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The 1929 silent horror film “The Phantom of the Opera” starring Lon Chaney as the deformed phantom will have a pre-Halloween screening at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 26, at the Cathedral Church of St. John, 318 Silver SW.
Dorothy Papadakos will improvise almost all of the organ accompaniment.
Papadakos said she’s written short themes for different characters.
“The phantom has two themes, one scary, loud and powerful and another very seductive and haunting whenever he’s talking to Christine. She hears the organ playing from deep within the opera house. It enchants her, puts her in a spell,” she said. “Christine and Raoul have a love theme.”
The 1929 version is shorter than the 1925 original film and is tinted.
“In 1929 they were experimenting with early color. In the masked ball scene, the phantom enters as a skeleton and it’s in red,” Papadakos said. “The color tinting varies. It is used to convey the mood of a scene or the time of day.”
Papadakos said she just returned from Norway, where she provided organ accompaniment for the film in three screenings.
The film has placards that pop up on the screen with lines in English.
Advance tickets are $25 general public, $20 seniors, $10 students with ID at www.fcmabq.orgor at the door.
Prizes will be awarded for best costumes.
“This is my third year back at St. John,” Papadakos said. “We (showed) the film two years. They sold out so fast. … We want to do it again because so many people didn’t get to see it.”
