Many of these early talies seem to have been ground out with little attention paid to character, or to story for that matter. A parade of murder mysteries and bathetic romances.This one is different in that it has a narrative that is not only coherent but interesting in itself. If, that is, "The Count of Monte Christo" is interesting, so is "The Phantom of Paris," though far less rich in detail.Gilbert is supposed to have fallen from grace in Hollywood because of his squeaky voice. I didn't notice it here. He looks and sounds like any other matinee idol of the period.It's a watchable flick.

"The Phantom of Paris" is a thoroughly enjoyable film that is, if you think about it, really stupid. The writing obviously is the weak point in this movie, as John Gilbert is excellent and is only hindered by a silly plot.When the film begins, the great magician/escape artist Chéri-Bibi (Gilbert) is performing one of his great stunts. He then goes to his girlfriend's home. Cecile loves him but her father isn't so impressed by him. But, since Cecile obviously is not going to marry the Marquis Du Touchais, he decides to change his will. He previously was going to leave his fortune to the man...and it was assumed he'd marry Cecile. But the father makes a HUGE mistake...he tells the Marquis and soon the father is murdered...and the Marquis and his skanky lady friend pin the murder on Bibi. Soon, Bibi is in prison and awaiting execution.So far, the film is really good. But after Bibi escapes the film kind of falls apart and becomes silly. He hides out in a friend's basement for several years until he learns that the Marquis is dying---and so he rushes off to confront the scoundrel. The Marquis is so sick he admits he set up Bibi...but then dies before there are any witnesses. So (and boy does it get dumb here), Bibi decides to impersonate the Marquis...and claim that he was kidnapped by Bibi and he returns home six months later!! And, inexplicably, all the folks who knew the Marquis suddenly think he IS the Marquis!!! Makes sense? Nah...but the film is entertaining despite being stupid....but stupid it certainly is. And, if you think about it, the film is a bit like the later TV series, "The Fugitive"...but a cheesier version of course!

John Gilbert liked nothing better than to get his teeth into a gritty character part (rather like John Barrymore) and when talkies came in he got his chance. Even though he excelled at the few meaty parts he was given (an absolute cad in "Downstairs", an alcoholic given one more chance in "The Captain Hates the Sea") as a reviewer says, after "His Glorious Night" the writing was on the wall for him, as far as the studio was concerned and they tried their best to push him from one pot boiler to another. That he succeeded and gave some of his finest performances shows that he was not such a one dimensional player as a lot of people thought.Now Gaston LeRoux is known for the horror book "The Phantom of the Opera" but back in his day his main claim to fame was as the creator of Rouletabille, a teenage crime reporter who was the French equivalent of Sherlock Holmes and also for his creation of Cheri-Bibi, an adventurer who was Leroux's most popular character.This is just a marvelous movie with enough twists and turns to keep you on the edge of your seat. Cheri-Bibi (Gilbert) is a great escapologist "the sensation of the world" who wows audiences where ever he performs. One person who is not "wowed" is Lt. Costaud (Lewis Stone, who else!!) who is even skeptical when Cheri performs a "Houdini" like escape from a sealed barrel of water using Costaud's own handcuffs - of course he escapes, he always does!! Costaud has been hired by Inspector Bourrelier (C. Aubrey Smith) to try to expose him so as to disillusion his daughter Cecile (Leila Hyams) but her love is of the strongest. Even though Bourrelier doesn't like Cheri, he has found out some disturbing news about his future son-in -law, Touchesis (Ian Keith) - that he is a fortune hunter only interested in Cecile for her money and he already has a mistress - the predatory Vera (Natalie Moorehead, where would pre-codes be without her!!) But before he can change his will which requests Cecile and Touchesis marry, he is murdered!! Cheri, of course, is arrested but daringly escapes and lives for years in a dungeon like room at the toymakers (Jean Hersholt). This is just a marvelous movie and with more than a passing nod to "Les Miserables" as Costaud, like Javet, is a policeman who never gives up his search. When Costaud gets too close Cheri escapes again and .... but the plot is just too involving!! Needless to say Cheri returns, disguised as Touchesis and learns that the man was a tyrant who has never had the affection or love of his wife and even incites fear in his own son (adorable Douglas Scott).I enjoyed this movie far more than "Downstairs" and it shows that if Gilbert hadn't met such an early death he could have spent the rest of his life in character parts. The title was obviously a ploy to align itself with "The Phantom of the Opera".

This intriguing film is based on a novel by Gaston Leroux (author of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA) entitled CHÉRI-BIBI. John Gilbert, with all his charm showing, and looking and behaving every bit like Ronald Colman, plays a raconteur magician and escape artist named Chéri-Bibi who performs stage feats similar to those of the later American stage celebrity Houdini. The drama is set in Paris in the late 19th century. He and a 'girl of good family' named Cécile are in love. She is engaged to a dastardly aristocratic fortune-hunter named the Marquis du Touchais (this could be a satirical name meaning something like 'Lord Gotchya'), who is a most appalling character whose unsympathetic nature is exceeded only by his revolting Olympian pomposity. (There is nothing worse than a bad marquis other than, perhaps, in the world of the cinema, a bad marquee.) Leila Hyams plays the quavery-voiced ingénue Cécile, in true 1931 style. The dour and unremitting hatred of John Gilbert by a detective inspector played by Lewis Stone in his most threatening mode is the key to the story. At first Stone is secretly hired by Cécile's rich father to try to discredit Gilbert, so that his daughter will not be tempted to marry him. But Stone conspicuously fails, and is humiliated in public. His wounded vanity, elevated to the level of a maniacal idée fixe, becomes the source of years of persecution for Gilbert, whom he jails and then hunts down for years mercilessly, on a false murder charge. The story somewhat falls apart with Gilbert hiding in a cellar for four years, but then Leroux always liked men lurking underground, only to rise up with romantic intentions at unexpected moments. This is very much a watchable tale carried through by the sincerity with which its non-credible story line is believed in by the director and the actors, who all seem convinced that it is important, so it must be. After all, if it's in the papers or it's on the stage or screen, it must be true. Gaston Leroux knew that you don't have to get everything right, you just have to be able to carry off a melodrama with sufficient conviction. God knows how many times I have now seen PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, due to necessity. The reason why I don't get bored is that I sit there every time trying to analyze what it is that makes it work. Even Andrew Lloyd-Webber doesn't know. No one knows. I have certainly never figured it out and no one ever will. Actually, every time I see it I enjoy it. Now why is that? What is it about these Gaston Leroux stories that makes them not so much Ghastly Leroux stories as something more like Gastronomic Leroux stories, in the sense that they result in you just going on wanting more. 'Lerouxerie' could be patented as a kind of addictive junk food.