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Winning an Academy Award may be seen as one of the highest honors in the film industry, but a nomination at the Oscars is nonetheless a noteworthy achievement. Some performers have garnered nominations despite limited screen time, while other talented performers have earned nominations even before they've hit their teen years. Legendary composer John Williams even has the illustrious prestige of being the only person nominated for an Oscar in seven different decades! However, just because you receive multiple Academy Award nominations does not guarantee actually winning the award. This happened to be the case for screenwriter Elliott J. Clawson, who received an impressive four nominations for Best Writing at the 2nd Academy Awards. Unfortunately for Clawson, despite having multiple nominations that year, none of his submissions took home the gold.

The latest release of Lon Chaney's most famous silent classic is a Blu-ray, which allows us to marvel at at the actor's artistry in a beautifully tinted HD image. Erik the Phantom is one of the two or three greatest fantasy makeup performances of all time. The release has three separate encodings, of different versions running at different film speeds. A 1929 recut has the best image, while the original 1925 version is uncut. The Phantom of the Opera Blu-ray Kino Classics / Blackhawk 1925/29 / B&W with tints and Technicolor sequences / 1:37 flat Silent Aperture / 78, 92 and 114 min. / Street Date October 13, 2015 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95 Starring Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, John St. Polis, Snitz Edwards. Cinematography Milton Bridenbecker, Virgil Miller, Charles Van Enger Consulting Artist Ben Carré Film Editors Maurice Pivar, Gilmore Walker Original Music Makeup Lon Chaney Written by Elliott J. Clawson from the novel...