Customer Reviews

Universal Classics - By: PJC, 24 Feb 2008
A wonderful tribute to one of Hollywood's finest charecter actors, the great Claude Rains, featuring his leading debut as "The Invisible Man".

The Invisible Man features special effects which although seventy odd years old are still thrilling to behold. Rains perfomance as the meglomaniac scientist, Griffin is taut & filled with menace; a considerable achievement considering the only time he appears on screen is his death scene.

Rains rich speaking voice lends genuine terror to the role particularyin a wonderful rant where he ponders on a world running scared at the brush of his invisible finger.

The Invisible Man was ground breakingin its day with an unseen leading star & its awe inspiring special effects which still entertain & enthrall today.

The Phantom of the Opera is the relatively weaker of the two films. It is beautifully photographedin technicolour & features a macnificent operatic score delivered by two wonderful voices Susanna Foster & Nelson Eddy. Indeed its focus on opera rather than phantom somewhat anticipates Lloyd Webars later effort.

The film looks & sounds great but whilst Claude Rains delivers a wonderfully sympathetic performance as Claudin, the ageing musician, his interpretation of the phantom is sadly restricted by the plot.

Gone is any supernatural element to the phantom, being replaced by an acid throwing incident which deprives the plot of any real mystery,in that here is a phantom but everybody knows who he is!

As the masked menace Rains delivers a number of chilling setpieces, his revaltion to & murder of Biancorrolli, the chandelier incident & a suitably menacing perfomance on the organ prior to unmasking.

However, the phantom loses all real menace once he captures Christine. His dialogue becomes weak & pitiful, a love struck teenager, tongue tied & posing Christine no real threat. The unmasking scene is totally undermined by the very understated make up which Rains insisted upon. ( a bad case of acne!)

Nonetheless, the film has valuein terms of atmosphere & visual impact. Rains delivers his materialin his usual masterful way & cannot be blamed for its shortcomings.

In conclusion it is more opera than phantom, not a patch on the Lon Chaney silent version & a precursor to the acid throwing versions of Schell, Lom etc.

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Good film, bad film. - By: O. Derwood, 18 Mar 2006
"The Invisible Man" finally proved to me that just because a film is old, it doesn't have to be poorly made (like Tod Browning's "Dracula", two years older than this & a lot duller). James Whale's film is scary & compelling, & features brilliantly believable special effects & a startlingly good lead performance.

It is, of course, Claude Rains' show from the moment he speaks. He imbues the invisible lunatic with a rasping menace quite unlike any of the other Universal "Monsters", & the strange omnipotence of his character makes the film fascinating, even if it is profoundly downbeat. Touches of very silly humour keep it from being too dark, & they're mostly quite welcome; they only worrying point is the love interest, Flora, whose character exists purely for people to use as a kind of trophy. That apart, this is a fantastic film.

Shame, then, about "The Phantom of the Opera", which spends so long getting us to sympathise with the Phantom that any element of fear or excitement that could come later on is destroyed. Rains is certainly sympathetic as Claudin, but his switch to a homicidal maniac is totally unbelievable (whereas the character of Griffin went from bad to worsein "The Invisible Man", & it all felt very plausible). "Phantom" also features woefully bad comic touches, like two characters getting stuckin a door or talking at the same time, which further ruin any illusion that this might have been a scary film. Not to mention the long, indecipherable opera bits or the fact that Rains' Phantom is about a foot shorter than the rest of the cast. Finally it's not a very faithful adaptation, whereas "Invisible Man" only fiddles with a few aspects to transfer the book to film.

As with all the Universal double releases, this is great value for money, & at least the first film is remarkable. The second remains watchable & isin colour, & it's not a total wreck; just pretty unavoidably poorin comparison. Andin collections like this, comparisons are inevitable.

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Steal of the century - By: frankie allen, 21 Nov 2004
This must be one of the greatest bargains of the century. Two terrific films on two seperate discs for under a tenner. Both feature that great actor Claude Rains. The Invisible Man was his first Hollywood film & though he is only seen for about 5 seconds he dominates the film as the crazy scientist who makes himself invisible with an irreversible experiment.
There are terrific special effects for a film madein 1933 & moments of great comedy.
The Phantom of the opera is a remake of the 1925 silent classic with Lon Chaney.This version from 1943 isin glorious Technicolour which rightly won the Academy Award for photography that year. There is little horror but terrific music & some subtle comedy involving the two male leads Edgar Barrier & Nelson Eddy.
With each disc of the film there is a detailed documentary about the making of the film plus lots of info on previous Universal horror films & the many sequels to these two films. It is a shame that the price has recently gone up to £9.99. I was lucky enough to purchase it from Amazon earlier this week for £7.49. Nevertheless at £9.99 it is still a tremendous bargain.

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