GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

MARIO GAUCI This was the eleventh film adaptation of Gaston LeRoux's classic to be made and the seventh I have watched myself (the others being the 1925, 1943, 1962, 1974, 1983 and 1998 versions); therefore, the two most significant ones left out there for me to catch up with, I suppose, are those made in 1989 and 2004. Coming so late in the game and so close to the Robert Englund remake – whilst also being accorded the lengthiest running time (185 minutes – although IMDb curiously gives it as 168!) of all – I guess it stands to reason that this was going to be a very different Phantom to the ones we were used to. For starters, it is an adaptation of Arthur Kopit's theatrical rendition of the original source and, in fact, the author himself wrote the teleplay here; the cast (Burt Lancaster, Charles Dance, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Andrea Ferreol and Ian Richardson) and crew (Kopit and Oscar-winning director Tony Richardson and composer John Addison) roped in for the production also lend the whole a classy distinction missing from previous or later versions. 77-year old Lancaster is in fine form in his Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of the former Opera manager with a secret (so much so that one can hardly believe that he would be dead in four years' time!); Dance is quite wonderful in the title role and I am surprised his performance did not earn him more plaudits (even if the fact that his facial features are always hidden behind a variety of masks may have been behind this oversight); Cassel seems somewhat wasted at first as the laid-back investigating Inspector but his role grows in stature in Part II; Richardson is enjoyably hammy as the initially skeptical but increasingly flustered Italian impresario replacing Lancaster and installing his own wife Ferreol (playing La Carlotta) as the primadonna of the Paris Opera. The all-important role of Christine Daae' is well-served by the lovely Teri Polo (who also portrays The Phantom's mother in a series of flashbacks!) but Adam Storke (as the subsequently reformed Count de Chagny) is blandly handsome at best. As usual, the problems with deviations from the familiar original source crop up here but, as I said earlier, these are to be expected in this case (more so than, say, in Hammer's first Dracula picture which was still a fairly fresh property for moviegoers in its day!): Lancaster is fully cognizant of the Phantom's lair underneath his theater because he is his biological father; in fact, Erik was even born there and, besides devoting himself to music, he also dabbled in painting and building a little woods for himself!!; the Phantom's obsessive love for Christine is not merely attributable to her unique voice but also because she is a dead ringer for his own late (and former opera star) mother; Carlotta does not lose her voice in mid-performance due to the Phantom's foul play but instead it's Christine who does so thanks to the machinations of the jealous Carlotta; the Phantom is not a mistreated composer but an accomplished opera singer who (wait for it) joins Christine in a duet from "Faust" from his proverbial Box 5 in full view of the audience and the gendarmes…even though he was virtually at death's door a few moments earlier!; the Phantom subsequently invites death himself on the Opera rooftop at the hands of his own father rather than from Christine's aristocratic lover, etc. The biggest departure, of course, would be that the film (and the play) 'fumbles' the very highlight every spectator is always waiting for in this story: the unmasking scene (which here occurs with the Phantom's back to the camera and we merely see Christine's fainting reaction to it)!! In the end, there may be more opera than horror here but the lavish production values, the fine performances and the evergreen fascination of the story itself win the day.

edwardcking2001 Aside from the original musical, this is probably the pick of the crop out of the cinematic versions of the story.Charles Dance does an outstanding job, making good use of the script and direction, both of which are well above average. Other performances were pretty excellent too. The music is engaging and well worth adding to any non teenage-dirtbag collection!This could easily have been a disaster, but instead turned out to be surprisingly - and pleasantly - good with interesting variations on a theme. Good, clean entertainment that the whole family can enjoy without the usual Hollywood crass to spoilt it! All in all, a big thumbs up to all concerned.

walterlindsay My grandma recorded this movie off the TV when it came out like 15 years ago. Ever since then i have watched the movie religiously. I know exactly where the fast forward because i know where all the commercials are. I have been looking for so long on where the find this movie so i can buy it and have a good copy of it. Every time i look for it though, it is like it was never even made. I am so happy to finally find a website where i know it was actually a real movie. Now i need to just find where i can buy it at. If anyone has any ideas, PLEASE let me know. My e-mail address is ([email protected]) if you could in the subject box write something about the phantom that would be great. I get a lot of junk e-mail. and i might delete it otherwise. ANyways, greatest movie ever. I am excited to see the new one they have coming out in December. I know it won't compare because the story line is a little different, but i have seen the Broadway play and i thought that was pretty awesome, so i hope this new movie adds up.Anyways thank you to whoever made this page. I am sooooooo happy now:)

Lee Munsick 1990 two-part Brit film, made for TV to take advantage of the interest in the then hit Broadway musical. This one is not a musical, but has numerous excellent operatic scenes. A young Comte, patron of the opera, hears a beautiful singer at a country fair, sends her to the impresario of the opera house to arrange for singing lessons. That manager has just been dismissed, succeeded by a scurrilous couple played by jealous, demanding soprano Andréa Ferréol and her husband, fawning Ian Richardson. He's in a very different role for him, which couldn't keep out his usual officious nature behind a very strange semi-Italian accent! I imagine he relished every second of it. Ferréol demands the leading roles in every opera, refuses to give lovely ingenue Teri Polo lessons, but lets her stay on as her costume girl and dresser to lesser players. Veteran character actor Charles Dance does a fine job as Erik, the Phantom, as does Burt Lancaster as the ousted manager. Unlike that famous organ scene in the Lon Chaney 1925 silent, we never see Erik's face. When he is unmasked, his back remains to the camera. I've seen most if not all of the film "Phantoms" and deem this the finest of all. Direction, sets, locations are all absolutely outstanding. The TV film originally ran on two different nights, with complete, long opening titles and closing credits run both times. The first installment ends suddenly with the huge chandelier crashing down on opera patrons. Tres abrupt! Viewers must fiddle around with controls to jump to the "next scene", the film's concluding half, and sit through those titles again. Should have been re-edited for home viewers. But the performance itself is well worth it, after one figures all this out. A very strange trailer is included as the third CD "scene".