The Phantom of the Opera (2004) on DVD May 3 (1 Viewer)

[Steve Tannehill]

Softly, deftly
Music shall caress you
Hear it, feel it
Secretly possess you
Open up your mind
Let your fantasies unwind
In this darkness which you know you cannot fight
The darkness of the music of the night

- Steve

P.S.: Evita was impressive. I saw a bus and truck tour in the early 1990's that was awful; The movie version rectified that. I guess Alan Parker knew his stuff. Madonna could sing it--and act it--and her supporting cast, most notably Jonathan Pryce and Antonio Banderas, were outstanding.

While I find ALW's work to be simplistic when compared to the likes of Sondheim, it can still be entertaining. I thought Phantom was good on stage, and I enjoyed the movie. I'll be getting the DVD and probably even the HD-DVD.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Getting back on the horse here, let me ask those in the know, exactly how does the film differ from the play? Was anything left out of the film or any scenes moved, besides the already mentioned chandelier scene?

I haven't seen the play either, and I just would like some points of referrance that I can draw from when I see the film, short of going to the play and seeing for myself.

Also, what is the film's OAR? Just for my own curiosity.

Steve,
I assume that was an excerpt from the film, if so you've really wet my appetite!

 

[Steve Tannehill]

John,

There was an additional sequence in the film added to explain the origin of the Phantom. There is a little more development and musical underscoring that gets Christine, et. al., to her family tomb. The story is now told as an intercut series of flashbacks instead of starting as a single flashback. And I can not overemphasize how much sense it made to move the chandelier crashing to the end of the movie, and adjusting the story slightly in the middle to allow for it.

IIRC, the rest of the play is pretty much intact. I've only seen it a couple of times and that was 10 years ago. But I did sit under the chandelier. And yes, that was fun.

The movie was 2.35x1.

The lyrics I quoted are from "The Music of the Night"... the big number that follows "The Phantom of the Opera" which is the big number in which the Phantom kidnaps Christine.

I am looking forward to May... although as of this writing, the movie is still in first-run theaters in these parts, so reports of its theatrical demise are definitely premature.

- Steve

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Thanks, Steve. It sounds like the changes made are minor but necessary, that's good, I hate it when filmmakers butcher the source material beyond recognition.

The more I hear about this film, the more i'm dying for this disc!

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Based on that response, I think the answer to my question is "no, there's not a chance in hell I won't loathe Phantom".

 

[Michael Reuben]

In addition to the changes that Steve described, there's a different ending, which you could also call an "extended" ending. I can't say more without spoiling it, but I thought it worked.

M.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Yeah, I felt the ending was an extension of the flashback framework. And it worked very well. Especially that bit where the chandelier turns into a disco ball and... wait, sorry, I shouldn't give away more of the details.

- Steve

 

[David Williams]

I'm doing one of David Lambert's patented naked dances of joy over the news of a 2-disc SE. I was afraid that a low turnout at the box office would torpedo a 2-discer like what happened to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Oh yeah, I forgot, the naked dancing was added to the film version.

- Steve

 

[Haggai]

Steve saw a very different version from the one I did. But his version does sound pretty good.

 

[Steve Tannehill]

Actually... there was one more "moon" in the movie version than seen on-stage. And that's no joke... definitely a Joel Schumacher touch.

- Steve

 

[Mark Zimmer]

The touring company of Phantom played in Madison pretty much the entire month of January to sold out performances. I was thinking the movie would hurt its ability to draw, but I'm guessing it was the other way around. Anyway, I like the schmaltz of ALW so I'll be picking up the 2-disc SE. Sondheim bores me to death. Different strokes, etc.

 

[Chris Farmer]

Besides that, a few songs were shortened slightly, losing a verse or two (Phantom of the Opera didn't have the 4th verse for example). The biggest change though that I didn't like was losing the "magic" Phantom from the stage show. This Phantom was too human with no mystery once you knew who he was. In the play he always had an aura of power and magic that the movie didn't bring out at all. No magical lasso, no teleporting around the opera house, no fireballs (this sounds cheesy I know, but it actually worked very well in the play and made the Phantom a more interesting character).

 

[Ernest Rister]

The stage version of the show is a visual wowser because of all the imaginative effects -- it is a tremendous spectacle and a lot of fun.

The film cannot match that -- they don't imply a boat in an underground river, they show you one. Everything becomes literal, and as such, for me, the magic of the theatrical presentation was completely gone.

I thought Schumacher's work was leaden and derivative. If the film had been released 20 years ago I imagine it would have been a wowser, but there's nothing in it that we haven't seen before in countless music videos since the late 80's (and those synthetic hand-claps during the title number scream out "early 80's"). Throw in some choppy editing on top of that, and the only thing going for the movie are the performances, and aside from Emmy Rossum and Simon Cowell and a dubbed Minnie Driver, there's just not enough to hang your hat on.

Not a bad movie, of course -- just nothing special. The overall effect for me was rather blah, even boring.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Success does not equal good.

Britney Spears is very successfull... is she good?

 

[Ernest Rister]

"Britney Spears is very successfull... is she good?"

To the people who like her music, she is.

Diff'rent stroke for diff'rent folks, and all that.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

Still, musically (academically), her performances and the lyric writing are flawed. Just like the lyrics and music of Phantom.

The on-stage visuals, on the other hand, are great.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

That sounds like it came from the inevitable sequel... Phantom Night Fever.

I'm looking forward to this release. I have not seen the film yet, but did enjoy the stage version. We saw it twice in Toronto.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Naked dancing? Tell me, Steve, is Emmy Rossum involved in any of that?

And why is Joel so obsessed with nipples and asses in his films? He didn't used to have this fetish in his earlier films, it seems to have started with Batman Forever.

 

[Ernest Rister]

"Still, musically (academically), her performances and the lyric writing are flawed."

I used to believe in such notions, that art could be quantified in certain ways -- now I believe that these categories and rules exist only in the minds of the people who believe in them, and that is absurdly arrogant to foist such beliefs upon everybody else. Appreciation is what it is, and nobody can tell another person what they should or should not like.

ALW and Britney Spears are flawed? Maybe to you. Maybe to some ivory tower academe. Maybe according to some textbook, or tradition.

To the people who enjoy what that artist or performer is doing? Absolutely not.

Same thing with people who like U2 or ALW or Britney Spears or Neil Diamond or Frank Sinatra or Lerner and Lowe or anyone else. They like what they like, something about the music reaches them on a personal level. How can anyone tell these people they are wrong?

Flawed to you. Not flawed for the people who enjoy their work.