Friday, January 28, 2011

Radio review – Lux – “Phantom of the Opera” (1943) ***

Basil Rathbone substitutes excellently for Claude Rains as the Phantom – but unfortunately his role is downplayed in this version in favour of Susannah Foster singing numbers and shenanigans involving Nelson Eddy and his romantic rival. More opera than horror, which was a feature of the Universal feature – it’s a shame in a way, radio can be a spooky medium and one imagines the Phantom on radio could have been really scary (kind of like The Shadow). Still, it’s enjoyable.

No comments: