All the archetypes of "The Phantom of the Opera" are there in this attempt to cash in the success of the 1943 version of that classic. There's the sweet chanteuse who rises from chorus to leading lady, a jealous diva, and the darkly dressed, seemingly darkly souled servant, a love-starved hero, and of course, the various artists surrounding the opera. But what's missing here is an interesting villain. Boris Karloff is a sinister doctor, inside and out, seen killing his obsession, Marcellina (June Vincent), then driven to further craziness ten years later when rising opera star Susannah Foster shows up with the same voice. He tries to shutter that, but his plot is in danger of being thwarted by the young man (Turhan Bey) who loves her and Marcelina's devoted companion (Gale Sondergaard) who now works for him.
This is all tightly wrapped up in a Technicolor package, but ultimately, it is artificial and predictable. A few amusing moments (mostly provided by Ludwig Stossel as the conductor and Lotte Stein as a feisty maid) and an interesting characterization by Gale Sondergaard are the best moments in the film. Sondergaard gets the most convincing dramatic moment when her motivations are revealed after spending the first half of the film being a dour, dark presence with little to do but look sinister.
I must mention the amazing resemblance in this film between Karloff and veteran actor Jack Betts who would play Karloff in "Gods and Monsters". Betts once played a similar doctor character on "One Life to Live" in a plot line very similar to the one here, his obsession being with a living character (played by Judith Light) rather than a dead one.
This is all tightly wrapped up in a Technicolor package, but ultimately, it is artificial and predictable. A few amusing moments (mostly provided by Ludwig Stossel as the conductor and Lotte Stein as a feisty maid) and an interesting characterization by Gale Sondergaard are the best moments in the film. Sondergaard gets the most convincing dramatic moment when her motivations are revealed after spending the first half of the film being a dour, dark presence with little to do but look sinister.
I must mention the amazing resemblance in this film between Karloff and veteran actor Jack Betts who would play Karloff in "Gods and Monsters". Betts once played a similar doctor character on "One Life to Live" in a plot line very similar to the one here, his obsession being with a living character (played by Judith Light) rather than a dead one.