Apparently this flick was originally intended to be a sequel to the PHANTOM OF THE OPERA remake from the previous year. That explains the insanely grandiose sets that seem to tower above the actors -- they're reused from that previous film, which reused them from the original silent PHANTOM, which was a huge production for the time.
These extravagant sets are shot in beautiful Technicolor, setting this film apart from most of Universal's horror catalog, and making it the only color film of Horrorfest 2018. So, the movie looks like a million bucks and must have had a huge budget. It was even nominated for an Academy award (Art Direction). So, what's wrong with it, then?
Well, it's not much of a horror movie. Boris Karloff stars as the resident physician of the Vienna Royal Theater who murders his up-and-coming Opera star wife in a fit of jealousy. Years later, he encounters another up-and-comer whose voice reminds him of his dead wife, and determines that she should only ever sing for him. She's played by Susanna Foster, who had the lead in the PHANTOM remake. So, Karloff embarks on a Phantom-like campaign of mind control over the singer.
Sounds okay, but here's the problem. The movie's boring. It's less than an hour and a half long and most of it is made up of long, drawn out opera scenes that serve as filler. I guess back in the 40s you couldn't just look up opera on YouTube any old time you wanted, so there may have been some value in wasting so much screen time on so little horror, but judging from the fact that the flick was a flop even in its time I'd say that's not much of an excuse.
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