Phantoms

100 Years of Horror: Phantoms (1996)

*** (out of 4)

"Invisible Phantoms" might have been a better title for this entry in the series. We start off learning about Lon Chaney's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and then switch gears, in a way, to James Whale's THE INVISIBLE MAN. We learn how Claude Rains was cast in the role and then we flash to its follow-ups, which include THE INVISIBLE MAN RETURNS, THE INVISIBLE AGENT and of course THE INVISIBLE WOMAN. We then go back to the Phantom and take a look at the Universal remake with Rains as well as the Hammer remake. Also included are rips like THE PHANTOM SPEAKS from Republic.

This episode has a few nice interviews including Jessica Rains, Claude's daughter, and Gary Chaney who was Lon's great-grandson. These two have a few nice stories to tell and Rains gets to explain why James Whale cast him in THE INVISIBLE MAN even though his screen test was apparently very bad. Michael Blake is also on hand to discuss some of the problems between Chaney and the director on the original PHANTOM. Donald Glut and Sheldon Leonard are also on hand with some nice comments.