our website in order to obtain the films from our Silent Gems Collection. These gems are now available to our users as a reward for donation. For details click here.

 Out Yonder 1919The Woman God Forgot 1917That Model from Paris 1926For Better for Worse 1919Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall 1924

 

OUR DOCUMENTARY

    We are proud to present to all silent film lovers our multiple award-winning documentary! In March 2015 it won the distinction "Award of Merit" at the San Francisco Film Awards. In May it won the Silver Award at the 2015 International Independent Film Awards. In September 2015 it won the Award of Recognition at the Accolade Global Film Competition. Of equal merit is the inclusion of the documentary in the Official Selection of the San Jose International Short Film Festival in October 2015. In December the documentary won the extremely prestigious Diamond Award at the 2015 California Film Awards. The amazing run of recognition for our documentary continued in 2016. In February it was included in the Official Selection of the Buffalo Niagara International Film Festival.

 San Francisco Film Awards newInternational Independent Film Awards newAccolade Global Film Competition Award newSan Jose International Short Film Festival newCalifornia Film Awards small new

Snitz Edwards in The Phantom of the Opera 1925 07

   Snitz Edwards

 

Directed by                Rupert Julian
Produced by              Carl Laemmle
Scenario by               Raymond L. Schrock and Elliott J. Clawson from the novel by Gaston Leroux        
Starring                     Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Gibson Gowland, Snitz Edwards
Cinematography       Virgil Miller
Distributed by           Universal Pictures Corporation
Release date               November 15, 1925
Running time             107 min.
Country                      USA
Language                    Silent film, English intertitles


"The Phantom of the Opera" (1925) is a horror drama starring Lon Chaney and featuring Snitz Edwards, a star of Silent Hall of Fame. 

 

Here is a review of the film, written by our esteemed member Zach Snow.

One of the first of the classic Universal horror films, "The Phantom of the Opera" remains chilling almost a hundred years later. Taken from the literary classic, the film deals with a deformed man who falls in love with an aspiring opera singer and will do anything to obtain her.

Produced by Universal at a time before horror became the fledgling studio’s forte, the project was given to Rupert Julian; one of the underappreciated talents of the silent era. He virtually created the Universal horror film in a little over an hour’s screen time; using shadow, a sense of claustrophobia, dark atmosphere, and large doses of suspense to terrify his audience. Julian also provided the first great horror moment in the unmasking of the Phantom, a moment that gripped back in its day, continues to scare in face of modern day gore and effects, and will probably maintain its ability to build suspense for years to come.

This was also one of the first horror films to sympathize with its “monster,” thanks in no small degree to the poignant, gripping performance of silent superstar Lon Chaney in his trademark role. With sunken eyes, no nose, and a skeleton like appearance; Chaney can nevertheless express every emotion flawlessly, developing a creature far more complex and tragic than the people he’s up against. Though he seems more sad than horrifying today, during the unmasking Chaney can still send chills up the spine of anyone; proving why the ‘man of a thousand faces’ was so highly regarded in his day and still has a sizeable following.

Mary Philbin is typically pure and innocent as the opera singer he falls for, Norman Kerry is her love interest. Gibson Gowland, of Greed, has a brief role, as does the renowned silent character actor Snitz Edwards. This is Chaney’s show all the way, though, and he managed to catapult it from traditional melodrama to the realms of horror classics; its still one of the most famous and influential films the genre has produced.

You can find more of Zach Snow's work here.

 

The film is ranked number 20 in the list of The Top 100 Silent Era Films of the influential website Silent Era.

"The Phantom of the Opera" was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" in 1998.

The film has an excellent rating in IMDB. 

 

The Phantom of the Opera (1925) on IMDb

 

 

Click to enlarge:

 

Mary Philbin in The Phantom of the Opera 1925 11

   Mary Philbin

 

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