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The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall
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The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall Poster.jpg
Directed by
Nick Morris
 Laurence Connor (stage direction)
Produced by
Cameron Mackintosh
 Dione Orrom
Brett Sullivan
Story by
Gaston Leroux
Based on
The Phantom of the Opera
 by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Charles Hart
Richard Stilgoe
Starring
Ramin Karimloo
Sierra Boggess
Hadley Fraser
Music by
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Edited by
Lawrence Huck
Nick Morris
Production
   company
Really Useful Films
Distributed by
Universal Pictures
Release date(s)
2 October 2011

Running time
160 minutes[1]
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall is a 2011 British film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera, which in turn was based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.
To celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera, three special performances were filmed at the Royal Albert Hall, the third of which was screened live worldwide on 2 October 2011. For further releases, footage from all three performances was edited together.


Contents  [hide]
1 Production 1.1 Idea
1.2 Royal Albert Hall
1.3 Live Streaming
2 Synopsis 2.1 Prologue
2.2 Act I
2.3 Act II
2.4 Grand Finale
3 Cast
4 Home video
5 References
6 External links

Production[edit]
Idea[edit]
To mark the extraordinary milestone of 25 years, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh planned a special 3-day production to take place at London's Royal Albert Hall in October 2011. Designer Matt Kinley initially planned to hold a concert-style production not unlike the Les Misérables 25th Anniversary concert at the O2 Arena, but Mackintosh made it clear the show would be fully staged, as both he and Webber felt it would not work unless it was the whole show. As a result, the event was planned as a full show in the Royal Albert Hall.
Royal Albert Hall[edit]
Designing the staged show at the Royal Albert Hall was a daunting task, as the space (or lack of) was not an easy one to translate a proscenium show into. As a concert hall rather than a theatre, many of the show's elements (such as the chandelier) had to be toned down and simplified; the Royal Albert Hall was simply not capable of accepting a show the size of The Phantom of the Opera (which is already notorious for being very difficult to stage), or at least not the full original. The balconies of the hall were used to build uprights to form an opera house proscenium with boxes on each side. The orchestra was elevated on a platform and backed by a gauze which projected the opera sets via LEDs.
Live Streaming[edit]
Tickets for the three performances sold out within five hours of going on sale. In order to enable more people to see the production, the final performance was relayed live to cinemas around the world via Fathom Events. The production was subsequently released on DVD and Blu-ray. It has also recently been released with the musical's sequel, Love Never Dies.
Synopsis[edit]
Prologue[edit]
At the fictional Opera Populaire (based on the Paris Opéra House) in 1905, an auction of old theatre props is underway. Lot 665, purchased by the elderly Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, is a music box in the shape of a monkey; it is familiar to him, and he speaks of a mysterious "she" - that the details of the strange little music box appear "exactly as she said." Lot 666 is a shattered chandelier that is claimed by the auctioneer to have been related to "the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera, a mystery never fully explained," having appeared in some great disaster in years past. As the chandelier - which has been replaced, in part, with new electric wiring - is uncovered, it illuminates as the years roll back and the Opéra returns to its 1880s' grandeur ("Overture").
Act I[edit]
It is now 1881. As Carlotta, the Opéra's resident soprano prima donna, rehearses for that evening's performance, a backdrop collapses without warning. "The Phantom! He's here!" the anxious cast members whisper. The Opera's new owners, Firmin and André, try to downplay the incident, but Carlotta refuses to continue and storms offstage. Meg Giry, the daughter of the Opéra's ballet mistress Madame Giry, tells Firmin and André that Christine Daaé, a Swedish chorus girl and orphaned daughter of a prominent violinist, has been "well taught", and could sing Carlotta's role. With cancellation of the performance their only alternative, the owners reluctantly audition Christine, and to their surprise she is equal to the challenge ("Think of Me").
Backstage after her triumphant début, Christine confesses to Meg that she knows her mysterious teacher only as an invisible "Angel of Music" ("Angel of Music"). The new patron, Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny, finds Christine, his old childhood playmate, in her dressing room ("Little Lotte"). Christine reminds Raoul about the "Angel of Music" stories that her late father used to tell them, and confides that the Angel has been visiting her and given her her astonishing voice. Raoul good-naturedly accepts her revelation, taking it in stride, and he invites her to dinner, clearly hearkening back to - and desiring to continue - their childhood friendship. Christine, to his puzzlement, is not as willing, claiming that her Angel is a stern taskmaster and that he will not be pleased by her absence. Raoul exits, still intending to take Christine to dinner, and a jealous Phantom materializes in Christine's mirror in the guise of The Angel of Music ("The Mirror/Angel of Music (Reprise)"). Christine begs him to reveal himself. The Phantom obliges, then guides her into a ghostly underground realm ("The Phantom of the Opera"). They cross a subterranean lake to his secret lair beneath the Opéra house. He then explains that he has chosen Christine to sing his music and serenades her ("The Music of the Night"). Overwhelmed, Christine faints and the Phantom carries her to a bed and expresses his adoration for her.
As the Phantom composes music at his organ ("I Remember…"), Christine awakens to the sound of the monkey music box. She slips up behind the Phantom, lifts his mask, and beholds his face. The Phantom rails at her, damning her for her curiosity, then ruefully expresses his longing to look normal—and to be loved by her ("Stranger Than You Dreamt It").
Meanwhile, inside the opéra house, Joseph Buquet, the Opéra's chief stagehand—who, like Madame Giry, inexplicably knows much about the Phantom—regales everyone with tales of the "Opéra Ghost" and his terrible Punjab lasso ("Magical Lasso"). Madame Giry warns Buquet to exercise restraint. In the managers’ office, Madame Giry delivers a note from the Phantom: he demands that Christine replace Carlotta in the new opera, Il Muto, or there will be a terrible disaster "beyond imagination" ("Notes…"). Firmin and André assure the enraged Carlotta that she will remain the star ("Prima Donna"), but during her performance, disaster strikes ("Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh"). The Phantom reduces Carlotta's voice to a frog-like croak. A ballet interlude begins, to keep the audience entertained. Suddenly, the corpse of Buquet, hanging from the Punjab lasso, drops from the rafters. Firmin and André plead for calm — "It was just an accident...simply an accident!" — as the Phantom's diabolical laughter is heard.
In the ensuing mêlée, Christine escapes with Raoul to the roof, where she tells him about her subterranean rendezvous with the Phantom. Raoul is skeptical ("Why Have You Brought Me Here?/Raoul, I've Been There"), but swears to love and to protect her always ("All I Ask of You"). The Phantom, who has overheard their conversation, is heartbroken. He angrily vows revenge ("All I Ask of You (Reprise)"), and destroys the Opéra's mighty chandelier with a massive explosion as the curtain falls.
Act II[edit]
Six months later, in the midst of a splendid masquerade ball, the Phantom, costumed as the Red Death, makes his first appearance since the chandelier disaster ("Masquerade/Why So Silent?"). He announces to the stunned guests that he has written an opera entitled Don Juan Triumphant. He demands that it be produced immediately, with Christine (who is now engaged to Raoul) as the lead female role, and threatens dire consequences if his instructions are not implicitly obeyed before vanishing in a ghostly flash of fire and smoke. Raoul demands that Madame Giry tell him about the Phantom. She reluctantly replies that he is a brilliant musician and magician born with a terrifyingly deformed face, who escaped from captivity in a traveling freak show and disappeared.
During rehearsals, Raoul - tired of the tyranny with which the Phantom rules the Opera - thinks to use the premiere of Don Juan Triumphant as a trap to capture the Phantom and put an end to his reign of terror once and for all. Carlotta falsely accuses Christine of being the mastermind and that it is her plan so she can be the star. Christine confirms that it is not true, and no one believes Carlotta. Carlotta storms in rage. Raoul, knowing of the Phantom's obsession with his fiancé, he asserts that the Phantom will be sure to attend ("Notes/Twisted Every Way"). Christine, torn between her love for Raoul and her fear of/pity for the Phantom, visits her father's grave, longing for his guidance ("Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again"). The Phantom appears, once again under the guise of the Angel of Music ("Wandering Child"). Christine, tired and heartbroken, once again accepts her "Angel" as a friend, nearly succumbing to the Phantom's influence, but Raoul arrives to both rescue her and confront her would-be captor. The Phantom taunts Raoul, magically summoning pillars of fire at them ("Bravo Monsieur"), until Christine begs Raoul to leave with her. Furious, the Phantom sets fire to the cemetery, promising revenge on them both.
Don Juan Triumphant opens with Christine and Ubaldo Piangi, the Opéra's principal tenor, singing the lead roles ("Don Juan"). During Don Juan's and Aminta's duet, Christine comes to the sudden realization that she is singing not with Piangi, but with the Phantom himself ("The Point of No Return"). Mimicking Raoul's vow of devotion from "All I Ask Of You", the Phantom once again expresses love for Christine and slips his ring onto her finger; Christine rips off his mask, exposing his horrifically deformed face to the shocked audience. Chaos ensues. Piangi's garroted body is revealed backstage, the cast and audience fly into a state of panic, and the Phantom seizes Christine and flees the theatre. An angry mob, vowing vengeance for Buquet's and Piangi's untimely demises, searches the theatre for the Phantom, while Madame Giry tells Raoul how to find the Phantom's subterranean lair, and warns him to beware his Punjab lasso.
In the lair, Christine is forced to don a wedding dress ("Down Once More/Track Down This Murderer"). Raoul finds the lair and attempts to persuade the Phantom to spare Christine, pleading that the Phantom vent his wrath upon him instead. The Phantom refuses, claiming that his intention was never to hurt Christine for Raoul's "sins." The Phantom captures Raoul with his lasso and turns to Christine - he bargains that he will free Raoul if she agrees to stay with him forever; if she refuses, Raoul will die ("Final Lair"). Christine, heartbroken, indicates to the Phantom that it is his soul that is deformed, not his face, and kisses him full on the lips showing him compassion but not realizing that she would feel something more and kisses him again longer with all the passion in her. The Phantom, having experienced kindness, compassion and love for the first time, sets them both free giving Christine the life he cannot in darkness and underground. Christine returns the Phantom's ring to him, and he tells her he loves her as she returns his ring. Clearly struggling, Christine forces herself to turn away knowing she loves him but has to leave and exits with Raoul. Now out of the thrall of his madness, the Phantom makes his way to his throne and covers himself with his cloak, lamenting all the while for Christine. The mob storms the lair and Meg pulls away the cape—but the Phantom has vanished; only his mask remains.
Grand Finale[edit]
After the cast bow-out, Andrew Lloyd Webber delivered a speech to the audience before bringing out the Royal Albert Hall creative team, the original creative team, as well as the original leads from both the London and Broadway productions, Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. Brightman sang "The Phantom of the Opera" with five Phantoms: Colm Wilkinson from the Canadian production, Anthony Warlow from the Australian production, Peter Jöback, who has now played the role on both the West End and Broadway, John Owen-Jones from the London and UK Tour productions, and Ramin Karimloo. The performance was concluded when the five Phantoms sang "The Music of the Night", along with the entire cast and creative teams for the grand finale.
Cast[edit]
Ramin Karimloo as The Phantom
Sierra Boggess as Christine Daaé
Hadley Fraser as Raoul, Vicomte de Chagny
Wendy Ferguson as Carlotta Giudicelli
Liz Robertson as Madame Giry
Daisy Maywood as Meg Giry
Barry James as Monsieur Richard Firmin
Gareth Snook as Monsieur Gilles André
Wynne Evans as Ubaldo Piangi
Nick Holder as Joseph Buquet
Earl Carpenter as Auctioneer
Home video[edit]
The production was recorded live and later released on Blu-ray, DVD, CD and digital download. The initial releases were in the UK on 14 November 2011, (the digital download format was released three days earlier on 11 November) following the North American releases on 7 February 2012.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA AT THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL - THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION PERFORMANCE (12A)". British Board of Film Classification. 2011-10-25. Retrieved 2012-12-23.
External links[edit]
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall at the Internet Movie Database
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall on Facebook
The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall at AllMovie


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Books
The Phantom of the Opera (1909–1910) ·
 Phantom (1990) ·
 The Canary Trainer (1993) ·
 The Phantom of Manhattan (1999)
 

Stage adaptations
Phantom of the Opera (1976) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1986) ·
 Phantom (1991) ·
 Love Never Dies (2010)
 

Film and television
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) ·
 Song at Midnight (1937) ·
 Phantom of the Opera (1943) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1962) ·
 The Phantom of Hollywood (1974) ·
 Phantom of the Paradise (1974) ·
 Opera (1987) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1989) ·
 Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1990) ·
 The Phantom Lover (1995) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1998) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (2004) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011)
 

Characters
Erik ·
 Christine Daaé ·
 Viscount Raoul de Chagny ·
 The Persian ·
 Carlotta ·
 Madame Giry ·
 Meg Giry ·
 Joseph Buquet
 

Songs



Phantom (1986) Act 1

"A Rehearsal for Hannibal" ·
 "Think of Me" ·
 "Angel of Music" ·
 "Little Lotte" ·
 "The Phantom of the Opera" ·
 "The Music of the Night" ·
 "I Remember" ·
 "Stranger Than You Dreamt It" ·
 "Magical Lasso" ·
 "Notes " ·
 "Prima Donna" ·
 "Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh" ·
 "Why Have You Brought Us Here?" ·
 "Raoul, I've Been There" ·
 "All I Ask of You"
 


Phantom (1986) Act 2

"Masquerade" ·
 "Why So Silent?" ·
 "We Have All Been Blind" ·
 "Twisted Every Way" ·
 "A Rehearsal for Don Juan Triumphant ·
 "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" ·
 "Wandering Child" ·
 "Bravo, Monsieur!" ·
 "Music from Don Juan Triumphant" ·
 "The Point of No Return" ·
 "Down Once More" ·
 "Track Down This Murderer"
 


Other

"Learn to Be Lonely" ·
 "'Til I Hear You Sing"
 


Other
Gaston Leroux ·
 Andrew Lloyd Webber ·
 Ken Hill ·
 Maury Yeston ·
 Don Juan Triumphant ·
 Punjab lasso ·
 Adaptations ·
 Return of the Phantom ·
 Palais Garnier ·
 Lon Chaney (Sr.) ·
 "A Slight at the Opera"
 

 


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The Phantom of the Opera (1998 film)
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Jump to: navigation, search


The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1998 film) poster.jpg
Italian theatrical poster

Directed by
Dario Argento
Produced by
Claudio Argento
Giuseppe Colombo
 Aron Sipos
Written by
Giorgina Caspari (English adaptation)
Screenplay by
Dario Argento
Gérard Brach
Based on
Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux
Starring
Julian Sands
Asia Argento
Andrea Di Stefano
Music by
Ennio Morricone
Cinematography
Ronnie Taylor
Edited by
Anna Napoli
Production
   company
Cine 2000
Focus Films
 Medusa Produzione
MiBAC
 Reteitalia
Distributed by
A-Pix Entertainment
 Medusa Distribuzione
 Telet
Release date(s)
20 November 1998
Running time
99 min.
 106 min. (director's cut)
Country
Italy
Language
Italian
 French
Budget
$10,000,000 (estimated)
The Phantom of the Opera (Italian: Il fantasma dell'opera) is a 1998 Italian horror film directed by Dario Argento, adapted from the novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux. However, there are many differences between the book and the film (the biggest being that the Phantom is not disfigured).


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Critical reception
4 Soundtrack
5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
In Paris 1877, rats save an abandoned baby named Erik in a basket and raise him in the underground of the Opéra de Paris. This child becomes Erik, The Phantom of the Opera, a misanthrope who kills anyone who ventures into his underground chambers, just as rats are killed whenever they venture above ground. Erik, The Phantom (Julian Sands), who is not disfigured and hence does not wear a mask, falls in love with Christine Daaé (Asia Argento), an opera singer just beginning her career. He speaks to her using telepathy, and the two begin a romantic relationship. Unlike in other versions, however, he does not teach her to sing.
Meanwhile, the aristocratic Baron Raoul De Chagny (Andrea Di Stefano) has fallen in love with Christine, though at first Christine offers him only a platonic relationship. Later, she ruminates that she may be in love with both men. After sex, Erik, the Phantom forces Christine to stay in his subterranean chambers as he goes to secure the role of Juliet for her by bringing down the chandelier. Christine grows angry with him and his controlling ways. She tells him she hates him, and when he returns, she refuses the role he has secured for her. He becomes angry and forcibly has intercourse with her. Afterward, while he is playing with his rats, she escapes.
She flees into the arms of Raoul, and they ascend to the roof, where the Phantom hears them confessing their love for each other. The next night, as Christine sings, Erik, the Phantom swoops down and steals her away into his chambers. Raoul et al. give chase, and Raoul shoots Erik, the Phantom. Mortally wounded, Erik, the Phantom's main concern becomes Christine's safety, as he fears that the police will kill her now that they know she's his mistress. Erik, The Phantom shows Christine and Raoul a waterway out of the underground tunnels, and then fights off the police as Raoul rows a hysterical Christine to safety.
Cast[edit]
Julian Sands as Erik, The Phantom of the Opera
Asia Argento as Christine Daaé
Andrea Di Stefano as Raoul, Viscount de Chagny
Nadia Rinaldi as Carlotta Altieri
Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni as Honorine
István Bubik as Ignace, the rat-catcher
Lucia Guzzardi as Madame Giry
Aldo Massasso as Pourdieu
Zoltan Barabas as Poligny
Gianni Franco as Montluc
David D'Ingeo as Alfred
Kitty Kéri as Paulette
John Pedeferri as Dr. Princard
Leonardo Treviglio as Jerome De Chagny
Massimo Sarchielli as Joseph Buquet
Critical reception[edit]
Critical response to the film was negative. Variety called it "a gothic kitschfest that leaves no excess unexplored", writing "none of your sanitized Andrew Lloyd Webber treatment here, but plenty of bodice-ripping, lush romanticism, gore and gross antics with rats, all of which should tickle the director's stalwart devotees. But the script's clumsy plotting, its often unintentionally hilarious dialogue and some howlingly bad acting make the already widely sold pic likely to function best as a campy video entry for irreverent genre fans."[1] Slant Magazine called it "a hapless failure that could pass for a second-rate B movie that went straight-to-video. After the unfulfilled promises of Trauma and The Stendhal Syndrome, The Phantom of the Opera seemingly signaled the demise of a great auteur."[2]
The film currently has an approval rating of 13% on movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on eight reviews.[3]
Soundtrack[edit]
The score was composed by Ennio Morricone and featured the "Air des clochettes" from the opera Lakmé by Léo Delibes and the overture from Charles Gounod's Faust.
See also[edit]
Pertosa Caves
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Rooney, David (29 November 1998). "The Phantom of the Opera". Variety. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
2.Jump up ^ Gonzalez, Ed (4 December 2001). "The Phantom of the Opera". slantmagazine.com. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
3.Jump up ^ "Il Fantasma dell'Opera (The Phantom of the Opera) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 29 July 2012.
External links[edit]
The Phantom of the Opera at the Internet Movie Database


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Categories: The Phantom of the Opera
1998 films
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The Phantom Lover
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Jump to: navigation, search


The Phantom Lover
Phantom1995.jpg
Directed by
Ronnie Yu
Produced by
Leslie Cheung
Michael Ng
Raymond Wong
Written by
Roy Szeto
Raymond Wong
Ronnie Yu
Starring
Leslie Cheung
Jacqueline Wu
Huang Lei
Distributed by
Mandarin Films Ltd.
Release date(s)
1995
Running time
100 minutes
Country
Hong Kong
Language
Mandarin
The Phantom Lover (夜半歌聲) is a 1995 Hong Kong film starring Leslie Cheung and Jacqueline Wu. It was directed by Ronny Yu and is a remake of the 1937 film Song at Midnight. The film itself is a loose adaptation of the classic Romeo and Juliet romance where love between two passionate lovers were ultimately doomed when parental opposition was the major obstacle. The main theme of the film was, however, a strong adaptation of the Phantom of the Opera. The film's language is entirely in Mandarin.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Critical reception
4 Music
5 References
6 External links

Plot[edit]
The film is loosely based on real life "Phantom Lover" Dan Cheung, known as such due to the ghostlike (that is, not real) nature of the women he romances. The film is set in China in the 1940s. Song Dan Ping (Leslie Cheung) was an ambitious theatre actor and owner who built his dream magnificent playhouse from where he entertained and dazzled the theatre-loving populace with his adaptation of classics such as Romeo and Juliet and other tragic love stories.
His passionate and devoted performances, drew the attention of the beautiful daughter of a corrupt and despotic official named To Wan-Yin (Jacqueline Wu). To Wan-Yin would sneak out of her house with her personal maid in the night to watch Dan Ping's play (he was acting as Romeo in Shakespeare's play--'Romeo and Juliet'). During the patriarchal era, romance between an actor (considered useless and without a bright future) and a rich man's daughter was definitely a taboo (it was an irony that the couple were 're-enacting' Romeo and Juliet in the movie). Hence after each performance, Dan Ping and Wan-Yin would have a rendezvous at the theatre and their love deepened to the extent that they vowed to run away from the city and to get married elsewhere.
However, Wan-Yin was betrothed to a man whom she did not love and was reputed to be cruel and sadistic and this persuaded her to throw caution to the wind and run away from home with Song. It also turned out that Wan-Yin's father arranged the marriage (as was the custom of China at that time) to benefit himself as he sought to become allies with another official of great influence, whose friendship would help to improve his social standing.
As fate dictated, the eloping couple was caught before the plan came to fruition and Wan-Yin's maid, who had assisted the eloping couple in their attempt to escape, was brutally beaten until she was crippled. Meanwhile, Wan-Yin was locked up in the house by her father to prevent her from eloping.
This did not end the couple's tragic fate. Wan-Yin's fiance had arranged his men to harm Dan Ping. After disfiguring Dan Ping's face with burning acid, they set the theatre ablaze with Dan Ping and many other innocent people in it. After Wan-Yin came to know about the fire and Dan Ping's disappearance, she resigned to fate and married her fiance.
On her wedding night, Wan-Yin's husband found out that she was not a virgin (he did not 'see red' on their nuptial night). Wan-Yin was then abused and eventually drove out of the house and was forced to lead a wandering life with her crippled maid. Wan-Yin soon lost all her senses as her longing for Dan Ping drove her crazy.
Many years later, a group of performing arts students traveled from Beijing to perform in the city where Song Dan Ping had performed, eager to adapt his exploits and to improvise on his legendary performances. They came to the theatre hall, with its outer foundations still intact but with the internal sections terribly destroyed, and made their temporary quarters there. Many people believed Song to have perished in the fire but he was indeed still living as the students made their home in his theatre.
Song, however, was badly scarred in the face and was never to reveal his once-handsome face to the outside world and earned the nickname 'The Phantom lover' by his once-loving audience. His personality was also changed as he was severely depressed and morose after the tragic incidents and had lived the life of a hermit ever since. When the students arrived at the theatre, he was slightly encouraged to reveal himself when one of the more talented students tried unsuccessfully to sing his ultimate love serenade whom he dedicated to Wan-Yin. Song later lashed out at the students' incompetence when he could no longer bear such disparaging performances of his efforts and decided to reveal himself and his scarred face to them.
When the officials heard that the students tried to popularise Song in their theatre performances and reenact his glorious days, they came to arrest the students. Little did they know their evil deeds were exposed to the public who came for the performances. One by one, the accomplices to the plot to burn down the theatre were forced to confess in detail, to their crimes.
Justice was finally achieved but only as a hollow victory on Song's part. In the closing moments, Song was seen holding his lover's hands. Wan-Yin had since become an invalid, and she had also become blind as a result of her ex-husband shooting her. She recognized Song, but lamented that she could not see him - a blessing for him, since she couldn't see how ugly his face had become. The two lovers finally departed the town in a coach, together at last. An epilogue reveals that Wan-Yin died a year later—probably due to the shooting injuries—and that Song never loved another woman in his lifetime.
Cast[edit]
Leslie Cheung as Song Danping
Lei Huang as Wei Qing
Philip Kwok
Fong Pao as Zhao
Roy Szeto as Zhao Jum
Chien-lien Wu as Yun Yan
Liwen Yu as Agent in 1926



Critical reception[edit]
Andrew Chan of the Film Critics Circle of Australia writes, ""The Phantom Lover" could easily have been a cinematic classic, instead director Yu fails to focus the film on far more important things, namely the central doomed love affair and the rather lack of Cheung and Wu. "[1]
Music[edit]
The film's theme song was composed and sung by Leslie Cheung entitled 夜半歌声 "The Phantom Lover" also featured in his album 宠爱 "Beloved". Another individual song popularised by this film is 一辈子失去了你 "Endless Embrace" also found in the same album. The film's excellent Western-influenced score was composed by Chris Babida.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Andrew Chan (29 April 2013). "The Phantom Lover". [HK Neo Reviews].
External links[edit]
The Phantom Lover at the Internet Movie Database


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The Phantom of the Opera (miniseries)
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  (Redirected from The Phantom of the Opera (1990 miniseries))
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The Phantom of the Opera


The Phantom of the Opera, 1990 dvd cover.jpg


Official DVD cover

Created by
Saban Entertainment
Directed by
Tony Richardson
Produced by
Mitch Engel (associate)
Gary Hoffman (executive)
 Ross Milloy
Haim Saban (executive)
Edgar J. Scherick (executive)
 William W. Wilson III (co-producer)
Written by
Arthur Kopit
Gaston Leroux (novel)
Based on
The Phantom of the Opera
 by Gaston Leroux
Starring
Charles Dance
Teri Polo
Burt Lancaster
Music by
John Addison
Editing by
Bob Lambert
Budget
$10 million[1]
Original channel
NBC
Original run
March 18  – March 19, 1990
Running time
168 minutes
No. of episodes
2
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1990 NBC two-part drama television miniseries directed by Tony Richardson and stars Charles Dance in the title role. It is adapted from Arthur Kopit's book for his then-unproduced stage musical Phantom, which is based loosely on Gaston Leroux's novel.[2]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Differences from other adaptations
5 Reception
6 See also
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
The Phantom of the Opera (Charles Dance) is a disfigured musician named Erik who lives below Opéra Garnier in Paris. He has a large part in managing each performance through his friend Gerard Carriere (Burt Lancaster). The Phantom's life changes when Carriere is dismissed and the opera hires a new manager, Choleti. Choleti's wife Carlotta is a spoiled woman with a bad personality and terrible voice to match; it is obvious that Choleti bought his way into the managership to further his wife's career. The Phantom takes an instant dislike to them both. Choleti and Carlotta refuse to listen to warnings about the "ghost" who haunts the opera house, even when Joseph Buquet, Carlotta's wardrobe man, goes down below and does not return (his is later found to have been killed).
Christine Daae (Teri Polo) comes to the Paris Opera House in search of voice lessons that Phillipe, the Comte de Chagny promised her, learning that she is not the first pretty face that Phillipe brought there. Carlotta initially dismisses her, but upon learning that Christine "has a patron who is powerful" states that Christine can work in the costume department in Buquet's place. Christine has no home or money, but Jean-Claude, the doorman, lets her stay in a storage room in the Opera House.
That night, Christine wanders onto the stage and sings to the empty theater. The Phantom is immediately entranced by her voice. Hiding in the orchestra pit, he tells her that her voice is miraculous but untrained, and with proper technique her singing could reach its full potential. He offers to be her teacher, but must remain anonymous; that is why he wears a mask. They begin lessons, and the Phantom falls deeper in love with her. When she asks of his opinion on the Comte de Chagny, he replies "he is unworthy of you. He comes to the Opera for the wrong reasons ... e comes for the beauty of faces rather than the beauty of music."
In retaliation for Carlotta's singing the lead in every production, Erik begins a campaign of humiliation against her, sabotaging her performances and causing Carlotta to become a laughingstock in the eyes of the public. The Comte de Chagny finds out that Christine has been working in the costume department. He apologizes and invites her to the Bistro. With Erik's encouragement, Christine attends the Bistro and sings. Everyone is astonished by her voice and Choleti immediately signs her to a singing contract. After the Bistro, Phillipe and Christine start to bond. The Count realizes Christine was his childhood sweetheart from long ago. They already have the budding love from their earlier time together, and this only strengthens it. Erik witnesses them driving off together and stays up all night back in the rehearsal room, waiting for Christine. When she returns, she finds him gone.
Because of the Phantom's sabotage campaign, Carlotta says she will not sing until he is caught or killed. Finding out that Christine has been secretly living in the Opera, Carlotta confronts her and blackmails Christine into telling her about her vocal coach. When Carlotta informs her husband that Christine's teacher is the Phantom, Choleti gives Christine the female lead of the opera Faust; he is working with the police to capture the Phantom. During their next lesson, there is tension between the Phantom and Christine about where she went after the Bistro performance, but he agrees to help her prepare for her stage debut. Before the curtain, Carlotta offers Christine a beverage that temporarily weakens her voice. The audience starts booing, and Erik is enraged. He cuts through the ropes holding the chandelier and drops it on the audience. He abducts Christine and leads her to his underground lair, singing her to sleep with a soft melody that Christine sang earlier.



 Burt Lancaster and Charles Dance
Returning to the opera house, the Phantom discovers Carlotta was behind Christine's voice problems and dumps a big box of rats on her, driving her insane. As Christine sleeps, Erik builds traps for anyone who comes down below. Carriere comes down and pleads with him to let Christine go, but Erik refuses. He insists that the world above is not fit for her and he believes that in time she will love him. He also shows Carriere the explosive materials that he has devised, and warns him that he will blow up the entire opera house if they step over the line and try to come down there. Carriere goes to Christine and urges her to get out as soon as possible. He tells her the story of Erik's past and of Erik's mother, a great singer named Belladova to whom she bears an eerie resemblance. Belladova gave birth to him below the opera house, and Erik has lived there his entire life. She refuses to leave without talking to Erik first.
The following morning, Erik takes Christine on a leisurely tour of his underground home. During a picnic, she asks Erik to show her his face. Erik at first refuses, but she promises him that she would be able to look at him with love and acceptance, just as his mother once did. However, when he does unmask, she faints. In the midst of an anguished breakdown, Erik locks her in one of his underground chambers.
Christine manages to escape, and Carriere and the Count take her far from the Opera House. Christine is still stricken with guilt, and after having a dream that Erik is dying she begs Phillipe to take her back. The Comte reluctantly agrees and he and Christine approach the manager about singing that night. Choleti secretly arranges to have police planted throughout the opera house.
Carriere has gone below and found Erik among the remains of his lair. Carriere talks to Erik about Christine, and lets him know that she did not mean to hurt him. Resigned, Erik says simply, "She was unprepared for ugliness." The conversation turns to Erik's mother and, eventually, his face. The older man reveals that he has already seen Erik's face, because he is his father. Erik says he knew all along. He tells Carriere that when he dies, he wants to be buried deep so he cannot be put on display. Gerard promises before leaving Erik, though he is loath to do so.
Christine sings at that night's performance of Faust Erik hears her and forces himself up to Box Five. He begins singing with her and the audience's attention turns toward him in shock. Christine and the Phantom sing to each other with such passion that the audience is awed.
The police shoot at Erik and he jumps on stage, grabbing hold of Christine. He carries her to the roof, fighting off police. The Comte pursues them, but in the ensuing struggle is knocked off the roof and dangles above the street. Erik begins breaking the Comte's grip, but at Christine's pleading pulls him to safety. Erik finds that he is cornered, with police determined to take him alive. Carriere has gone to his old offices and retrieved a gun. Upholding his promise, Carriere shoots his son. Erik falls from the roof and Christine runs to him. While cradled in his father's lap, Christine removes Erik's mask, looks him straight in the face and smiles. Erik dies peacefully with his father and Christine at his side. Christine replaces Erik's mask and is led away by the Comte.
Cast[edit]
Erik, aka "The Phantom of The Opera": Charles Dance
Phantom of the Opera, 1990 DVD cover.jpg


Christine Daae: Teri Polo
Phillipe Comte de Chagny: Adam Storke
Gerard Carriere: Burt Lancaster
Choleti: Ian Richardson
Carlotta: Andréa Ferréol
Inspector Ledoux: Jean-Pierre Cassel
Jean Claude: Jean Rougerie
Joseph Buquet: André Chaumeau
Production[edit]
Arthur Kopit had long been an admirer of Gaston Leroux's story, but felt that the horror premise had left out the possibility of a more compelling relationship between the two main characters. So he came up with a script in which the Phantom is a romantic hero, frightening only to those who would misuse the opera house wherein he dwells - and to those who would stand in the way of Christine's eventual rise to stardom. And he decided to use plenty of music in his storytelling - not original music, but classical opera arias that would imbue his production with a sense of the Phantom's heart, soul and passion. Then Andrew Lloyd Webber came along, and Kopit was devastated: "Here was work that I deeply loved, and it looked for all that world like it would never be seen."
He later heard that the network was in the market for a miniseries, so he sent them a copy of his script. "I had to convince them that I wasn't following on the heels of Lloyd Webber's success," he said. "But once I was able to do that, it wasn't difficult to help them see the potential of this interesting, unusual love story." [3]TV Guide



Differences from other adaptations[edit]
The Phantom in this adaptation is kinder and more humanized than in the book and other adaptations, in which he is usually portrayed as evil, malicious and rather ghoulish.
In this version, Christine looked a lot like the Phantom's mother, who died when he was young and who loved him. In many other versions of the story, the Phantom's mother loathes him.
It is the only Phantom of the Opera movie to actually film on location in Paris.
The manager in this version is named Choleti. In other versions, there are two managers: Moncharmin and Richard, or Andre and Firmin.
In this version, Carlotta is Choleti's wife, but still the jealous, self-centered diva as she is in other versions.
Raoul's character has been changed to that of his older brother, who dies in the book.
This is the first film in which the Phantom's face is never seen without his mask.
The Phantom removes his mask for Christine voluntarily, unlike nearly every other version where she dramatically rips it off of his face.
This is one of the few versions in which The Phantom does not have and play an organ in his underground lair.
Reception[edit]

Phantom of the Opera screenshot.jpg


The miniseries won two Emmy Awards out of five nominations in 1990 for Outstanding Art Direction and Outstanding Achievement in Hairstyling for a Miniseries or a Special.[4] It was also nominated for two Golden Globe Awards in 1991 for Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television and Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television (Burt Lancaster).[5]
Entertainment Weekly critic Ken Tucker gave the film a score of A- and said Arthur Kopit and director Tony Richardson "make the romance between the Phantom and Christine both touching and frightening, and the casting of Burt Lancaster as Carriere, the manager of the opera company, gives the story weight and great charm...The Phantom of the Opera has a few old-fashioned but genuinely scary moments...It's as if Richardson went back to look at old horror movies by such filmmakers as Val Lewton and James Whale to figure out how they got their spooky but never gruesome effects; if so, he learned well. The production is marred by Adam Storke's bland Count de Chagny; it's impossible to believe that Christine would prefer this petulant pretty-boy over Dance's funky-faced Phantom. But all in all, The Phantom of the Opera is a real achievement: It's rare enough for a costume drama to show up on TV these days; the fact that this is a good one is amazing."[6] People critic David Hiltbrand gave the film a score of B+ and said "Director Tony Richardson has mounted a sumptuous, stately version of this oft-told epic melodrama, far surpassing the previous TV version with Maximilian Schell and Jane Seymour in 1983. But Lon Chaney must be spinning in his grave, seeing what a rakish romantic his ghoulish Phantom has become over the years." Hiltbrand praised that Burt Lancaster "lends his usual air of refined dignity, and Charles Dance makes an elegant Phantom. But the real zest is provided by Ian Richardson and Andrea Ferreol, who bring great comic verve to the roles of the pompous popinjay of an opera director and his deluded diva of a wife."[7] The Deseret News critic Joseph Walker said, "Kopit's script maintains his vision throughout, expertly mixing moods ranging from the ridiculous ("I'm not used to killing people," says the Phantom after a rare violent episode. "It throws me off.") to the sublime. And the production values throughout are first rate..." Walker also added that Charles Dance is a "superb Phantom – brooding and mysterious, and yet somehow approachable. Polo makes the most of her big TV break, creating a flesh and blood heroine who is utterly believable...The rest of the cast is similarly effective, especially Ferreol who practically steals the show with her broad comic Carlotta.[8]TV Guide gave the film four out of five stars and said Charles Dance is an "excellent Phantom" and "excellent support from Richardson and Lancaster."[9]The New York Times critic John J. O'Connor was puzzled how the recluse Phantom became "cultivated and talented" and criticized Adam Storke's performance and the "international menu of accents." However, he stated "the physical production is gloriously lavish...And the director Tony Richardson deftly captures the fairy-tale aspects of the story," describing the film as a "variation on Beauty and the Beast, with echoes of Cinderella and enchanted forests." He also stated that "most of the performances transcend the accent difficulties. Mr. Dance is elegant, Mr. Lancaster dignified and Miss Polo, not yet 20 years old, strikingly beautiful. The show is just about stolen, however, by Ian Richardson and Andrea Ferreo...," and concluded "Phantom adds up to an odd but fascinating prime-time diversion."[10]
See also[edit]
Phantom (musical)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Champlin, Charles (1990-03-18). "The Phantom Acquires a Father : NBC's $10-Million Miniseries Casts Burt Lancaster in the New Role". Los Angeles Times.
2.Jump up ^ Hodges, Ann (1990-03-18). "TV version of `Phantom of Opera' celebrates music but is not a musical". Houston Chronicle. ""I sent them this.' It was the book for a musical, but it was virtually a play, and NBC took it."
3.Jump up ^ Walker, Joseph (1990-03-18). "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: NO, IT ISN'T THE HIT MUSICAL – BUT IT'S STILL GOOD VIEWING". Deseret News.
4.Jump up ^ The Phantom of the Opera NBC Emmys.com
5.Jump up ^ Awards Search: Phantom of the Opera, The. goldenglobes.org
6.Jump up ^ Tucker, Ken (1990-03-16). "TV Review: The Phantom of the Opera". Entertainment Weekly (5).
7.Jump up ^ Hiltbrand, David (1990-03-19). "Picks and Pans Review: The Phantom of the Opera". People 33 (11).
8.Jump up ^ Walker, Joseph (1990-03-18). "PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: NO, IT ISN'T THE HIT MUSICAL – BUT IT'S STILL GOOD VIEWING". Deseret News.
9.Jump up ^ "The Phantom Of The Opera: Review". TV Guide. 1990.
10.Jump up ^ O'Connor, John J. (1990-03-16). "Review/Television; Telling the Story of Monty Python, in 2 Episodes". The New York Times.
External links[edit]
The Phantom of the Opera at the Internet Movie Database


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Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge
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Jump to: navigation, search


Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge
PhantomOfTheMall-EricsRevenge-300.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Richard Friedman[1]
Produced by
Thomas Fries
 Robert J. Koster
Paul Little
Written by
Story: Scott J. Schneid
 Frederick R. Ulrich
 Screenplay:Scott J. Schneid
 Tony Michelman
Robert King[2]
Starring
Derek Rydall
Jonathan Goldsmith
Rob Estes
Pauly Shore
Kari Whitman
Morgan Fairchild[3]
Music by
Stacy Widelitz
Cinematography
Harry Mathias
Edited by
Gregory F. Plotts
 Amy Tompkins
Distributed by
Fries Distribution Company
Release date(s)
December 1, 1989
Running time
91 min
Country
United States
Language
English
Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge is a 1989 horror film about a young man who apparently dies in a suspicious house fire after saving his girlfriend, Melody;[4] a year later, at the new mall built over the site of the burned-out house,[5] thefts and murders begin to occur as a mysterious figure secretly prowls around the shopping center and takes a keen interest in watching over and protecting Melody. The film was directed by Richard Friedman, and stars Derek Rydall, Jonathan Goldsmith, Rob Estes, Pauly Shore, Kari Whitman, Ken Foree and Morgan Fairchild.


Contents  [hide]
1 Synopsis
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Release
5 Reception
6 References
7 External links

Synopsis[edit]
In an unlit store, a shadowy figure steals clothes and a crossbow; when a mall guard approaches, the figure stabs him to death. Melody and her friend Susie get jobs at the new mall, just before its scheduled grand opening. The shadowy Eric, his face half scarred, excitedly sees Melody, his former girlfriend, from hidden vantage points around the mall, and leaves flowers and gifts for her. He breaks open a mannequin head to fashion a half-mask. When a mall maintenance worker spots Eric in the ventilation ducts, Eric kills him by forcing his head into a running fan. Eric attacks anyone who threatens Melody; he kills a guard, who spies on women in the dressing room via mall security video, by crushing him into an electrical panel using a forklift. A masked mugger attacks Melody in the parking lot, but Eric shoots him with the crossbow. Later the mugger is revealed to be the mall pianist; Eric kills him on the toilet with a poisonous snake. The mall owner's son, Justin, harasses Melody's friend Susie; Eric kills him with a lasso pulled into the mall escalator. Reporter Peter Baldwin becomes interested in Melody, investigates the suspicious fire, and with Melody, Susie and pal Buzz, tries to learn if Eric is still alive. A year earlier, Eric Matthews' house was destroyed in a suspicious fire which apparently trapped and killed him, just after he saved his girlfriend Melody. Now, a year later, in the mall built over the site of his home, Eric plants a time-delay bomb beneath the mall, timed to coincide with the mall's grand opening.
Mall guard Christopher Volker attacks Melody and Peter at gunpoint as they talk, in a car, about the fire; he boasts that he is the arsonist. As they escape and Volker chases them with his car, Eric leaps onto the roof, distracting him and causing a crash. Later, Volker attacks Melody again, knocking her unconscious. Eric fights him, then kills him using the automatic box crusher, and carries Melody to his lair.
Buzz (in Pauly Shore's first on-screen full moon) tricks a guard away from the video surveillance booth[6][7][8] so he and Susie can search for Melody. Melody awakens, and talks with Eric. She is glad he is alive, but confesses she does not love him anymore; he angrily declares that he has planted the bomb, so she will die and be with him forever anyway.
As Peter searches for Melody in the tunnels, Eric deploys the snake to kill him, for being interested in Melody. When Peter retreats, then later finds them anyway, Eric tries to fight and kill him, but Eric is stunned by Melody's shout that she loves Peter. Peter takes the chance to knock Eric out, so the pair escape and are able to warn Buzz and Susie of the bomb. Eric revives and kills those involved in the arson, the coverup, and the construction of the mall: mall owner Harv Posner and the complicit Mayor Karen Wilton. Melody, Peter, Buzz and Susie, and all of the mall patrons escape, as Eric's subterranean bomb explodes, destroying the mall.
Cast[edit]
Derek Rydall as Eric Matthews, The Phantom of the Mall
Jonathan Goldsmith as Harv Posner, Mall Owner
Rob Estes as Peter Baldwin, Reporter
Pauly Shore as Buzz, Yogurt Clerk
Kimber Sissons as Susie, Fashion Clerk
Gregory Scott Cummins as Christopher Volker, Security Guard
Tom Fridley as Justin, Posner's Son
Kari Whitman as Melody Austin
Ken Foree as Acardi
Morgan Fairchild as Mayor Karen Wilton
Terrence Evans as Security Guard
Dante D'Andre as Piano man[3]
Production[edit]
The film was shot in southern California at Sherman Oaks Galleria, Promenade Mall (now Westfield Promenade) and Valencia Studios, "an old warehouse converted for the film."[9][10]Alhambra, California was also a location shoot.
Release[edit]
The film was released December 1, 1989. It was made available on video by Fries Entertainment in February 1990.[11] A DVD was released by Echo Bridge Home Entertainment in 2006.[7][12]
Reception[edit]
The Los Angeles Times was bluntly negative in its assessment of the film, comparing it with other Phantom of the Opera film adaptations: "this schlock-slasher version of Leroux's shocker--with the Phantom turned into a burned, vengeful teen prowling the air-tunnels of a posh suburban shopping mall--is, hands down, the most inept, pointless, puerile and inane." The review continued: "scarcely a scene isn't gross or ridiculous, scarcely a performance isn't forced or shallow, scarcely a line of dialogue isn't a burbling, awkward cliche. There's a perfection of awfulness here that almost commands respect; it can't have been easy to keep going on this picture after a look or two at the rushes."[13]
Charles Tatum of Australian review site EFilmCritic.com gave the film one star (of four), "Worse than Montezuma's Revenge", writing "you probably did not need a plot sketch since the entire story is in the title. Someone named Eric is taking revenge against people as a phantom of a mall. This also means there is no suspense. We know Eric is behind this, but we still have to see Estes and Cute Girl go through the motions of a silly investigation."[7]
In his "Final Verdict," Andrew Smith of UK review site PopcornPictures.co.uk gave the film one star, stating "You should know the 80s slasher drill by now. No scares, suspense, story, acting or characters - just novelty death scenes and a psychotic villain. When a film fails to deliver on the latter two AND the rest, then it's really bottom of the barrel stuff."[5]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Young, R. G. (2000). The encyclopedia of fantastic film: Ali Baba to Zombies. Applause Books. p. 482. ISBN 978-1-55783-269-6.
2.Jump up ^ Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge. IMDB Full Credits (WGA).
3.^ Jump up to: a b Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge. IMDB Full Credits ("verified as complete").
4.Jump up ^ "Phantom Of The Mall: Eric's Revenge (main)". TVGuide.com.
5.^ Jump up to: a b Smith, Andrew (2000). "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989)". PopcornPictures.co.uk.
6.Jump up ^ Wedell, Katie (November 6, 2008). "GO!". Five Favorite Pauly Shore Moments. Dayton Daily News (OH). p. GO28. "2. Audiences first get a view of Pauly's "south shore" when he moons the camera in "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge."(WebCitation)
7.^ Jump up to: a b c Tatum, Charles (March 29, 2003). Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge. eFilmCritic.com.
8.Jump up ^ Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, Fries Entertainment. Event occurs at 1:04:10.
9.Jump up ^ Szebin, Frederick C. (November 1989). "Eric’s Revenge". Cinefantastique 20 (1/2): 30.
10.Jump up ^ Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, Fries Entertainment. Event occurs at 1:30:00 (end credits).
11.Jump up ^ Atkinson, Terry (February 16, 1990). "Horror, Schlock and Docu-Rock : This Week's Movies". Home Tech/What's New (Los Angeles Times).
12.Jump up ^ "Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge". CDUniverse.com.
13.Jump up ^ Wilmington, Michael (December 4, 1989). "Movie Review : A 'Phantom' Too Many". Los Angeles Times. p. F5. Retrieved 2011-05-08.
External links[edit]
Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge at the Internet Movie Database
Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge review. Ross Horsley, Anchorwoman In Peril blog, January 26, 2008.
Short-n-tasty Rev-yooo Round-up reviews. Finalgirl blog, August 18, 2008.


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The Phantom of the Opera


Books
The Phantom of the Opera (1909–1910) ·
 Phantom (1990) ·
 The Canary Trainer (1993) ·
 The Phantom of Manhattan (1999)
 

Stage adaptations
Phantom of the Opera (1976) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1986) ·
 Phantom (1991) ·
 Love Never Dies (2010)
 

Film and television
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) ·
 Song at Midnight (1937) ·
 Phantom of the Opera (1943) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1962) ·
 The Phantom of Hollywood (1974) ·
 Phantom of the Paradise (1974) ·
 Opera (1987) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1989) ·
 Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1990) ·
 The Phantom Lover (1995) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1998) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (2004) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011)
 

Characters
Erik ·
 Christine Daaé ·
 Viscount Raoul de Chagny ·
 The Persian ·
 Carlotta ·
 Madame Giry ·
 Meg Giry ·
 Joseph Buquet
 

Songs



Phantom (1986) Act 1

"A Rehearsal for Hannibal" ·
 "Think of Me" ·
 "Angel of Music" ·
 "Little Lotte" ·
 "The Phantom of the Opera" ·
 "The Music of the Night" ·
 "I Remember" ·
 "Stranger Than You Dreamt It" ·
 "Magical Lasso" ·
 "Notes " ·
 "Prima Donna" ·
 "Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh" ·
 "Why Have You Brought Us Here?" ·
 "Raoul, I've Been There" ·
 "All I Ask of You"
 


Phantom (1986) Act 2

"Masquerade" ·
 "Why So Silent?" ·
 "We Have All Been Blind" ·
 "Twisted Every Way" ·
 "A Rehearsal for Don Juan Triumphant ·
 "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" ·
 "Wandering Child" ·
 "Bravo, Monsieur!" ·
 "Music from Don Juan Triumphant" ·
 "The Point of No Return" ·
 "Down Once More" ·
 "Track Down This Murderer"
 


Other

"Learn to Be Lonely" ·
 "'Til I Hear You Sing"
 


Other
Gaston Leroux ·
 Andrew Lloyd Webber ·
 Ken Hill ·
 Maury Yeston ·
 Don Juan Triumphant ·
 Punjab lasso ·
 Adaptations ·
 Return of the Phantom ·
 Palais Garnier ·
 Lon Chaney (Sr.) ·
 "A Slight at the Opera"
 

 


Categories: English-language films
1989 films
American horror films
1989 horror films


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The Phantom of the Opera: The Motion Picture
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Jump to: navigation, search


The Phantom of the Opera:
 The Motion Picture
Phantom of the opera poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster

Directed by
Dwight H. Little
Produced by
Menahem Golan
Harry Alan Towers
Screenplay by
Gerry O'Hara
 Duke Sandefur
Based on
The Phantom of the Opera
 by Gaston Leroux
Starring
Robert Englund
Jill Schoelen
Alex Hyde-White
Bill Nighy
Stephanie Lawrence
Molly Shannon
Music by
Misha Segal
Cinematography
Peter Lyons Collister
 Elemér Ragályi
Edited by
Charles Bornstein
Production
   company
Breton Film Productions
 Dee Gee Entertainment
Distributed by
21st Century Film Corporation
Release date(s)
November 4, 1989

Running time
93 minutes[1]
Country
United States
Language
English
Box office
$3,953,745
The Phantom of the Opera: The Motion Picture is a 1989 American horror film directed by Dwight H. Little and based on Gaston Leroux's novel of the same name.
The film is a newer, gorier version of the classic 1910 tale, and has A Nightmare on Elm Street's Robert Englund playing the Phantom. Christine Day is a young Broadway singer in New York City auditioning for a show, who comes across an old piece of music written nearly 100 years before by an unknown musician named Erik Destler. Destler, it seems, had made a pact with the devil (maybe by accident) so the world would love his music. The catch was Erik's face would be left horribly disfigured forever. Once Christine sings his music for an audition, she is hit with a sandbag. Thus follows a presumed flashback into the past roughly around 1881, where she was the star in the London Opera House. There she is coached by a mysterious "Phantom" who will do anything to make his protégé a star, even if it means murder. Christine soon finds out that her teacher is in fact Destler, whom she comes to loathe.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Comparison with the original and other versions 4.1 The Phantom's disfigurement
5 Release 5.1 Critical reception
5.2 Box office
6 Planned sequel
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]


 This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (October 2012)
Christine Day is an opera singer in modern day Manhattan who is searching for a unique piece to sing at her next audition. Her friend and manager Meg discovers an old opera piece called Don Juan Triumphant, written by a composer named Erik Destler. Curious, Christine and Meg do a little digging on Destler, and discover he may have been responsible for many murders and the disappearance of a young female opera singer he was said to have been obsessed with. While Christine is alone, she sings from the tattered parchment and blood seeps from the notes and covers her hands. Shocked, she discovers this to be an illusion when Meg returns.
Christine auditions with the piece and during her performance, an accident with a falling sandbag renders her unconscious and shatters a mirror. She awakens in London in 1881, wearing opera clothing. A different version of Meg is also there. Christine turns out to be the understudy to the diva La Carlotta, who is both jealous and resentful of Christine’s skill. During this whole time, Erik Destler attacks the scene-shifter Joseph with a blade high above the rafters for almost killing Christine with the falling sandbag, and blaming the accident on him.
Alone in her dressing room after she recovers, Christine receives a vision and a message from a masked Erik Destler, revealing he is her teacher and an angel sent by her deceased father. Destler encourages her to practice Carlotta’s part of Marguerite in Faust, saying that only she can sing the part as it was meant to be sung. Christine complies. That evening, Carlotta discovers Joseph’s skinned (but barely alive) body in her dressing closet. The event causes her to scream and lose her voice. Christine is then cast in the role of Marguerite, which causes a panic to the opera house owner Martin Barton, who favors Carlotta and the prestige she brings to his opera house.
During the scene where Dr. Faust signs his soul to the Devil, Destler reminisces about a time, perhaps decades ago, when he sold his own soul to the Devil in exchange for people loving him for his music. The Devil grants his wish, but burns and disfigures Destler’s face, telling him that only his music will be what people love him for.
Christine gives a stellar performance and receives a standing ovation, and celebrates that night with her fiancee Richard. She tells him of her mysterious "teacher", to whom she accredits her success. A mildly jealous Richard asks to meet this teacher, but Christine insists her teacher is only a figment of her imagination. Shockingly, the next morning in the papers, Christine is given a mediocre review by the famous opera critic Harrison, secretly done as a favor to Barton. Destler tracks Harrison down and brutally murders him in a Turkish spa after Harrison refuses to recant his review. Destler’s further obsession with Christine (as well as his supernatural prowess) is revealed when he single-handedly murders several thugs and later orders a prostitute to call herself "Christine".
Christine hears of Harrison’s murder through Meg, and tearfully goes to a graveyard and prays next to the grave of her father. Destler appears as a shadowy violinist and offers her a chance at musical immortality if she will only go to him. Christine goes away with the Phantom in his stagecoach just as Richard arrives. Deep in the sewers below London’s opera house, Destler reveals himself as the composer of Don Juan Triumphant, which causes a spark of recollection within Christine. Destler then places a ring upon her finger and warns her never to see another man again.
Richard goes to the police and, along with Inspector Hawkins, decides to track down the Phantom. Hawkins reveals to Richard that the Phantom is not only Erik Destler, but Destler has lived for centuries, uses the opera house's catacombs as a hideout, and skins his murdered victims for their facial skin to cover his own hideous visage. Hawkins also tells him the only way to kill the Phantom is to destroy his music.
Later, at a masquerade ball, Christine meets up with Richard and warns him about the Phantom, revealing him as her "teacher". Erik, disguised, sees this exchange and becomes enraged and murders Carlotta and kidnaps Christine. Hawkins, Richard and the rat catcher whom Destler has been bribing in the past go quickly in pursuit. They become lost in the sewers, and Destler murders two policemen as well as the homeless man for betraying him.
Back in the Phantom’s lair, an enraged Destler attempts to rape Christine but Richard and the Inspector burst in. During a struggle with the Phantom, Richard is stabbed with a candle holder, set afire, and killed. At the same moment, a wounded Hawkins manages to shoot Destler several times while Christine pushes a lamp through a mirror, sending her back to present-day Manhattan.
Christine awakens and is comforted by the opera’s producer Mr. Foster, who offers her the leading part. At his apartment, they have drinks and Foster goes upstairs to tidy up and finds a blemish on his face. It is then discovered that Foster is Destler from long ago, and he goes to change his facial skin with synthetic ones he keeps in a special lab. Meanwhile, downstairs, Christine plays part of the song from a recording of Don Juan Triumphant and horribly realizes that Foster is Destler, as they both look remarkably alike. Foster/Destler surprises her and reveals his true self to her and forcibly kisses her. Christine stabs him and escapes taking his music and tears it apart before letting it drop into the gutter, whilst Foster/Destler is heard screaming. On her way home, Christine passes by a street violin player, whom she gives some money to. The violinist slowly follows her, playing the familiar theme from Don Juan Triumphant. Christine looks back and reflects on the music for a while. Then, very resolutely, she turns around and continues on her way, wondering if Destler is really gone for good.
Cast[edit]
Robert Englund as Erik Destler/The Phantom of the Opera, a disfigured homicidal musical genius who falls in love with Christine Day
Jill Schoelen as Christine Day, an innocent and sweet soprano
Alex Hyde-White as Richard Dutton, a businessman, opera patron, and Christine's lover
Bill Nighy as Martin Barton, the Opera's manager and Carlotta's boyfriend
Stephanie Lawrence as La Carlotta, the pampered, spoiled leading diva; a bratty and selfish woman
Molly Shannon as Meg (New York)
Terence Harvey as Inspector Hawkins
Nathan Lewis as Davies
Peter Clapham as Harrison
Emma Rawson as Meg (London)
Mark Ryan as Mott
Yehuda Efroni as The Rat Catcher
Terence Beesley as Joseph Buquet
Production[edit]
Fans of the film regard the soundtrack to be especially underrated. The original music written for the film by Misha Segal (also known for the soundtrack to The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking) won a 1989 Brit for best soundtrack. Of particular interest to fans of the original novel is Segal's rendition of the Phantom's opera composition 'Don Juan Triumphant' with the Phantom on the organ and Christine singing.
Like in the novel and silent film version, Christine is seen performing as Marguerite in a production of Gounod's Faust, though this time we actually hear her voice. Appearing in the background of the performance are the figures of Faust and Mephisto (symbolic of the Phantom's own pact with the Devil in this film). Christine's singing of recitatives from Gounod's Faust score is more faithful to the original novel than the Lloyd-Webber musical and film: in which an imaginary opera is invented for the occasion.
Comparison with the original and other versions[edit]
In this version of The Phantom of the Opera, the main action is transferred from Leroux's Paris Opera House to a London Opera House of the same period (but unlike the original, and most of the other adaptations, there is no falling chandelier scene). However in many respects this film is more faithful to the spirit and letter of the original than many other better known adaptations. In particular the Faustian element present in the book is emphasized - with a staging of Gounod's Faust as in the original, here a reminder of Erik's Satanic pact. The rat catcher is included in this version. The sadism of Leroux's original Erik, who, as in the novel, festoons the Opera with rope traps, is retained here, unlike in more sentimental versions. In a gory touch, the Phantom's original black mask is now a mask stitched together out of the flesh of his victims. The mysterious violinist at the cemetery is also retained in this version. Of the other characters Carlotta is here decapitated by the Phantom (unlike the novel where she survives), Richard (the Raoul figure of this version) is set ablaze, and the Rat Catcher of the sewers meets a grisly fate.
The Phantom's disfigurement[edit]
In this version, Erik's face is burned by the devil's touch. A great quantity of skin is absent on the right side of his face, and his nose lacks skin, of which is present on the back of his head, and he only has a few strands of hair. One of his ears is missing, and he has no teeth. As time passes more skin comes off, as if he is decomposing.
Release[edit]
Critical reception[edit]
The Phantom of the Opera currently holds a 38% 'Rotten' rating on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.[2]
Box office[edit]
The film was a box office failure when released, grossing just under $4 million in the US.[3]
Planned sequel[edit]
Englund was under contract to appear in a sequel, but it was canceled after the film's poor reception, and has been the subject of numerous rumors. Fangoria Magazine claimed in 1991 that the script was re-written into what became 1992's Dance Macabre, also starring Englund.
Englund confirmed in a 2004 interview that a script had been written, and while he personally felt it was superior to the first film, it had never been filmed in any capacity. In 2012, Englund was asked at a memorabilia sale about the possibility of a sequel happening in the near future, Englund informed everybody in attendance that although it would be overwhelming to see a sequel, the chances of it happening at this stage are "highly unlikely".
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (18)". British Board of Film Classification. 1990-02-14. Retrieved 2012-10-28.
2.Jump up ^ The Phantom of the Opera at Rotten Tomatoes
3.Jump up ^ The Phantom of the Opera at Box Office Mojo
External links[edit]
The Phantom of the Opera at the Internet Movie Database
The Phantom of the Opera at AllMovie
The Phantom of the Opera at Box Office Mojo
The Phantom of the Opera at Rotten Tomatoes


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Categories: 1989 films
English-language films
The Phantom of the Opera
1980s drama films
1989 horror films
American films
American drama films
American horror films
Films about entertainers
Films about opera
Films based on horror novels
Films based on works by Gaston Leroux
Films set in London
Films set in New York City
Films set in the 19th century
Films set in the 1980s
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Opera (film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


Opera
Opera Dario Argento.jpg
Italian theatrical release poster

Directed by
Dario Argento
Produced by
Dario Argento
 Ferdinando Caputo
 Mario Cecchi Gori
 Vittorio Cecchi Gori
Written by
Franco Ferrini
Screenplay by
Dario Argento
Story by
Dario Argento
Starring
Cristina Marsillach
Ian Charleson
Urbano Barberini
Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni
Music by
Brian Eno
 Roger Eno
 Steel Grave
 Claudio Simonetti
 Bill Wyman
Cinematography
Ronnie Taylor
Edited by
Franco Fraticelli
Production
   company
ADC Films (as ACD Srl)
 Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica (as Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica Srl)
 Radiotelevisione Italiana (as RAI Radio Televisione Italiana)
Distributed by
Orion Pictures (US)
Release date(s)
19 December 1987
Running time
107 min.
Country
Italy
Language
Italian
 English
Budget
$8,000,000 (estimated)
Opera (also known as Terror at the Opera) is a 1987 Italian giallo horror film written and directed by Dario Argento and starring Cristina Marsillach, Urbano Barberini and Ian Charleson. The film's score was composed by Brian Eno and Claudio Simonetti. The film was released in the United States under the title Terror at the Opera.[1] The film was one of Argento's most commercially successful films having 1,363,912 cinema goers in his native country Italy.[2]


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Soundtrack
4 Location
5 Critical reception
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
The film centers around young, insecure opera singer Betty (Cristina Marsillach). After the lead in Verdi's Macbeth is injured in an car accident, Betty is reluctantly thrust into the role in the opera. During her first performance, a murder takes place in one of the opera boxes. Mysterious murders continue throughout the film as Betty is stalked and those around her meet their unfortunate end. The killer binds and places tape under Betty's eyelids with needles attached so she is unable to blink, and therefore forced to watch as the murders take place. Meanwhile, Betty continues to have frightening dreams involving a masked person and her mother. During the final performance of the opera the killer is revealed, and Betty must confront her past in a terrifying climax.
Cast[edit]
Cristina Marsillach as Betty
Ian Charleson as Marco
Urbano Barberini as Inspector Alan Santini
Daria Nicolodi as Mira
Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni as Giulia
Antonella Vitale as Marion
William McNamara as Stefano
Barbara Cupisti as Signora Albertini
Soundtrack[edit]


 This list (which may have dates, numbers, etc.) may be better in a sortable table format. Please help improve this list or discuss it on the talk page. (January 2013)
"White Dakeness",
 "Balance",
 "From the Beginning"
by Brian Eno and Roger Eno By Arrangement with Opal Ltd, London
"Opera",
 "Craws",
 "Confusion"
by Claudio Simonetti By Arrangement with BMG Ariola-Walkman SRL
"Opera Theme",
 "Black Notes"
by Bill Wyman and Terry Taylor By Arrangement with Ripple Music Ltd.
"Knights of the Night",
 "Steel Grave"
by The Group Steel Grave By Arrangement with Franton Music/Walkman SRL
"No Escape"
by The Group Norden Light By Arrangement with Sonet
"Lady Macbeth ("Vieni t'afretta")
from opera "Macbeth" Composed by Giuseppe Verdi Performed by Maria Callas By Arrangement with Fonit Cetra
"Casta Diva"
from "Norma" Composed by Vincenzo Bellini Performed by Maria Callas By Arrangement with Fonit Cetra
"Amami Alfredo",
 "Sempre libera"
from "La Traviata" Composed by Giuseppe Verdi Performed by Maria Callas By Arrangement with Fonit Cetra
"Un bel dì vedremo"
from "Madama Butterfly" Composed by Giacomo Puccini Performed by Mirella Freni By Arrangement with PolyGram (as Poligram)
"Macbeth"
(excerpt) Composed by Giuseppe Verdi Performed by Elizabeth Norberg-Schulz (as Elisabetta Norberg Schulz) soprano, Paola Leolini Soprano, Andrea Piccinni (as Andrea Piccini) Tenor, Michele Pertusi Baritone, with "Arturo Toscanini" Symphonic Orchestra of Emilia and Romagna Recorded at the Elite Studio of Sermide (MN)
Location[edit]
The theater to which refers the movie is the Parma Opera House.[3]
Critical reception[edit]
Opera currently has an approval rating of 83% on movie review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on twelve reviews.[4] AllMovie called the film "a decent, fairly typical Argento film that is worth watching primarily for its above-average murder sequences."[5]
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Legare, Patrick. "Opera - Trailers, Reviews, Synopsis, Showtimes and Cast - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
2.Jump up ^ "Opera (1987) - Box office / business". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
3.Jump up ^ "Dario Argento Makes his Opera Debut, Fittingly, with Verdi's Macbeth". typepad. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
4.Jump up ^ "Opera - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
5.Jump up ^ Legare, Patrick. "Opera - Review - AllMovie". AllMovie. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
External links[edit]
Opera at the Internet Movie Database


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Categories: 1987 films
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1987 horror films
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Films directed by Dario Argento
Giallo films
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Films shot in Switzerland
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The Phantom of Hollywood
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search


The Phantom of Hollywood
The Phantom of Hollywood FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by
Gene Levitt
Produced by
Gene Levitt
Written by
George Schenck
Starring
Jack Cassidy
Skye Aubrey
Peter Lawford
Music by
Leonard Rosenman
Cinematography
Gene Polito
Edited by
Henry Batista
Distributed by
MGM Television
Release date(s)
February 12, 1974
Running time
74 minutes
Country
USA
Language
English
The Phantom of Hollywood is a 1974 TV movie[1] starring Jack Cassidy, Skye Aubrey, Peter Lawford, Jackie Coogan, Broderick Crawford, Peter Haskell, and John Ireland. It is notable for being one of the last films shot on the Metro Goldwyn Mayer back lot, which was being demolished at the time of filming.[citation needed]
The film aired on CBS Television, and was originally titled The Phantom of Lot 2. A riff on Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera, it was produced and directed by Gene Levitt.[1]
Synopsis[edit]
Murders taking place on the back lot of Worldwide Studios turn out to be the work of a disfigured actor who has been living there for years and will stop at nothing to cease the sale of the back lot to developers. The film seems to place a lot of emphasis on the chalk outline and one character is even heard to quip, "We're going to be running out of chalk," while standing over a murder scene in a dry pool on the set.
References[edit]
1.^ Jump up to: a b "The Phantom of Hollywood". The New York Times.
External links[edit]
The Phantom of Hollywood at the Internet Movie Database.


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The Phantom of the Opera


Books
The Phantom of the Opera (1909–1910) ·
 Phantom (1990) ·
 The Canary Trainer (1993) ·
 The Phantom of Manhattan (1999)
 

Stage adaptations
Phantom of the Opera (1976) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1986) ·
 Phantom (1991) ·
 Love Never Dies (2010)
 

Film and television
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) ·
 Song at Midnight (1937) ·
 Phantom of the Opera (1943) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1962) ·
 The Phantom of Hollywood (1974) ·
 Phantom of the Paradise (1974) ·
 Opera (1987) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1989) ·
 Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1990) ·
 The Phantom Lover (1995) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1998) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (2004) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011)
 

Characters
Erik ·
 Christine Daaé ·
 Viscount Raoul de Chagny ·
 The Persian ·
 Carlotta ·
 Madame Giry ·
 Meg Giry ·
 Joseph Buquet
 

Songs



Phantom (1986) Act 1

"A Rehearsal for Hannibal" ·
 "Think of Me" ·
 "Angel of Music" ·
 "Little Lotte" ·
 "The Phantom of the Opera" ·
 "The Music of the Night" ·
 "I Remember" ·
 "Stranger Than You Dreamt It" ·
 "Magical Lasso" ·
 "Notes " ·
 "Prima Donna" ·
 "Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh" ·
 "Why Have You Brought Us Here?" ·
 "Raoul, I've Been There" ·
 "All I Ask of You"
 


Phantom (1986) Act 2

"Masquerade" ·
 "Why So Silent?" ·
 "We Have All Been Blind" ·
 "Twisted Every Way" ·
 "A Rehearsal for Don Juan Triumphant ·
 "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" ·
 "Wandering Child" ·
 "Bravo, Monsieur!" ·
 "Music from Don Juan Triumphant" ·
 "The Point of No Return" ·
 "Down Once More" ·
 "Track Down This Murderer"
 


Other

"Learn to Be Lonely" ·
 "'Til I Hear You Sing"
 


Other
Gaston Leroux ·
 Andrew Lloyd Webber ·
 Ken Hill ·
 Maury Yeston ·
 Don Juan Triumphant ·
 Punjab lasso ·
 Adaptations ·
 Return of the Phantom ·
 Palais Garnier ·
 Lon Chaney (Sr.) ·
 "A Slight at the Opera"
 




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Stub icon This article about a mystery film is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.




 


Categories: English-language films
1970s crime films
American television films
1970s mystery films
1974 television films
The Phantom of the Opera
American television film stubs
Mystery film stubs






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The Phantom of the Opera (1962 film)
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The Phantom of the Opera
Phantom of opera 1962 poster.jpg
British original poster

Directed by
Terence Fisher
Produced by
Anthony Hinds
 Basil Keys
Written by
John Elder
Gaston Leroux (novel)
Based on
The Phantom of the Opera
 by Gaston Leroux
Starring
Herbert Lom
Heather Sears
Edward de Souza
Michael Gough
Music by
Edwin Astley
Cinematography
Arthur Grant
Edited by
Alfred Cox
Production
   company
Hammer Film Productions
Distributed by
J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (UK), Universal Pictures (USA)
Release date(s)
25 June 1962
Running time
84 minutes
Country
United Kingdom
Language
English
Budget
₤180,000[1]
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1962 British horror film based on the novel by Gaston Leroux. The film was made by Hammer Film Productions.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Production
4 Music
5 Critical reception
6 Home video release
7 References
8 External links

Plot[edit]
The film opens in Victorian London on a December night in 1900.
The first night of the season at the London Opera House finds the opening of a new opera by Lord Ambrose D'Arcy (Michael Gough), a wealthy and pompous man, who is annoyed and scornful when the opera manager Lattimer (Thorley Walters) informs him the theatre has not been completely sold out. No one will sit in a certain box because it is haunted.
Backstage, despite the soothing efforts of the opera's producer, Harry Hunter (Edward de Souza), everyone, including the show's star, Maria, is nervous and upset as if a sinister force was at work. The climax comes during Maria's first aria, when a side of the scenery rips apart to reveal the body of a hanged stage hand. In a panic, the curtain is rung down, and Maria refuses to sing again.
With the show postponed, Harry frantically auditions new singers. He finds a promising young star in Christine Charles (Heather Sears), one of the chorus girls. D'Arcy lecherously approves of the selection, and invites Christine to dinner.
In her dressing room after the audition, Christine is warned against D'Arcy by a phantom voice. At dinner, D'Arcy attempts to seduce her, but as they are about to leave to his apartment, she is saved by Harry.
On the ride back home, Christine tells Harry about the voice she heard. Intrigued, Harry takes Christine back to the opera house, where in her dressing room, a voice tells Harry to leave her there and go. At the same time, a rat catcher is murdered by the Phantom's lackey, a dwarf (Ian Wilson). Investigating the murder, Harry leaves Christine by herself, where she is approached by a man dressed in black, wearing a mask with only one eye—The Phantom of the Opera. Her scream scares the man away, and Harry takes her home.
The next day, D'Arcy sends his dismissal to Christine, and when Harry refuses to accept a more willing but less talented singer, he is also dismissed. Visiting Christine at her boarding house, Harry finds some old manuscripts which he recognizes as a rough draft of the opera he has been producing. Questioning Christine's landlady Mrs. Tucker, he learns that it was written by a former boarder by the name of Professor Petrie, who had been killed in a fire at a printers that was to print his music.
Making further inquiries, he learns that Petrie did not actually perish in the fire, but was splashed with Nitric Acid while apparently trying to extinguish the blaze, had run away in agony and was drowned in the River Thames. This is confirmed by the policeman who was in the area at the time, but the body was never recovered. Harry is convinced that D'Arcy stole Petrie's music, but leaves it at that, as he believes the real composer is long since dead.
That night, confronted in her bedroom by the dwarf, Christine faints from fright and is carried off. She returns to consciousness, deep in the cellars of the opera house, to see the same one-eyed Phantom as earlier, playing a huge pipe organ. He tells the frightened girl that he will teach her to sing properly, and rehearses her with fanatical insistence until she collapses from exhaustion.
Meanwhile, Harry, reinstated as the opera producer, is worried about Christine's disappearance. Pondering the story of the mysterious Professor, he checks the river where he had last been seen. At that same moment, he hears the echo of Christine's voice emanating from a storm drain, and soon finds himself following the voice through one of London's water-filled sewers. The faint sound of the organ playing draws him down a tunnel where the dwarf attacks him with a knife. Harry subdues him, and finds himself facing the missing Professor as Christine looks on from a bed (she'd been sleeping).
In a flashback, the elderly Phantom relates how, five years before, as a poor and starving composer, he had been forced to sell all of his music, including the opera, to Lord Ambrose for a pitifully small fee with the thought that his being published would bring him recognition. When he discovered that D'Arcy was having the music published under his own name, Petrie became enraged and broke into the printers to destroy the plates.
In burning sheet music that had already been printed, Petrie unwittingly started a fire, then accidentally splashed acid on his face and hands in an effort to put it out, thinking it was water. In terrible agony, he ran out, jumped into the river, and was swept by the current into an underground drain, where he was rescued and cared for by the dwarf, whose passion was music and who existed in the cellars underneath the opera house. The Phantom predicts a great operatic future for Christine, and Harry agrees to allow him time to complete her voice coaching.
When the opera is presented several weeks later, Lord D'Arcy is confronted in his office by the Phantom and runs out screaming into the night when he rips off his mask and sees his terrifying face. As the curtain rises, with Christine in the lead role, the Phantom watches eagerly in the "haunted" box. Her performance brings him to tears as he hears his music finally presented.
Listening enraptured to the music, the dwarf is discovered in the catwalks by a stage-hand and in the chase, he jumps onto a huge chandelier poised high above the stage over Christine. As the rope begins to break from the weight, the Phantom spots the danger and leaps from his box to the stage, throwing the girl safely from harm. The Phantom of the Opera is impaled by the chandelier before the eyes of the horror-stricken audience.
Cast[edit]
Herbert Lom as The Phantom/Professor Petrie
Heather Sears as Christine Charles
Edward de Souza as Harry Hunter
Michael Gough as Ambrose D'Arcy
Thorley Walters as Lattimer
Harold Goodwin as Bill
Marne Maitland as Xavier
Miriam Karlin as Charwoman
Patrick Troughton as The Rat Catcher
Renée Houston as Mrs. Tucker
Keith Pyott as Weaver
Production[edit]
Based upon the interest generated by the Phantom of the Opera sequence in the Lon Chaney Sr. biopic, Man of a Thousand Faces, and the success of the 1943 remake, Universal was interested in revisiting the story again. The first plans for remake were in-studio, with William Alland producing and Franklin Coen writing.[2] Plans for this remake fell through, but upon the success of the distribution of Horror of Dracula for Hammer, Universal decided to let the British outfit tackle the project instead, and the project was announced in February, 1959.[3]
Two months later, Hammer Pictures struck a five-year deal with Columbia Pictures to produce five films a year. On these terms, Hammer's previous arrangements (such as The Mummy for Universal Studios and The Hound of the Baskervilles for United Artists) could be fulfilled, but thereafter, could only produce two pictures a year for other studios. Phantom of the Opera was among the announced for Universal.[4]
Over the next two years, the project fell on and off the charts. In 1960, the project was connected with Kathryn Grayson, although she had not been in pictures for some years.[5] According to producer Anthony Hinds, the romantic lead (Harry Hunter) was written for Cary Grant, who had expressed his interest in doing a Hammer horror film, at a time when it was common for American actors to be featured in British films. He was not, as is often supposed, slated to play the Phantom himself.[6]
Production for the film started in November 1961. As with most of the Hammer productions, the film was shot at Bray Studios on a modest budget. Lom recalled in one interview how the producers at Hammer expected actors to throw themselves into their work: "For one of my scenes, the Hammer people wanted me to smash my head against a stone pillar, because they said they couldn't afford one made of rubber", Lom reveals. "I refused to beat my head against stone, of course. This caused a 'big crisis', because it took them half a day to make a rubber pillar that looked like stone. And of course, it cost a few pennies more. Horror indeed!"
Many of the exterior sets utilised were on the studio's backlot and had already been used for many Hammer productions previously. Interiors of the "London Opera House" were filmed at the Wimbledon Theatre in London, which was rented for three weeks. Over 100 musicians and chorus people were hired for the shoot.[7] The film had a reported budget initially of £200,000,[8] but it was reported after principal shooting to be £400,000, both figures unusually high for a Hammer film.[9]
All of the flashback scenes showing how Professor Petrie became the Phantom were filmed with "Dutch angles", meaning the camera was noticeably tilted to give an unreal, off-kilter effect - a time-honored method in film of representing either a flashback or a dream.
The Phantom of the Opera opened in New York City on 22 August 1962 at the RKO Palace Theater. In person was Sonya Cordeau, who played "Yvonne" in the picture. Cordeau later went on tour with the film for Universal.[10]
The film failed at the box office but gained a cult following. Mike Sutton from the webpage Dvdtimes.com had this to say about Lom's performance "as the sad, deformed Petrie is a triumph in every respect. Using exquisitely subtle body language and managing, somehow, to make the expressions in his single eye tell a whole story of pain and frustration, Lom is unforgettable. It may be heretical to say this but when I think of the Phantom of the Opera, it is Lom who comes immediately to mind."
When the film had its American TV premiere on NBC, additional footage of Scotland Yard police inspectors (played by Liam Redmond and John Maddison) looking for the Phantom was filmed to increase the running time. This footage was shot at Universal Studios and Hammer Productions had no input at all. The Kiss of the Vampire and The Evil of Frankenstein also had American-shot footage added to their television showings as well. This was a common practice when it was thought that parts of the film were too "intense". These scenes were edited out and more acceptable scenes replaced them or extended the running time.[citation needed]
In common with Hammer's common practice, when shown in British cinemas in 1962, the film was paired with 'Captain Clegg', another of the studio's films.
Music[edit]
The music in this movie features Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D minor, a well-known piece of church organ music that is commonly associated with horror films, mainly due to the music's association to this film[citation needed].
Critical reception[edit]
The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films wrote of the film: "Although distinguished by some fine acting, sets and music, The Phantom of the Opera seems decidedly half-baked." The author(s) called Terence Fisher's direction "misguided", and noted that distributor J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors' "emasculation of the British print sealed its fate."[11] The film also takes away much of the Phantom's dark, morbid side, making him a tragic hero.
Home video release[edit]
In North America, the film was released on 6 September 2005 along with seven other Hammer horror films on the 4-DVD set The Hammer Horror Series (ASIN: B0009X770O), which is part of MCA-Universal's Franchise Collection.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Marcus Hearn & Alan Barnes, The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films, Titan Books, 2007 p 72
2.Jump up ^ "'Phantom of the Opera' to be Remade by U-I." BoxOffice Magazine. 2 February 1957. Page 33.
3.Jump up ^ "Foreign Films Gaining Favor in US." BoxOffice Magazine. Page 50.
4.Jump up ^ "Hammer, Columbia Pact: 25 Films in Five Years". BoxOffice Magazine. 23 March 1959. Page 15.
5.Jump up ^ Boxoffice Barometer. 29 February 1960. Page 159.
6.Jump up ^ Wayne A. Kinsey Hammer Films: The Bray Studio Years, Reynolds & Hearn, 2002
7.Jump up ^ Spear, Ivan. "London Report." BoxOffice Magazine, 27 November 1961. Page E-8.
8.Jump up ^ Spear, Ivan. "London Report." BoxOffice Magazine, 23 October 1961. Page E-4.
9.Jump up ^ Spear, Ivan. "London Report." BoxOffice Magazine, 15 January 1962. Page E-8.
10.Jump up ^ "Broadway Report." BoxOffice Magazine. 20 August 1962. Page E-5.
11.Jump up ^ Hearn & Barnes 2007, p. 73.
SourcesHearn, Marcus; Barnes, Alan (September 2007). "The Phantom of the Opera". The Hammer Story: The Authorised History of Hammer Films (limited ed.). Titan Books. ISBN 1 84576 185 5.
External links[edit]
The Phantom of the Opera at the TCM Movie Database
The Phantom of the Opera at the Internet Movie Database
The Phantom of the Opera at AllMovie


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Phantom of the Opera (1943 film)
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Phantom of the Opera
Phantom of the Opera (1943 film).jpg
Theatrical re-release poster

Directed by
Arthur Lubin
Produced by
George Waggner
Written by
Gaston Leroux (novel)
John Jacoby (adaptation)
Samuel Hoffenstein (screenplay)
Eric Taylor (screenplay)
Hans Jacoby (screenplay)
Based on
The Phantom of the Opera
 by Gaston Leroux
Starring
Nelson Eddy
Susanna Foster
Claude Rains
Edgar Barrier
Leo Carrillo
Jane Farrar
J. Edward Bromberg
Fritz Feld
Hume Cronyn
Music by
Edward Ward
Cinematography
W. Howard Greene
Hal Mohr
Edited by
Russell F. Schoengarth
Distributed by
Universal Pictures
Release date(s)
August 27, 1943

Running time
92 minutes
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$1,750,000[1]
Phantom of the Opera is a 1943 Universal musical horror film starring Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster and Claude Rains, directed by Arthur Lubin, and filmed in Technicolor. The original music score was composed by Edward Ward, loosely based on the novel The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. The movie is a remake of the 1925 film starring Lon Chaney.
The auditorium set, a replica of the Opéra Garnier interior, created for the 1925 film The Phantom of the Opera was reused. Other than the sets, this remake had little in common with the earlier film. The original storyline was completely revised and there was no attempt to film the masked ball sequence, although the famous falling of the chandelier was re-enacted on an epic scale, using elaborate camera set-ups. The cinematographers were Hal Mohr and W. Howard Greene. It is also the only Universal Monster movie to win an Oscar. Rains's portrayal of the Phantom, although overshadowed by Chaney's Phantom, is now considered to be one of the main Universal Monsters and is often listed with the likes of Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man and Gill Man.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Score
4 Cancelled sequel
5 Awards
6 References
7 External links

Plot[edit]
Erique Claudin (Rains) / The Phantom has been a violinist at the Paris Opera House for twenty years. Recently however, he has been losing the use of the fingers of his left hand, which affects his violin-playing. He is dismissed because of this, the conductor of the opera house assuming that he has enough money to support himself. This is not the case however, for Claudin has spent it all by anonymously funding the music lessons of Christine Dubois (Foster), a young soprano with whom Christine's music teacher assumes Claudin has secretly fallen in love. In a desperate attempt to gain money, Claudin tries to get a concerto he has written published. After submitting it and not hearing a response, he becomes worried and returns to the publishers, Maurice Pleyel & Georgette Desjardins, to ask about it. No one there knows what happened to it, and do not seem to care. Claudin persists, but Pleyel rudely tells him to leave and goes back to the etchings he was working on.
Finally giving up, Claudin stands there for a moment and hangs his head sadly. Someone begins to play music in the next room, and he looks up in shock when he hears it. It is his concerto that is merely being endorsed and praised by Franz Liszt. Convinced that Pleyel is trying to steal his concerto, Claudin leaps up and begins to strangle him. Just as he tosses the body of Pleyel to the floor, Georgette, the publisher's assistant, throws etching acid at Claudin. Screeching and wailing, he dashes out the door clutching his face. Now being hunted down by the police for murder, he flees to the sewers of the Opera.



Claude Rains as Erique Claudin, the Phantom, with Susanna Foster as Christine DuBois in Universal's 1943 version of Phantom of the Opera.
Claudin steals a prop mask from the costume department to cover his now-disfigured face and becomes obsessed with Christine. Meanwhile, Inspector Raoul D’Aubert (Edgar Barrier) wants Christine to quit the Opera and marry him. But famed opera baritone Anatole Garron (Nelson Eddy) hopes to win Christine away from Raoul.
Now Christine is the understudy for the Opera’s female diva Mme. Biancarolli (Jane Farrar), who will do anything to stay in the limelight. But during a performance of the opera Amore et Gloire, Biancarolli drinks a glass of wine and is drugged. The director then puts Christine on in her place and she dazzles the audience. Secretly unknown to Mme. Biancarolli, who suspects that Garron and Christine are guilty, Erique drugged Biancarolli’s wine in disguise.
When Biancarolli refuses to let Christine sing again, Erique enters her dressing room and kills her and her maid Yvette. After some time, D'Aubert comes up with a plan: not let Christine sing during a performance of the opera La Prince Masque du Caucasus while Garron plans to have Liszt play the concerto after the performance. But Erique strangles one of D'Aubert's men and heads to the domed ceiling of the auditorium.
He then brings down the large chandelier on the audience and cause chaos to spread. As the audience and the crew flee, Erique takes Christine down to his lair, pursued by the police. He hears Liszt playing his concerto, and he plays along with it on his piano.
He urges Christine to sing, and as she does, the police get nearer to finding Claudin. Christine pulls off his mask and sees what has happened to Erique. At that moment, Raoul and Anatole break in, and fire at their 'Phantom'. The shot misses, and causes the entire lair to cave in, as the two men and Christine escape. Anatole then tells Christine that she and Erique had come from the same town district which she responds with by saying while Erique had seemed a bit like a stranger to her she had somehow "always felt drawn to him". Back at the Phantom's lair, in memory, one of the final scenes shows Erique's mask propped against his violin.
Later, Anatole and Raoul demand that Christine finally choose between them, but she surprises them both by choosing to marry neither and pursue her singing career instead. She leaves to join her adoring fans, and the two snubbed men go off to commiserate together.
Cast[edit]
The film featured some of the most popular stars of its time, such as Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster, Claude Rains, and Edgar Barrier.
Newcomer Susanna Foster plays Christine Dubois, a soprano at the Paris Opera House.
Nelson Eddy plays Anatole Garron, a baritone and instructor of the Paris Opera. He is one of Christine's two suitors, tossing wit and sarcasm at the rather starched Raoul D'Aubert, Christine's other suitor.
Broderick Crawford was considered for role of Claudin, the Phantom, before it was given to Rains. A subplot which made Rains's character Christine's father was jettisoned because it gave the romantic elements of their relationship incestuous overtones.[2]
Edgar Barrier played Raoul, taking little more than the name from Gaston Leroux's original story.
Also of note in the cast were J. Edward Bromberg, Hume Cronyn and Fritz Leiber as composer Franz Liszt.
During the same year that the film was released, Phantom of the Opera was adapted into an audio presentation for the Lux Radio Theater. Nelson Eddy, Susanna Foster and Edgar Barrier reprised their roles, but instead of Claude Rains, Basil Rathbone played Erique Claudin. This presentation was produced and hosted by Cecil B. DeMille.
Score[edit]



 Stage 28, also known as The Phantom of the Opera Stage, was originally built for the 1925 film, and reused in the 1943 version.
Edward Ward wrote the score. The film has many elements of a musical, with lengthy opera sequences, and has been criticized for being more musical than horrific. For the opera sequences, Ward adapted music from Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 4 as well as using themes by Chopin. He also composed an original theme, Lullaby of the Bells, which was heard in the film as the Phantom's piano concerto. Rotten Tomatoes gave to this version of Phantom of the Opera an average score of 72%, based on 18 reviews from critics.[3]
Cancelled sequel[edit]
Following the success of Phantom of the Opera, Universal announced that a sequel would be made, titled The Climax.[2] Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster were to return, along with Claude Rains as the Phantom, most likely meaning that his character did indeed survive the cave in at the finale of the first film; indeed, in the final shot of the mask and violin atop the rubble, there is a sound of moving rock. The sequel, however, was later cancelled due to story troubles and problems concerning the availability of Claude Rains. The Climax was indeed released the year after Phantom of the Opera, but it was not a continuation of the previous film and featured completely new characters.
Awards[edit]
The film was nominated for four Academy Awards, winning in two categories:[4]
Art Direction (Color) (John B. Goodman, Alexander Golitzen, Russell A. Gausman, Ira S. Webb) (Won)
Cinematography (Color) (Hal Mohr, W. Howard Greene) (Won)
Music (Scoring of a Musical Picture) (Edward Ward) (Nominated)
Sound Recording (Bernard B. Brown) (Nominated)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Michael Brunas, John Brunas & Tom Weaver, Universal Horrors: The Studios Classic Films, 1931-46, McFarland, 1990 p361
2.^ Jump up to: a b Scott McQueen, audio-commentary on Phantom of the Opera DVD (Universal)
3.Jump up ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1016241-phantom_of_the_opera/ Rotten Tomatoes: Phantom of the Opera (1943)
4.Jump up ^ "The 16th Academy Awards (1944) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-14.
External links[edit]
Phantom of the Opera at the American Film Institute Catalog
Phantom of the Opera at AllMovie
Phantom of the Opera at the Internet Movie Database
Phantom of the Opera on Lux Radio Theater: September 13, 1943


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Categories: 1943 films
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Song at Midnight
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Song at Midnight
SongatMidnightDVD.jpg
The Cinema Epoch edition DVD of Song at Midnight

Directed by
Ma-Xu Weibang
Produced by
Zhang Shankun
Written by
Ma-Xu Weibang
Starring
Jin Shan
Gu Menghe
Zhou Wenzhu
Hu Ping
Cinematography
Yu Xingsan
Xue Boqing
Production
   company
Xinhua Film Company
Distributed by
United States (DVD):
Cinema Epoch (DVD)
Release date(s)
1937
Running time
113 min
Country
China
Language
Mandarin
Song at Midnight (simplified Chinese: 夜半歌声; traditional Chinese: 夜半歌聲; pinyin: Yè bàn gē shēng) (also known as Singing at Midnight or literally Voice of Midnight) is a 1937 film directed by Ma-Xu Weibang. Often referred to as the first Chinese horror film, Song at Midnight is a remake/adaptation of Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera, though the film injects a significant political subplot involving the leftist revolutionary movement to the original story.
The film stars Gu Menghe, Zhou Wenzhu, and Jin Shan as the disfigured anti-hero Song Danping. Ma-Xu made one sequel to Song at Midnight in 1941 during the war. Both films resurfaced in the West at the Udine Far East Film Festival in 1998.[1] Since then, the film has been shown at various film festivals around the world, notably at the 62nd Venice International Film Festival's "Secret History of Chinese Cinema" retrospective.


Contents  [hide]
1 Reputation
2 Cast
3 DVD release
4 References
5 External links

Reputation[edit]
Today the film is well regarded, and was named as one of the best 100 Chinese films by both the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2005, and by Asia Weekly in 1999.[2]
Song at Midnight has also been remade twice. The first remake, translated as The Mid-Nightmare is a two-parter by Hong Kong director, Yuan Qiuxia, released in 1962 (part I) and 1963 (part II). It stars Betty Loh Ti and Lao Zhei. In 1995, Song at Midnight was remade yet again, this time as The Phantom Lover by Ronny Yu, with Leslie Cheung in the role of Song Danping.
Cast[edit]
Gu Menghe
Hu Ping
Jin Shan
Yee Chau-shui
Zhou Wenzhu
DVD release[edit]
As part of their Chinese film retrospective, Cinema Epoch released Song at Midnight on Region 0 DVD on May 8, 2007. The DVD includes subtitles in English.
An earlier DVD edition by the Guangzhou Beauty Culture Communication Co. Ltd was released on December 1, 2006 in the United States.
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Robinson, David (Winter 1999–2000), "Return of the Phantom", Film Quarterly 53 (2): 43, doi:10.2307/1213720
2.Jump up ^ "100 Greatest Chinese Films of the 20th Century". Asia Weekly Magazine. 1999-12-19. Retrieved 2007-05-10.
External links[edit]
Song at Midnight is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
Song at Midnight at the Internet Movie Database
Song at Midnight at AllMovie
Song at Midnight at the Chinese Movie Database
Song at Midnight at the UCSD: Chinese Cinema Web-based Learning Center


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The Phantom of the Opera


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The Phantom of the Opera (1909–1910) ·
 Phantom (1990) ·
 The Canary Trainer (1993) ·
 The Phantom of Manhattan (1999)
 

Stage adaptations
Phantom of the Opera (1976) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1986) ·
 Phantom (1991) ·
 Love Never Dies (2010)
 

Film and television
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) ·
 Song at Midnight (1937) ·
 Phantom of the Opera (1943) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1962) ·
 The Phantom of Hollywood (1974) ·
 Phantom of the Paradise (1974) ·
 Opera (1987) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1989) ·
 Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge (1989) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1990) ·
 The Phantom Lover (1995) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (1998) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera (2004) ·
 The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall (2011)
 

Characters
Erik ·
 Christine Daaé ·
 Viscount Raoul de Chagny ·
 The Persian ·
 Carlotta ·
 Madame Giry ·
 Meg Giry ·
 Joseph Buquet
 

Songs



Phantom (1986) Act 1

"A Rehearsal for Hannibal" ·
 "Think of Me" ·
 "Angel of Music" ·
 "Little Lotte" ·
 "The Phantom of the Opera" ·
 "The Music of the Night" ·
 "I Remember" ·
 "Stranger Than You Dreamt It" ·
 "Magical Lasso" ·
 "Notes " ·
 "Prima Donna" ·
 "Poor Fool, He Makes Me Laugh" ·
 "Why Have You Brought Us Here?" ·
 "Raoul, I've Been There" ·
 "All I Ask of You"
 


Phantom (1986) Act 2

"Masquerade" ·
 "Why So Silent?" ·
 "We Have All Been Blind" ·
 "Twisted Every Way" ·
 "A Rehearsal for Don Juan Triumphant ·
 "Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again" ·
 "Wandering Child" ·
 "Bravo, Monsieur!" ·
 "Music from Don Juan Triumphant" ·
 "The Point of No Return" ·
 "Down Once More" ·
 "Track Down This Murderer"
 


Other

"Learn to Be Lonely" ·
 "'Til I Hear You Sing"
 


Other
Gaston Leroux ·
 Andrew Lloyd Webber ·
 Ken Hill ·
 Maury Yeston ·
 Don Juan Triumphant ·
 Punjab lasso ·
 Adaptations ·
 Return of the Phantom ·
 Palais Garnier ·
 Lon Chaney (Sr.) ·
 "A Slight at the Opera"
 




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Categories: Mandarin-language films
1930s horror films
1937 films
Black-and-white films
Chinese films
Chinese horror films
Films based on works by Gaston Leroux
Films directed by Ma-Xu Weibang
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The Phantom of the Opera (1925 film)
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The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1925 film).jpg
Original release poster

Directed by
Rupert Julian
Uncredited:
Lon Chaney
Edward Sedgwick
 Ernst Laemmle
Produced by
Carl Laemmle (uncredited)
Screenplay by
Elliott J. Clawson
Raymond L. Schrock
Bernard McConville
 Jasper Spearing
Richard Wallace
Walter Anthony
 Tom Reed
 Frank M. McCormack (All uncredited)
Based on
The Phantom of the Opera
 by Gaston Leroux
Starring
Lon Chaney
Mary Philbin
Norman Kerry
Arthur Edmund Carewe
Gibson Gowland
Music by
Gustav Hinrichs (New York)
Cinematography
Milton Bridenbecker
Virgil Miller
 Charles Van Enger
Edited by
Edward Curtiss
Maurice Pivar
 Gilmore Walker
Lois Weber
Distributed by
Universal Pictures
Release date(s)
November 25, 1925
[1]
Running time
107 minutes (1925)
 93 minutes (1930)
Country
United States
Language
Silent film
 English intertitles
Box office
$2,000,000


File:The Phantom of the Opera (1925).webm
Play media


The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera is a 1925 American silent horror film adaptation of Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra. It was directed by Rupert Julian and starred Lon Chaney, Sr in the title role of the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House,[2] causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star. The movie remains most famous for Chaney's ghastly, self-devised make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film's premiere.
The picture also features Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, John St. Polis, and Snitz Edwards. The last surviving cast member was Carla Laemmle (1909–2014), niece of producer Carl Laemmle, who played a small role as "prima ballerina" in the film when she was about 15.
The film was adapted by Elliott J. Clawson, Tom Reed and Raymond L. Schrock and was directed by Rupert Julian and with supplemental direction by Lon Chaney and Edward Sedgwick.


Contents  [hide]
1 Plot summary
2 Cast
3 Production 3.1 Makeup
3.2 Soundstage 28
4 Reception
5 Re-issue
6 Differences from the novel
7 Preservation 7.1 Eastman House print mystery 7.1.1 International Sound Version
7.1.2 Silent version
7.2 Color preservation
8 Legacy
9 See also
10 Notes
11 References
12 External links

Plot summary[edit]
The scenario presented is based on the general release version of 1925, which has additional scenes and sequences in different order than the existing reissue print (see below).
The film opens with the debut of the new season at the Paris Opera House, with a production of Gounod's Faust. Comte Philippe de Chagny (John St. Polis) and his brother, the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny (Norman Kerry) are in attendance. Raoul attends only in the hope of hearing his sweetheart Christine Daaé (Mary Philbin) sing. Christine has made a sudden rise from the chorus to understudy of the prima donna. Raoul visits her in her dressing room during the performance, and makes his intentions known that he wishes for Christine to resign and marry him. Christine refuses to let their relationship get in the way of her career.
At the height of the most prosperous season in the Opera's history, the management suddenly resign. As they leave, they tell the new managers of the Opera Ghost, a phantom who asks for opera box #5, among other things. The new managers laugh it off as a joke, but the old management leaves troubled.
After the performance, the ballet girls are disturbed by the sight of a mysterious man in a fez (Arthur Edmund Carewe), who dwells in the cellars. Arguing whether or not he is the Phantom, they decide to ask Joseph Buquet, a stagehand who has actually seen the ghost's face. Buquet describes a ghastly sight of a living skeleton to the girls, who are then startled by a shadow cast on the wall. The antics of stagehand Florine Papillon (Snitz Edwards) do not amuse Joseph's brother, Simon (Gibson Gowland), who chases him off. Meanwhile, Mme. Carlotta (Virginia Pearson), the prima donna of the Paris Grand Opera, barges into the managers office enraged. She has received a letter from "The Phantom," demanding that Christine sing the role of Marguerite the following night, threatening dire consequences if his demands are not met. Christine is in her dressing room at that moment, speaking to a phantom voice (which the audience sees as a shadow on a wall behind the dressing room.) The voice warns her that she will take Carlotta's place on Wednesday and that she is to think only of her career and her master.
The following day, in a garden near the Opera House, Raoul meets Christine and asks her to reconsider his offer. Christine admits that she has been tutored by a divine voice, the "Spirit of Music," and that it is now impossible to stop her career. Raoul tells her that he thinks someone is playing a joke on her, and she storms off in anger.
Wednesday evening, Carlotta is ill and Christine takes her place in the opera. During the performance, the managers go to Box 5 to see exactly who has taken it. The keeper of the box does not know who it is, as she has never seen his face. The two managers enter the box and are startled to see a shadowy figure seated. They run out of the box and compose themselves, but when they enter the box again, the person is gone. In her next performance, Christine reaches her triumph during the finale and receives a standing ovation from the audience. When Raoul visits her in her dressing room, she pretends not to recognize him, because unbeknownst to those in the room, the phantom voice is present. Raoul spends the evening outside her door, and after the others have left, just as he is about to enter, he hears the voice within the room. He overhears the voice make his intentions to Christine: "Soon, Christine, this spirit will take form and will demand your love!" When Christine leaves her room alone, Raoul breaks in to find it empty. Carlotta receives another discordant note from the Phantom. Once again, it demands that she take ill and let Christine have her part. The managers also get a note, reiterating that if Christine does not sing, they will present "Faust" in a house with a curse on it.



 Erik, The Phantom (Lon Chaney) and Christine Daaé (Mary Philbin)
The following evening, despite the Phantom's warnings, a defiant Carlotta appears as Marguerite. At first, the performance goes well, but soon the Phantom's curse takes its effect, causing the great, crystal chandelier to fall down onto the audience. Christine runs to her dressing room and is entranced by a mysterious voice through a secret door behind the mirror, descending, in a dream-like sequence, semi-conscious on horseback by a winding staircase into the lower depths of the Opera. She is then taken by gondola over a subterranean lake by the masked Phantom into his lair. The Phantom introduces himself as Erik and declares his love; Christine faints, so Erik carries her to a suite fabricated for her comfort. The next day, when she awakens, she finds a note from Erik telling her that she is free to come and go as she pleases, but that she must never look behind his mask. In the next room, the Phantom is playing his composition, "Don Juan Triumphant." Christine's curiosity gets the better of her, and she sneaks up behind the Phantom and tears off his mask, revealing his hideously deformed face. Enraged, the Phantom makes his plans to hold her prisoner known. In an attempt to plead to him, he excuses her to visit her world one last time, with the condition that she never sees her lover again.
Released from the underground dungeon, Christine makes a rendezvous at the annual masked-ball, which is graced with the Phantom in the guise of the 'Red-Death' from the Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name. Raoul finds Christine and they flee to the roof of the Opera House, where she tells him everything that followed the chandelier crash. However, an unseen jealous Phantom perching on the statue of Apollo overhears them. Raoul plans to whisk Christine safely away to London following the next performance. As they leave the roof, the mysterious man with the fez approaches them. Aware that the Phantom is waiting downstairs, he leads Chrstine and Raoul to another exit.
The following evening, Raoul meets Christine in her dressing room. She has heard the voice of the Phantom, who has revealed that he knows their plans. Raoul has arranged for a carriage and reassures her nothing will go wrong.
Backstage, Simon finds the body of his brother hanging by the strangler's noose and vows vengeance. During the performance, the Phantom kidnaps Christine off the stage during a blackout. Raoul rushes to Christine's dressing room, and meets the man in the fez, who reveals himself to be Inspector Ledoux, a secret policeman who has been studying Erik's moves as the Phantom since he escaped as a prisoner from Devil's Island. Ledoux reveals the secret door in Christine's room and the two men enter the catacombs of the Opera House in an attempt to rescue Christine. Instead, they fall into the Phantom's dungeon, a torture room of his design. Philippe has also found his way into the catacombs looking for his brother, and a clanging alarm alerts the Phantom to his presence in a canoe on the lake. Phillipe is drowned by Erik, who returns to find the two men in the torture chamber. Turning a switch, the Phantom subjects the two prisoners to intense heat.
The Phantom gives Christine a choice of two levers: one shaped like a scorpion and the other like a grasshopper. One of them will save Raoul's life, but at the cost of Christine marrying Erik, while the other will blow up the Opera. Christine picks the scorpion, but it is a trick by the Phantom to "save" Raoul and Ledoux from being killed by heat — by drowning them. Christine begs the Phantom to save Raoul, promising him anything in return, even becoming his wife. At the last second, the Phantom opens a trapdoor in his floor through which Raoul and Ledoux are saved.
A mob, led by Simon, infiltrates the Phantom's lair. As the clanging alarm sounds and the mob approaches, the Phantom attempts to flee with Christine in the carriage meant for Raoul and Christine. While Raoul saves Christine, the Phantom is pursued and killed by a mob, who throw him into the Seine River to finally drown. In a brief epilogue, Raoul and Christine are shown on their honeymoon in Viroflay.
Cast[edit]
Lon Chaney as Erik, The Phantom of the Opera
Mary Philbin as Christine Daaé
Norman Kerry as Vicomte Raoul de Chagny
Arthur Edmund Carewe as Ledoux
Gibson Gowland as Simon Buquet
John St. Polis as Comte Philippe de Chagny
Snitz Edwards as Florine Papillon
Mary Fabian as Carlotta (1930 redux)
Virginia Pearson as Carlotta/Carlotta's mother (1930 redux)
UncreditedBernard Siegel as Joseph Buquet
Edward Martindel as Comte Phillipe de Chagny (1930 redux)
Joseph Belmont as a stage manager
Alexander Bevani as Méphistophélès
Edward Cecil as Faust
Ruth Clifford as ballerina
Roy Coulson as the Jester
George Davis as The guard outside Christine's door
Madame Fiorenza as Madame Giry, keeper of the box
Cesare Gravina as a retiring manager
Bruce Covington as Monsieur Moncharmin
William Humphrey as Monsieur Debienne
George B Williams as Monsieur Ricard
Carla Laemmle as Prima Ballerina
Grace Marvin as Martha
John Miljan as Valéntin
Rolfe Sedan as an undetermined role
William Tracy as the Ratcatcher, the messenger from the shadows
Anton Vaverka as Prompter
Deleted scenesOlive Ann Alcorn as La Sorelli
Chester Conklin as Orderly
Ward Crane as Count Ruboff
Vola Vale as Christine's maid
Edith Yorke as Mama Valerius
Production[edit]
In 1922, Carl Laemmle, the president of Universal Pictures, took a vacation to Paris. During his vacation Laemmle met the author Gaston Leroux who was working in the French film industry. During a conversation they had, Laemmle told Leroux that he admired the Paris Opera House. Leroux gave Laemmle a copy of his 1911 novel The Phantom of the Opera. Laemmle read the book in one night and bought the film rights as a vehicle for actor Lon Chaney.[3] Production started in late 1924 at Universal Studios and did not go smoothly. According to the Director of Photography, Charles Van Enger, throughout the production Chaney and the rest of the cast and crew had strained relations with director Rupert Julian. The first cut of the film was previewed in Los Angeles on January 7 and 26, 1925. The score was prepared by Joseph Carl Breil. No information survives as to what the score consisted of other than Universal's release: "Presented with augmented concert orchestra, playing the score composed by J. Carl Briel, composer of music for "Birth of a Nation". The exact quote from the Opening Day full page ad in the Call Bulletin read: "Universal Weekly claimed a 60-piece orchestra. Moving Picture World reported that "The music from 'Faust' supplied the music [for the picture]." Due to poor reviews and reactions, the January release was pulled. On advice from Chaney and others, Universal told Julian to re-shoot most of the picture and change the style, as it was feared that a Gothic melodrama would not recoup the film's massive budget. Julian eventually walked out.
Edward Sedgwick (later director of Buster Keaton's 1928 film The Cameraman) was then assigned by producer Carl Laemmle to re-shoot and redirect the bulk of the film. Raymond L. Schrock and original screenwriter Elliot Clawson wrote new scenes at the request of Sedgewick. The film was then changed into more of a romantic comedy with action elements than the dramatic thriller that was originally made. Most of the newly added scenes depicted added subplots, with Chester Conklin and Vola Vale as comedic relief to the heroes and Ward Crane as the Russian, "Count Ruboff" dueling with Raoul for Christine's affection. This version was previewed in San Francisco on April 26, 1925, and did not do well at all, with the audience booing it off of the screen. "The story drags to the point of nauseam", one reviewer stated.
The third and final version was the result of Universal hold-overs Maurice Pivar and Lois Weber, who edited the production down to nine reels. Most of the Sedgwick material was deleted, though notably the ending, with the Phantom being hunted by a mob and then being thrown into the Seine River, remained. Much of the originally deleted Julian was reedited into the picture, though some important scenes and characters were still missing. This version, containing material from both the original 1924 shooting and some from the Sedgwick reworking, was then set to be released. It debuted on September 6, 1925, at the Astor Theatre in New York City.[4] It premiered on October 17, 1925, in Hollywood, California. The score for the Astor opening was to be composed by Professor Gustav Hinrichs. Hinrichs' score was not prepared in time, so instead, according to Universal Weekly, the premiere featured a score by Eugene Conte, composed mainly of "french airs" and the appropriate Faust cues.[Note 1] No expense was spared at the premiere; Universal even had a full organ installed at the Astor for the event. (As it was a legitimate house, the Astor theater used an orchestra, not an organ, for its music.)
Makeup[edit]
Following the success of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923, Chaney was once again given the freedom to create his own make-up as the Phantom, a habit which became almost as famous as the films he starred in. Chaney painted his eye sockets black, giving a skull-like impression to them. He also pulled the tip of his nose up and pinned it in place with wire, enlarged his nostrils with black paint, and put a set of jagged false teeth into his mouth to complete the ghastly deformed look of the Phantom. When audiences first saw The Phantom of the Opera, they were said to have screamed or fainted at the scene where Christine pulls the concealing mask away, revealing his skull-like features to the audience.
Chaney's appearance as the Phantom in the film has been the most accurate depiction of the title character, based on the description given in the novel, where Erik the Phantom is described as having a skull-like face with a few wisps of black hair on top of his head. As in the novel, Chaney's Phantom has been deformed since birth, rather than having been disfigured by acid or fire, as in later adaptations of The Phantom of the Opera.
Soundstage 28[edit]



 Stage 28, or the Phantom of the Opera stage

The unmasking scene which was said to have made theater patrons scream and faint in 1925. The Eastman House version is on the left, the original 1925 version on the right.
Carl Laemmle commissioned the construction of a set of the Paris Opera House. Because it would have to support thousands of extras, the set became the first to be created with steel girders set in concrete. For this reason it was never dismantled.[3] Sound stage 28 on the Universal Studios lot still contains portions of the opera house set. It is the oldest surviving structure built specifically for a movie in the world. It has been used in hundreds of movies and TV series. In 2011, the opera house was used by Disney in 2011's The Muppets[5]
Reception[edit]
Mordaunt Hall of The New York Times' gave The Phantom of the Opera a positive review as a spectacle picture, but felt that the story and acting may have been slightly improved.[6] TIME praised the sets but felt the picture was "only pretty good".[7]
Despite the production problems, the film was a success at the box office, grossing over $2 million.
Re-issue[edit]
After the successful introduction of sound pictures during the 1928–29 movie season, Universal announced that they had secured the rights to a sequel to The Phantom of the Opera from the Gaston Leroux estate. Entitled The Return of the Phantom, the picture would be in sound and color.[8] Universal could not use Chaney in the film as he was now under contract at MGM,[9] and unbeknownst to the studio, Chaney was already sick from throat cancer, the disease which would ultimately kill him the following year.
Universal scrapped the sequel idea, and instead opted to re-issue The Phantom of the Opera with a new synchronized score and effects track, as well as new dialog sequences. Directors Ernst Laemmle and Frank McCormick re-shot a little less than half of the picture in sound during August 1929, while the remainder of the film was scored with music and sound effects, with music arranged by Joseph Cherniavsky. Mary Philbin and Norman Kerry reenacted their roles for the sound re-shoot, and Edward Martindel, George B. Williams, Phillips Smalley, Ray Holderness, and Edward Davis added to the cast to replace actors that were unavailable.[10] Universal was contractually unable to loop Chaney's dialogue, but "third person" dialogue by the Phantom was looped over shots of his shadow. (The voice-overs are uncredited, but are probably Phillips Smalley.) Because Chaney's talkie debut was eagerly anticipated by film-goers, advertisements emphasized, "Lon Chaney's portrayal is a silent one!"
The sound version of Phantom opened on February 16, 1930, and grossed another million dollars. This re-issue of the film is lost, although the soundtrack discs survive.

Lon Chaney
 in The Phantom of the Opera
Lon chaney sr.JPG ChaneyPhantomoftheOpera.jpg
The success of The Phantom of the Opera inspired Universal to finance the production of a long string of horror films such as Dracula and its sequels, Frankenstein and its sequels, The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man, The Mummy.[11] Many of the films are now considered studio classics.
Differences from the novel[edit]
Although this particular adaptation is often considered perhaps the most faithful, it contains some significant plot differences to the original novel.
In the movie, M. Debienne and M. Poligny transfer ownership of the opera to M. Montcharmin and M. Richard, while in the novel they are simply the old and new managers.
The character of Ledoux is not a mysterious Persian and is no longer a onetime acquaintance of the Phantom; he is now a French detective of the Secret Police. This character change was not originally scripted. It was a change made entirely during the title-card editing process.
The Phantom no longer has a history of having studied in Persia. Rather, he is an escapee from Devil's Island, who is an expert in "the Black Arts."
The filmmakers initially intended to preserve the original ending of the novel, and filmed scenes where the Phantom dies of a broken heart at his organ after Christine leaves his lair. There was also short scene showing Christine and Raoul on a honeymoon. Because of the preview audience's poor reaction, the studio decided to change the ending to a more exciting one. As a result, utility director Edward Sedgwick was hired to provide the climactic chase scene, with an alternate ending where the Phantom, after having saved Ledoux and Raoul, kidnaps Christine in Raoul's carriage. In a bittersweet ending, he is hunted down and cornered by an angry mob, beaten to death and thrown into the Seine.
Preservation[edit]
The finest quality print of the film existing was struck from an original camera negative for George Eastman House in the early 1950s by Universal Pictures. The original 1925 version only survives in 16 mm "Show-At-Home" prints created by Universal for home movie use in the 1930s. There are several versions of these prints, but none is complete. All are from the original, domestic camera negative.
Because of the better quality of the Eastman House print, many home video releases have opted to use this as the basis of their transfers. This version has singer Mary Fabian in the role of "Carlotta". In the re-edited version, Virginia Pearson, who played "Carlotta" in the 1925 film, is credited and referred to as "Carlotta's Mother" instead. The majority of silent footage in the 1930 version is actually from a second camera, used to photograph the film for foreign markets and second negatives- careful examination of the two versions shows similar shots are slightly askew in composition. In 2009 Reelclassicdvd.com issued a special edition multi-disc DVD set which included a match-shot, side by side comparison between the two versions, editing the 1925 show-at-home print's narrative and continuity to match the Eastman House print.
For the 2003 Image Entertainment/Photoplay Productions two-disc DVD, the 1930 soundtrack has been re-edited in an attempt to fit the Eastman House print as best as possible. However, there are some problems with this attempt: There is no corresponding "man with lantern" sequence on the sound discs. While the purely silent "music and effect" reels seem to follow the discs fairly closely, the scenes with speech (which at one point constituted about 60% of the film) are generally shorter than their corresponding sequences on the discs. Also, since the sound discs were meant for a projection speed of 24 frames per second (the established speed for sound film), and the film on the DVD is presented at a slower frame rate (to reproduce natural speed), the soundtrack as edited has been altered to run slower. A sound reissue trailer included for the first time on the DVD runs at sound speed with the audio running at the correct pitch.
On November 1, 2011, Image Entertainment released a new Blu-ray Disc version of Phantom, produced by Film Preservation Associates, the film preservation company owned by David Shepard.[12]
Eastman House print mystery[edit]
No one knows for sure what the negative used to strike the Eastman House print was produced for, due to footage from the 1930 re-issue placed in it and its lack of wear or damage.
To add to the confusion, an opening prologue of a man with a lantern has been added, using a single continuous take, but no title cards or dialogue survives. It would seem that this shot was a talking sequence, but it shows up in the original 1925 version, this time truncated and with a different, close-up shot of the man with the lantern. To further confuse the issue of the 1930 re-issue, the opening title sequence, the lantern man, and the footage of Mary Fabian performing as Carlotta and Mary Philbin's opera performances are photographed at 24 frames per second (sound speed), and therefore are all new footage. It is possible that the 'lantern man' is meant to be Joseph Buquet, but the brief, remaining close-up footage of the character from the 1925 version does not appear to be Bernard Siegel, who plays Buquet. The man who appears in the re-shot footage could also be a different actor, but since there is no close-up of the man in this version, and the atmospheric lighting partially obscures his face, it is difficult to be certain.
While it was common practice to simultaneously shoot footage for prints designed for both domestic and foreign markets with multiple cameras, the film is one of few to survive with footage of both versions available (others include Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr. and Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush).[citation needed] Comparisons of both versions (in both black & white and color footage) yield:
1.Footage of most of the same scenes shot from slightly different angles
2.Different takes for similar scenes
3.24fps sound scenes replacing silent scene footage
4.Variations in many re-written dialogue and exposition cards in the same font
Several possibilities regarding the negative's origins are:
1.It is an "International Sound Version" for foreign markets.
2.It is a silent version for theaters not yet equipped with sound in 1930.
3.it is a negative made for Universal Studio's reference.
International Sound Version[edit]


Two comparative frames of narrative titles from the 1930 sound reissue. The title on the left is from the Technicolor sequence, which survives in 35mm. On the right, a lost title card from a 16mm print-down, not sourced from the Eastman House version.
International versions were sound versions of films which the producing company did not feel were worth the expense of re-shooting in a foreign language. They were meant to cash in on the talkie craze; by 1930 anything with sound did well at the box-office while silent films were largely ignored by the public. These "international sound versions" were basically part-talkies and were largely silent except for musical sequences. Since the film included a synchronized music and a sound effect track, it could be advertised as a sound picture and could therefore capitalize on the talkie craze in foreign markets (instead of the more expensive method of actually re-filming talking sequences in foreign languages).
To make an international version, the studio would simply insert (on the soundtrack) music over any dialogue in the film and splice in some title cards (which would be replaced with the appropriate language of the country). Singing sequences were left intact as well as any sound sequences that did not involve speaking.
The surviving sound discs of The Phantom of the Opera belong to the domestic release and therefore do not synchronize with the dialogue portions of the film which have been abbreviated on the existing print. There is no record to substantiate what the "international version" of The Phantom was, nor is there any reference that it was even available. Furthermore, one negative was made for all of Europe and sent overseas. The negative was generally left there and the version that is now seen shows no signs of negative wear that would be consistent with that of a negative printed for a number of countries.
Silent version[edit]
During the transition to sound in 1930, it was not uncommon to see a silent and a sound version of a picture playing simultaneously (particularly from Universal, who kept a silent/sound policy longer than most studios). One speculation is that the Eastman House print is actually a silent version of the film made for theaters not yet equipped with sound.
However, according to trade journals of the time, only the sound version was available. The possibility is that Universal made a silent version from unused trims (the original negative was heavily worn, as seen by the Show-At-Home prints struck during this period), but decided not to do anything with it. Furthermore, by 1930 fewer exhibitors were booking totally silent films and this had forced all the major studios to add soundtracks and dialogue sequences to all of their major releases which had previously been intended for release as a silent picture. Studios did not spend much time or money in making silent versions, which were meant to be played in rural areas whose theaters could not yet afford the conversion to sound. Nevertheless, if the extant print is a silent version, it would explain why Universal still had it and also the lack of wear on the negative.
Color preservation[edit]



 The Bal Masqué scene was highlighted by its use of the Technicolor process.
According to Harrison's Reports, a trade journal, when the film was originally released, it contained 17 minutes of color footage; that color footage was retained in the 1930 part-talking version.[13] Technicolor's records show 497 feet of color footage. Judging from trade journals and reviews, all of the opera scenes of Faust, as well as the "Bal Masqué" scene were shot in Process 2 Technicolor (a two-color system). Only the Bal Masqué scene survives in color. The Phantom's cape during the scene on the rooftop of the opera was colored red using the Handschiegl color process. This effect has been replicated in Photoplay Production/Kevin Brownlow's 1996 restoration by computer colorization.
As with many films of the time, black-and-white footage was tinted various colors to provide mood. These included amber for interiors, blue for night scenes, green for mysterious moods, red for fire and sunshine (yellow) for daylight exteriors.
Legacy[edit]
The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. In the United States, the film is in the public domain due to Universal's failure to renew the copyright in 1953,[14] and may be freely downloaded from the Internet Archive. It was parodied in the 1970s film Phantom of the Paradise and by the Terry Pratchett novel Maskerade.
This film was #52 on Bravo's 100 Scariest Movie Moments The film was one of 400 films nominated to be on the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition). The avant-garde jazz ensemble Club Foot Orchestra has written a new score for the film and performed it live in accompaniment to the film.
Universal would be involved in three more Phantom adaptations. They released a remake in 1943, distributed the Hammer Films remake in 1962, and also distribute the 2004 adaptation of the musical in Latin America and Australia.
See also[edit]
List of early color feature films
List of films in the public domain
Phantom of the Opera (1943 film)
Notes[edit]
1.Jump up ^ Hinrichs' score was available by the time the film went into general release. (Reference: Music Institute of Chicago (2007) program note)
References[edit]
1.Jump up ^ The Phantom of the Opera (1925) - Release dates
2.Jump up ^ Harrison's Reports film review; September 17, 1925, page 151.
3.^ Jump up to: a b Preface to Forsyth, Frederick (1999). The Phantom of Manhattan. Bantam Press. ISBN 0-593-04510-6.
4.Jump up ^ "Lon Chaney Plays Role Of Paris Opera Phantom". New York Times. September 7, 1925. Retrieved 2010-11-01. "The Phantom of the Opera, which has been many months in the making, is to be presented this evening at the Astor Theatre. We have told of the great stage effects, of the production of a section of the Paris Opera, with the grand staircase, the amphitheater, the back-stage scene -- shifting devices and cellars associated with the horrors of the Second Commune. ..."
5.Jump up ^ Bettinger, Brendan (September 12, 2011). "Disney Releases a Ton of New Material for THE MUPPETS: Images, Character Descriptions, Fun Facts". Collider.com. Retrieved September 13, 2011.
6.Jump up ^ Mordaunt Hall, "The Screen", The New York Times, September 7, 1925
7.Jump up ^ "Cinema: The New Pictures Sep. 21, 1925", TIME
8.Jump up ^ "'U' to Make 'Phantom' Sequel in Sound and Color". Film Daily, May 5, 1929, Pg. 1.
9.Jump up ^ "Chaney Not For 'U' Sequel." Film Daily, May 17, 1929, Pg. 6.
10.Jump up ^ "'Phantom' Dialogue Scenes Are Finished By Universal." Motion Picture News, August 24, 1929, P. 724.
11.Jump up ^ The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux, 1988 edition published by Dorset Press, New York.
12.Jump up ^ SilentEra website main page, New Releases
13.Jump up ^ Harrison's Reports film review; February 15, 1930, page 27.
14.Jump up ^ Pierce, David (June 2007). "Forgotten Faces: Why Some of Our Cinema Heritage Is Part of the Public Domain". Film History: An International Journal 19 (2): 125–43. doi:10.2979/FIL.2007.19.2.125. ISSN 0892-2160. OCLC 15122313. Retrieved 2012-01-05.
External links[edit]
The Phantom of the Opera at the Internet Movie Database
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
The Phantom of the Opera (1929) is available for free download at the Internet Archive [more]
The Phantom of the Opera at the TCM Movie Database
The Phantom of the Opera at AllMovie
The Phantom of the Opera at Rotten Tomatoes


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