The film was released in 1925 and it was rereleased as a partially sound movie in 1929. The 1929 version is the one most commonly found on DVD. You can tell the difference by some different scenes that were added. The 1929 version has the man with the lantern in the beginning and the 1925 version doesn't. The unmasking scene
also is a little different. The only reason I can think of as to why these scenes were changed was to try and have the action match with the sound which at that time was a record that was played along with the movie so they had to time it just right. Interestingly on the recording of the soundtrack, the voice of the Phantom is not Lon Chaney. He must have been working on another picture at the time of the recording session and another actor replaced him.
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