Cipher

Theo Travis - tenor and soprano saxes, alto flute, clarinet, loops
Dave Sturt - acoustic and electric basses, sound design, programming, loops

Phantom of the Opera (1925) featuring Lon Chaney

The 1925 silent film version of The Phantom of the Opera, directed by Rupert Julian, is a classic adaptation of the novel by Gaston Leroux. It stars Lon Chaney in the title role as the masked and facially disfigured 'Phantom'. It is a masterpiece of horror that shocked cinema for decades.

This grand atmospheric melodrama with it’s balance of terror and tragedy provides a perfect vehicle for the dark ambient jazz soundscapes of Cipher who will premiere their brand new live score to the film at the Bradford International Film Festival on 13 March 2008 and then tour it around Independent cinemas in the UK

During the latter decades of the Victorian Era, the great Paris Opera is troubled with whispers of a ghost--a frightening specter which visits misfortune on the company should they fail to please him. Up-and-coming singer Christine Daae (Mary Philbin), meanwhile, is more preoccupied with her singing tutor--a disembodied voice she believes to be an emissary from her dead father, who guides her to new heights but demands she put her music above all else, including and especially her handsome childhood sweetheart Raoul (Norman Kerry). Neither Phantom nor tutor is a spirit in truth, but are two different sides of the same man--a horribly disfigured, unnaturally gifted, and frighteningly passionate man, but a man nonetheless. The film is most famous for Lon Chaney's intentionally horrific, self-applied make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film's premiere.

"The impressive sets of the Paris Opera House and the catacombs, the color footage, and the lavish costuming all add to the atmosphere of the film, yet they pale next to Chaney's performance. This was truly the masterpiece of Chaney's career and ranks as one of the greatest tour-de-force performances of the silent era." Jon C. Mirsalis

Performances
Please double check performance times with venues.
2008
March 13 - Bradford - National Media Museum BD1 1NQ. World premiere.(0870 7010200)
March 16 - Sheffield - The Showroom, 7 Paternoster Row(0114 2757727)
March 20 - Wellingborough - The Castle (01933 270 007)
March 30 - Northampton - The Forum (01604 624811)
April 26 - Cardiff - Chapter Arts Centre, Market Rd, Canton (02920 304400)
April 27 (2pm)- London - Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley 52 High Rd, N2 9PJ (020 8444 6789)
May 2 tbc- London - Greenwich Picturehouse Screening Room (0871 704 2059)
May 3 tbc- London - Greenwich Picturehouse Screening Room (0871 704 2059)
May 8 tbc- London - The Ritzy, Brixton (0871 704 2065)
May 10 - Leeds- Hyde Park Picture House, Brudenell Road,LS6 1JD (0113 275 2045)
May 11 tbc - Cambridge - Arts Picturehouse (0871 704 2050)
May 18 - Norwich - Cinema City (0871 704 2053)
May 22 - Bath - The Little Theatre Cinema (0871 704 2061)
May 23 - Coventry - University of Warwick Arts Centre (024 7652 4525)
May 25 - Nottingham - Broadway Cinema (0115 9526611)