Diamond Entertainment should be ashamed. I recently found a copy of this DVD for a cheap price, so I bought it. Little did I know I'd be getting a cheap DVD. The print of Phantom of the Opera is an unusually grainy one, even for this film. In some scenes, particularly the scene where Christine awakens in the Phantom's lair, the print is so dark it is difficult to see.
Another important item missing from this print is the two-strip technicolor Bal Masque scene, which, coming from a 1927 film, is powerful stuff.
In addition, the company has tried to make the DVD more interesting by inserting some random facts from the film's history. This would be fine, except that many of them are incorrect, for instance, Lon Chaney died in 1930, making only one film with sound. The DVD insists that Lon Chaney was an actor who was able to transition to the sound format!
The worst part, however, is the fact that the original organ music, so crucial to the original film, has been replaced with an entirely inappropriate orchestral score. The new score was not written for the film, so the dramatic tension of the original is completely lost.
Don't buy this copy. The double feature may lure you, but the movies themselves are poorly presented, anc superior versions can be purchased.
