Copyright 5 August 1931 by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Distributing Corp. New York opening at the Capitol: 13 November 1931. 8 reels. 72 minutes.SYNOPSIS: An escape artist is framed for murder by a jealous rival (who actually wants the money rather than the girl).NOTES: When M-G-M's top male box-office attraction of the late 1920s, made his disastrous, all-talking, star debut in His Glorious Night (1929), M-G-M chief Louis B. Mayer didn't blame the stodgy direction of Lionel Barrymore, or the ridiculously insipid script penned by Willard Mack from the 1928 stage play Olympia by Ferenc Molnar. No, Mayer laid the blame squarely on Gilbert and tried to buy back his contract. Gilbert refused. It is alleged that Gilbert and Mayer came to blows and that the athletic star knocked the studio chief to the ground. This last statement seems more the stuff of legend than fact as Mayer was much the stronger man of the two and could easily have beaten Gilbert to a pulp. Nonetheless, it is true that Mayer's animosity didn't help Gilbert's career at a time when he needed the studio's support most. It is alleged that Mayer deliberately tried to sabotage Gilbert's efforts to retrieve his popularity, but this furphy is disproved by the facts. That Gilbert was given better scripts, better directors and kinder treatment from M-G-M's sound department is easily proven by the last three films he made under his M-G-M contract: Mervyn LeRoy was borrowed from Warner Bros for Gentleman's Fate (1931); John S. Robertson - who had notched up a number of critical and commercial successes including Tess of the Storm Country (1922) and The Enchanted Cottage (1924) - was assigned to The Phantom of Paris, adapted from a popular novel by Gaston Leroux; whilst Gilbert himself was allowed to write Downstairs (1932). It was the not the studio's fault that these films failed to retrieve Gilbert's former premier reputation.COMMENT: Although The New York Times felt that the microphone was unkind to John Gilbert's voice in The Phantom of Paris (thus helping to perpetuate the legend that there was something intrinsically wrong with Gilbert's voice), I found little to complain about. True, the recording seemed a little harsh, and Gilbert's acting was a little over-done, particularly in his impersonation scenes. True too that these scenes hardly impress as believable - but that is the fault of the script, not Mr. Gilbert. In these cases, it is usually preferable that the same actor play both roles. It's impossible to credit that both the man's wife and his mistress could be taken in by what seems a very obvious deception. Nonetheless, Gilbert gives both parts a good stab. And if you can accept this situation, you will find much that is novel and entertaining in this adaptation from Gaston Leroux (whose most famous novel, The Phantom of the Opera, is so well-known today). The plot has enough twists to keep any audience intrigued, Robertson's direction has a bit of style, whilst production values are all we expect of M-G-M.

Cheri-Bibi is the title character of a Gaston Leroux novel (he of the Phantom of the Opera). The character is the greatest escape artist in Europe (ala Houdini). He has come from the bottom up and has interest in a girl from the upper crust who is engaged to an incredible boor. The rich father denies permission for them to marry and he makes the mistake of saying that they will marry even if he is dead. Well, of course, someone shoots the father. What we have is quite a good setup, but eventually it is strained to the limit. Bibi is arrested and in prison for four years and faces execution at the Guillotine. He escapes and seeks revenge. He finally gets the murderer to admit his deed on his death bed, but circumstances make it worthless. He then assumes the identity of the guy. Due to some surgery, he takes on the role of the evil husband, hiding in plain sight. The fact that no one recognizes him, including his former lover, is too much for me. It's an entertaining tale and has a satisfactory conclusion, but that one element takes too much suspension of disbelief.

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.