Noticias

Every October, horror hounds and cinephiles alike delve into the vast history of this art we call cinema, looking for the greatest in spine chilling horror pictures. Be it the latest in gruesome yet cliche-ridden found footage features or the gothic roots of classic Universal monster pictures, horror cinema comes to life in a distinct and visceral way each October.

And thanks to Kino Lorber, this is going to be a special holiday season, as one of horror’s earliest cinematic entries, and one of its greatest and most unforgettable, is now available on Blu-ray in a shockingly dense new release.

Starring one of horror’s most iconic stars, Lon Chaney, The Phantom Of The Opera has entered the ranks of Kino Lorber’s home video canon, in one of the year’s most enticing classic cinema releases. Released 90 years ago, the story from which it is based is a touch older.

Beginning a series looking at obscure pre-Code Hollywood films, made between the advent of sound and the strict enforcement of the Production Code. Some of these movies are rightly celebrated and frequently screened: Baby Face (1933), Red Headed Woman (1932), even to some extent Bed of Roses (1933). But others are trapped in copyright limbo or locked in vaults by studios too blind to exploit their holdings. That's the kind we're going to look at.

Tay Garnett was a typical tough-guy director, working in every genre but with a feeling for exotic climes (usually reproduced on the backlot). His reputation—that of a seventh-rate Howard Hawks, maybe—has never been hugely prestigious, and despite his frequently working on the screenplays of Hawks' films, and even making cameo appearances, the notion of Garnett as auteur never really took hold. Maybe, just maybe, this is partly due to the scarcity of some of his most interesting work.