The Phantom of the Opera (1990)

Burt Lancaster, Teri Polo and Charles Dance star in Academy Award-winning director Tony Richardson's stunning, Golden Globe-nominated television miniseries. The classic tale of a hideously disfigured man who haunts Paris's subterranean labyrinths while harboring an all-consuming passion for a beautiful opera singer continues to enchant audiences. With its timeless story, "The Phantom of the Opera" endures as not only a deeply touching love story, but as a chilling spectacle of desire and vengeance played out against the grandeur and decadence of 19th century France.

The best phantom recreation ever!!!

I can not describe how much I love this version of phantom. To say I am in love with Charles Dance as the phantom is a serious understatement. He is the sweetest most romantic phantom ever! As much as I love Michael Crawford (the second best phantom ever), and Gerard Butler, they do not compare to Charles. You never see Erik's deformity in this version, which I think was a good idea. It leaves it totally to you're imagination. I even liked Christine in this version,(except for at the end of a certain picnic scene!) which is big for me, as I usually can't stand her.

This film mad me laugh at one minute, and bawl my eyes out the next. It's absolutley fantastic! If you want to see a version of phantom with a very loveable phantom, where there is some love between him and Christine, then this is the version for you. It is also clear in this version that Erik loves Christine too, and isn't just an insane stalker. It is worth every penny, you will not regret it!!! July 2, 2008

Phantom = good movie w/deceptive in marketing

Warning - this DVD is a little deceptive - Please read below. The first paragraph focuses on disappointments in the manufacturing quality. The second focuses on reviewing the movie itself.

These complaints may not bother you, but you should be aware of them before purchasing. This Phantom of the Opera Miniseries DVD is a bootleg from Korea. (Don't worry, it is still in English. There are Korean subtitles that can be turned off.) Here is how I know it's a bootleg: 1) There is no company logo for a DVD manufacturer or distributer anywhere on the box. 2) The quality of the movie is that of a brand new VHS recording in SP mode. (That is to say, it looks as good as if it had been taped on your VHS deck yesterday, but it certainly is not as good as a professionally manufactured DVD.) 3) The DVD cover. I don't even know where to start here there is so much to comment on... The DVD cover is NOT the same as pictured in some of the amazon pictures. That image of the Phantom is an insert within a black border with cheap homemade comments photoshoped on top of it, like "Best Seller" and "Gaston Leroux", or my personal favorite - a quote from the New York Times review of a theatrical performance of Phantom that took place in Florida. Yep - that's right - they put a quote on the cover that has nothing to do with this movie - it mentions stage actors from a local Florida theatre rather than the actors in this movie!! Whoever threw together this packaging could not even find a quote from a review of the same movie with the same actors!!! Last, the pictures on the back of the packaging are cheap VHS screen captures, photoshoped together. I am pointing these things out because many of the sellers on amazon are advertising this DVD as "New", "Unopened", or "Hard to find". The truth is that the official manufactured DVD of this movie is out of print and hard to find, and as of 6/8/08, I don't think any amazon sellers currently have it. This bootleg is cheap, and although it is the only version you can find, you can find it easily. It is not new, it is not hard to find, and you should not pay much for it!!

Now if you are ok with all the previous issues, let's move onto the movie itself. I had seen this back when it aired on television, and was already a fan. This movie is an adaptation of the Kopit/Yeston staged musical. The way it happened was this... Kopit & Yeston wrote their musical called "Phantom". Then Lloyd Webber announced he was opening his musical of Phantom in England. Kopit & Yeston felt with Lloyd Webber's version coming out, their's wouldn't be able to compete. So they cut all their songs, added scenes of the actual operatic productions that were mentioned in the novel, and turned it into this miniseries movie. After a number of years, they did end up releasing their original musical version, and it has been performed in smaller theatres since the 90s. If you want to hear the songs that were originally part of the script of this movie, you can buy the soundtrack here on amazon. Phantom: The American Musical Sensation (1992 Studio Cast) But back to this movie... Parts of it are filmed in some of the real locations of the Paris Opera House, so it has a very historical feel to what the locations and the productions would have felt like. This version is not close to the novel Phantom of the Opera at all - it really re-imagines the whole story of the Phantom and Christine. I won't give away what they change, but they really do investigate some interesting, and very touching, ideas about where the Phantom came from and why he is where he is. I really enjoy this version, with one exception. I feel the way they reworked the unmasking of the Phantom's face to Christine was a complete failure - it lost all the power of the original or other versions. It felt like they wanted to do something different for the sake of doing something different, and it just didn't build up enough of a reason for Christine's horrific reaction. But that is my one complaint - 1 negative scene out of 189 minutes isn't bad.

So all in all, I would recommend one to see this movie, but I would caution you to realize it is not a high-quality DVD from a technical/quality standpoint. The true movie collector may want to wait to see if they ever re-release this officially in the future. June 8, 2008

Phantom of the Opera with Burt Lancaster-Music of Gounod's Faust

The best Phantom of the Opera ever. Music of the opera "Faust" and traditional French songs is great. Wonderful to find this movie again, after being unavailable for so many years. (Great to use with French students in high school.) January 18, 2008

Oh. My God.

I bought this version of The Phantom of the Opera to expand my experiance with a story and characters I adore, and all through the first half I was deeply indifferent to the story. I mean, I have to admit, I LOVED the character of Erik as portrayed by Charles Dance: I mean he was witty, crafty, intelligent, but very down to earth and real; But the character of Christine started very weak, as did Raoul - excuse me, Phillipe. However, I loved how Carlotta was portrayed from beginning to end, and the second half of the series just blew me away. I fell completely and madly in love (again) not only with the Phantom himself, but with the romance between the masked gentleman and Christine, and I found myself left with a very hopeful ending that leaves quite a few possibilities. I also thought the developement involving the previous manager of the opera house was quite interesting, and a lovely twist.

This series was possibly THE best Phantom of the Opera version I have EVER seen, even better than the 2004 edition starring Gerard Butler; I definitely recommend this movie if you love both the Phantom as a character and music in it's operatic form. April 8, 2007

Oui, c'est moi! Je T'aime!

I have been an Erik-Lover for over ten years. I have worn down my Leroux Phantom so that I just have the pages and a tattered thing of a cover. ALW Phantom is a common sight in my home. Now imagen surfing around and seeing this version on a clip from YouTube. How GLAD I am that I have! I absolutely applaud Terri Polo's enchanting soprano. Her voice is pure and does not have a digusting vibratto that makes you wish to curl up and hide behind the sofa. Charles Dance is (I refuse to use this word for minor things) AWESOME. His Voice is operatic but not to the extreme extent. It is very well balanced that even a Die hard Opera Lover would like it as well as a Rap or rock lover (of which I am niether). His portrayal of Erik, the phantom, captures him in the way I have imagened him. His fatherly hand that comforts and advises Christine, His charm is swoon-worthy. I also adore the fact that they use his name "Erik" and not "Phantom" through out the whole bloody show. January 26, 2007

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