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In the Chaney sr. biopic, MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES, Cagney's makeup as the PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is laughable. Looks like a 7th grader did it. I realize they probably couldnt use the Uni copyrighted makeup, but jeez...


I always thought that the Phantom make-up in that film was one of the more impressive re-creations. The problem, aside from the rubbery appliances used, is of course that Cagney looked nothing like Chaney, and his face made a difficult palette to match. If you see some of the publicity photos they use in the background for his MGM films (which were his biggest money makers and are totally glossed over, of course), you'll find they're much weaker-- his LONDON AFTER MIDNIGHT makeup is rather laughable, actually.

I doubt that copyright issues were the problem. MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES was made by Universal, and by 1955, their copyright on PHANTOM had relapsed anyway.