Nov. 15, 2025

This Day in Halloween: "The Phantom of the Opera" opens across the U.S. in 1925. / Illustration by Justin Pakneshan.

The Phantom of the Opera opens across the U.S. in 1925. Led by Lon Chaney’s performance and pioneering make-up effects, the first film version of Gaston Leroux’s classic novel brings the tale to the American public in a broad, new way and becomes a classic in its own right.

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