Another in Universal's excellent series of special edition DVDs. This has an Informative, enthusiastic audio commentary by Scott MacQueen which gives a detailed bio of Arthur Lubin, saying of the director “He had a talent for story-telling and tremendous craft” – the most concise description of this director I have heard.
I didn’t know Nelson Eddy died of a stroke in Australia, or that Claude Rains turned down Son of Frankenstein and a sequel to Phantom; Susannah Foster turned down National Velvet when under contract to MGM; Claude Rains was meant to play Susannah Foster’s father but this was cut – a bad decision, I reckon, but maybe it was coming across too incestuous; Lon Chaney Jnr wanted to play the Phantom but Universal wanted Charles Laughton before winding up with Rains; the film was intended to re-team Deanna Durbin and Charles Laughton from It Started with a Kiss – but Durbin rejected it (I can understand why but part of me would have still loved to seen her in it); Lon Chaney Jnr lobbied for the role, Broderick Crawford was seriously considered; the rivalry between Edgar Barrie and Nelson Eddy was Lubin’s idea; Leo Carrillo’s family once owned great slabs of California.
A documentary shows the troubles of the original film – it was shot, then after a disastrous preview 60% was reshot, then it was recut again. It’s perhaps a bit kind to the 1962 Hammer version (several clips of this are shown – it looks so cheap compared to the earlier versions). I had no idea how many other films had used the set – they include Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Glen Miller Story. Lots of fun.
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