The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
Directed by Joel Schumacher
A young soprano becomes the obsession of a disfigured and murderous musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House.
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What critics say influenced The Phantom of the Opera
With its numerous candelabras held by gilded human arms (an idea stolen from director Jean Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast"), stylish full-length mirrors and translucent drapes, however, they might as well be in the basement of the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.
The staging is generally indifferent, save for a few scattered shots that prove Schumacher had seen Moulin Rouge! sometime in the three years since its release, and the utterly tacky lift at the start of the garish, over-lit "The Phantom of the Opera" sequence that proves he'd also seen Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast , and inaccurately assumed that he had earned the right to lick that film's taint, let alone pilfer one of its most famous images.
And for that matter, there are clearly intentional references to Jean Cocteau’s Beauty and the Beast.
There are moments when the movie seems desperate to approach the lyric surrealism of Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell's ''The Red Shoes" and Jean Cocteau's ''Beauty and the Beast," the foulness of Dario Argento's own Faustian ''Phantom" adaptation, or, at least, the insanity of Brian De Palma's ''The Phantom of the Paradise."
After sweeping down a corridor of arms holding candelabras (see Cocteau's "Beauty and the Beast"), the Phantom leads the girl onto a gondola to bring her to his candlelit grotto.
Rob Marshall�s Chicago was a far superior example, blending not only great musical numbers, but songs that complemented the overall cynicism of the script and matched with an exuberance by the actors.
“Chicago” revived the genre and brought in audiences consisting largely of people for whom musicals aren’t usually their “thing.”
Everything was in place for The Phantom of the Opera to be a landmark musical, comparable to Moulin Rouge and Chicago: a great story and wonderful songs, all it needed was believable performances.
Indeed, some may even say it's too much of a throwback to fit into the new, post-"Chicago" musical paradigm.
Schumacher’s is a gloriously sweeping film that eschews the aggressive editing of Moulin Rouge! (or Chicago, for that matter), and that’s exactly what’s called for.
Considering how closely Butler resembles Antonio Banderas in this movie, I can't understand why the producers of this film didn't go for the much more charismatic Banderas, especially since he proved he could sing in the last film adaptation of an Andrew Lloyd Webber play, Evita.
Speaking of Madonna, the "Phantom" filmmakers could have taken some cues from director Alan Parker's rousing screen adaptation of "Evita."
Madonna's lead performance in Evita , the last film made from a Webber show, wasn't necessarily any better, but at least she makes sense from a metanarrative and marketing perspective.
He was absolutely stunning in Alan Parker�s Evita adaptation, done with style, grace and God forbid, a few chances.
I don’t mean just the elaborate transformation from black-and-white, cobwebbed decay to gilt and red freshness, but also brilliant moments like when the camera tracks past the gas footlights bursting into flame in time with the music (a scene reminiscent of the rhythmic chimney smoke in Rouben Mamoulian’s Love Me Tonight).
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There are moments when the movie seems desperate to approach the lyric surrealism of Emeric Pressburger and Michael Powell's ''The Red Shoes" and Jean Cocteau's ''Beauty and the Beast," the foulness of Dario Argento's own Faustian ''Phantom" adaptation, or, at least, the insanity of Brian De Palma's ''The Phantom of the Paradise."
But I love phantomly films, and am a fan of The Phantom of the Opera — from the eerie 1925 silent version starring Lon Chaney, to the bloody slasher 1989 version featuring Robert Englund, I’ve always been at least somewhat entertained by the story.
Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera is a pleasant diversion, but it still runs behind Lon Chaney's The Phantom of the Opera and Claude Rains' The Phantom of the Opera.
The staging is generally indifferent, save for a few scattered shots that prove Schumacher had seen Moulin Rouge! sometime in the three years since its release, and the utterly tacky lift at the start of the garish, over-lit "The Phantom of the Opera" sequence that proves he'd also seen Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast , and inaccurately assumed that he had earned the right to lick that film's taint, let alone pilfer one of its most famous images.
The opening credits, for example, have more than a passing relationship with those in Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!, as does the black-and-white lead-in segment.
The film’s backstory on the Phantom owes something to David Lynch’s film of The Elephant Man.
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That helps Schumacher immensely: This is a ready-made cinematic fable, a backstage story that doesn't seem stagy on film at all, thanks to its moody mix of Grand Guignol and "42nd Street."
(Put me down for liking Jesus Christ Superstar and really liking the ersatz-Puccini of Phantom.)
The element that separates this production from earlier, lesser movie versions of Lloyd Webber's rock operas ("Jesus Christ Superstar," "Evita") is the controlling hand of Sir Andrew himself.