Phantom of the Opera (1943)

This geocache is NOT at the above coordinates; that is a reservoir that has nothing to do with opera, France or this film.

You must obtain the coordinates to the location of the container by watching the film in the title and finding the answers to the eight questions below. This is one of eight Classic Monsters geocaches, each of which can be solved and found independent of each other. There is also a final multi-cache that can be found by writing down the puzzle clue that is in each of the eight movie geocaches.

This series is meant to ease the burden of the stay-at-home orders in place to some extent; watch a movie you may not have seen ever before or recently, and work on finding a new geocache as well.

This cache was placed while following all Colorado guidelines and rules during the Coronavirus outbreak. As these conditions change frequently, please ensure that you follow all current guidelines while searching for this series of geocaches.

These are Classic Monster movies, not classic horror movies; when they were made, they may have shocked the audiences but by today's standards, they are not very scary at all.

This Classic Monsters series is named after 8 films, all produced by the same Hollywood film company, from 1931-1945. Seven of the eight are in black and white, also known as "monochrome", with Phantom of the Opera being produced in Technicolor. As such, a few of the Phantom questions are about colors seen in the film. There will also be a final cache, which you can get the coordinates for by keeping track of the puzzle clues that will be in each of the eight movie caches. These movies are not lengthy -- 7 of the 8 range from 70 to 79 minutes long, and Phantom of the Opera is 92 minutes. You DO NOT have to purchase anything to solve the puzzles to learn where the geocaches are -- they are available on several streaming and download services, as well as at many libraries.

So -- let's get started !

BE SURE TO WRITE DOWN THE LETTER CODE IN THE FRONT OF THE LOGBOOK WHICH IS USED IN THE “CLASSIC MONSTERS" FINAL CACHE which is still being worked on for now. Also, there is a Phantom of the Opera (1943) (France Flag Tag) trackable printed out and in the front of the logbook as well for discovery.

Welcome to the seventh Classic Monsters cache by the 3 Williams Kidz geo-team. The idea is that you will have to watch the movie to get the answers to the questions below; there are one, maybe two exceptions, for trivia’s sake. Since the entire script is available – and easily “searchable” -- online, I have tried to come up with questions that you cannot answer by searching the Internet.

Here are all the geocaches in the Classic Monsters series:

1. Dracula (1931)

2. Frankenstein (1931)

3. The Mummy (1932)

4. The Invisible Man (1933)

5. The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

6. The Wolf Man (1941)

7. Phantom of the Opera (1943)

8. Creature From the Black Lagoon (1954)

9. Classic Monsters FINAL cache

If you are willing to watch one of Hollywood’s finest classic movies, get your movie source ready, fire up the TV, maybe pop some popcorn, and have a pen and paper ready to answer the below questions, which YES -- ARE IN THE ORDER they are presented in the film. The questions should be EASY to answer as in these difficult times, the idea here is to just ENJOY the movie and then have the opportunity to get out and find a cache while meeting the state guidelines during the Coronavirus outbreak.

The cache is located at North 38 5A.BCD West 105 2E.FGH

Latitude:

A: Claudin plays his violin in the chambers of, and at the request of the Maestro who has sensed some discord. In the background is a nice warm fire, above which is a clock. What time is it?
If it is 10pm, A=3; if it is 20 minutes until midnight, A=4; if it is 915pm, A=5

B: Claudin has been dismissed from the orchestra. He goes home and sits at a table lit by one candle. Just after we hear a knock on the door, on the left, outside the window an animal runs by, before Marie the landlady, enters the apartment. What kind of animal was it?
If it was a cat, B=1; if it was a squirrel, B=3; if it was a rat, B=7

C: Claudin goes to visit Senor Ferretti with his printed concerto/manuscript; Mademoiselle DuBois is practicing her singing. There is a servant lady with a hair bow that is what color?
If the bow is red, C=5; if the bow is purple, C=8; if the bow is yellow, C=0

D: The first image we see of the Phantom is a shadow, much like a silhouette. To the right of that image is another shadow of – what?
If it is a burning candle, D=4; if it is a piano, D=1; if it is a vase with flowers, D=9

Longitude:

E: The Phantom speaks for the first time: "Christine, you're going to be a great and famous singer; I'll help you!" What color is the sash around Christine's waist?
If it is blue, E=1; if it is orange, E=3; if it is gold, E=2

F: After the Phantom is chased through the backstage area, we see a posterboard outside the opera house stating that the opera will be closed until further notice. Sacré bleu ! The 3 Williams Kidz were hoping to go see – what opera?
If Don Giovanni, F=3; if Madama Butterfly, F=8; if Carmen, F=5

G: After a discussion between the police and the opera house management, it is decided "The opera will reopen!". We then go to an outdoor scene where 2 horse drawn carriages almost run into each other. What type of shop is on the left?
If it is a patisserie (pastry shop), G=0; if it is a boulangerie (bakery), G=9; if it is a cave à vins (wine shop), G=6

H: After the very unfortunate passing of the Phantom, Christine's chambermaid opens the door to allow Christine into her room and exclaims "Oh mademoiselle, you were magnificent tonight!" What is the chambermaid holding?
If she is holding a long dress, H=7; if this is a trick question and she isn’t holding anything, H=2; if she is holding a wig, H=3

FTF congratulations go to hartsdale !!! !!! (six exclamation points for his sixth FTF in this series)

Some trivia, from www.imdb.com:

The Universal logo does not appear on this film. In the bonus features on the Blu-Ray disc, it is told that the logo does not appear because the logo only existed in black and white format, and at the time, Universal did not spend the money to develop a color version.

The original script revealed Claudin to be Christine's father, who abandoned her and her mother in order to pursue a musical career. When this was excised from the final film, it left Claudin's obsession with Christine unexplained.

The bronze sculpture of Christine Dubois (Susanna Foster) was actually made by co-star Nelson Eddy, who was an accomplished sculptor.

The auditorium and stage of the Paris Opera House seen here was the same set built for the 1925 version. It still stands at Universal Studios today as Stage 28, and has been used for countless other productions, including Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967) and The Sting (1973). It is the oldest remaining film set in the world and rumored to be haunted.

In the scene where the three heroes escape the Phantom's crumbling lair (which involve the three characters running from a cave in) only Susanna Foster actually appeared in the scene, the two male stars were deemed too important to film such a risky scene and had stunt doubles.

Claude Rains accepted to play the Phantom under the condition that no overdone disfiguration would be made. Jack Pierce succeeded in fulfilling his requirement, according to the documentary included in the DVD release.

Because the war in Europe made it so difficult to track down who had the rights to most operas (coupled with the studio's reluctance to pay the required royalties), all the operas performed in the film were either in the public domain (i.e., copyrights had expired and anyone could use them without paying royalties)) or were based on classical music that was in the public domain. The filmmakers were able to slip in a reference to the opera "Faust" (which featured heavily in the original novel) by having Christine appear in the Marguerite costume as she comes off stage at the end of the film.

Nelson Eddy's hair was to be dyed black because of script requirements for his role of operatic baritone Anatole, maybe intending to refer to Norman Kerry looks in the silent version. According to the documentary included in the 1943 version DVD, Nelson only agreed when Jack Pierce, Universal make-up master, developed a one-day tinting that could be washed out after each day's shooting, allowing Nelson (who was of Dutch ancestry) to recover his characteristic blond hair.

Susanna Foster, the then 19-year-old soprano in the leading role, was asked by Nelson to join him for a concert tour, but she declined feeling she was too young (from "Nelson Eddy, America's favorite baritone" by Gail Lulay).

The budget was approximately $1,750,000, which included $100,000 to soundproof the still-existing opera stage from Universal's The Phantom of the Opera (1925) silent film version.

Of the three "operas" in the film, only the first, "Marta," by Friedrich von Flotow, is an actual opera. The second, "Amore et Gloire," is adapted from music originally written for piano by Frédéric Chopin: the overture and opening chorus is taken from the "Military" Polonaise in A major, Op. 40, No. 1; the duet between Anatole and Biancarolli is taken from the Waltz in C-sharp minor, Op. 64, No. 2; and the music for Christine's aria/duet with Anatole is taken from the Nocturne in E-flat major, Op. 9, No. 2. The music of the third opera, "Le Prince Masque de Caucasie," is actually excerpts from the finale of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Fourth Symphony". The reason fake operas were created for this and many of Eddy's other films is that Eddy was a baritone, and few operas feature romantic duets for soprano and baritone. In most operas, the tenor is the romantic lead and the baritone is either a father or the villain.

Additional Waypoints