The Phantom of the Opera (1989)

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Movie
German title The Phantom of the Opera
Original title Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1989
length 93 minutes
Age rating FSK 18
Rod
Director Dwight H. Little
script Duke Sandefur
production Harry Alan Towers
music Misha Segal
camera Peter Lyons Collister
Elemér Ragályi
cut Charles Bornstein
occupation

The Phantom of the Opera is an American horror film from 1989 based on the novel of the same name by Gaston Leroux , the title role played horror legend Robert Englund .

action

New York in the late 1980s. The young Christine Day dreams of a singing career on Broadway . For an audition, she rummages in the archives of the New York library for a very special piece of music. In an old and scorched score with the title “ Don Juan's Triumph ” by an almost unknown composer named Erik Destler, she believes she has struck gold.
While she begins to sing the first lines of her casting, one of the counterweights of the stage curtain loosens and knocks her down. As she falls she is swirled around by splinters of glass, has lightning-like visions of the auditorium of an old opera house and hears a gentle but haunting voice that commands her: “ Christine, come back to me! "

London in the second half of the 19th century. Christine wakes up on the stage of the opera house where, during a rehearsal for Gounod's Faust , she was hit by a torn counterweight in the curtain. Although she was not injured, she is brought to her dressing room, where she is supposed to recover from the horror, much to the displeasure of the vain diva Carlotta, whose understudy is Christine.
Up on the Schnürboden two stage workers are talking to Joseph Buquet, the stage manager. He explains to the two that the accident is not his fault , but rather the “ operatic spirit ” that haunts the house. On the same evening, a black shadow, whom she only knows as the “ angel of music ”, appears in the mirror of her dressing room and prepares her for the lead role with an admirable profession.

When La Carlotta found the skinned corpse of the stage master in her costume cupboard on the evening of the premiere, she suffered a shock and was unable to perform, which is why the role of " Marguerite " was sung by the young Christine Day with great success. Martin Barton, the director of the opera, who also has a relationship with Carlotta, however, captivates the opera critic, whereupon the latter wrote a devastating criticism of Christine. Shortly afterwards, the man is found murdered in a Turkish bath . His skin was also peeled off with surgical precision. Inspector Hawkins, the investigating officer from Scotland Yard, reminds these violent crimes, apparently committed in Christine Day's name, of a case that was many years ago and is closely linked to the legend of the Phantom of the Opera.
The Phantom was supposedly a highly talented but completely neglected sensitive composer named Erik Destler, who earned his living as a pianist in brothels . He sold his soul to the devil if everyone would love him for his music. The devil agreed, but mutilated Destler's face so terribly that his music was the only thing you could love him for. Since then he has roamed the nocturnal streets as a murderous monster, endowed with magical powers, sewing the skin of his victims onto his face to cover the hideous wounds, until he finally disappeared without a trace. Apparently the only way to destroy him is to destroy his music.

Erik Destler, aka the Phantom, has been living in the labyrinthine vaults under the London Opera House for years. He fell madly in love with the young Christine Day and tried everything to make her the greatest star of opera. When Christine hears about the story of the phantom, she visits the grave of her father, who promised her before his death that he would send her the angel of music when he is in heaven.
Destler is already waiting for her in the cemetery and hypnotizes her with the sounds of his violin. Under his spell, she lets herself be carried away into his subterranean realm, where he puts a ring on her finger and makes her vow never to love another man again, since she is now " married to music ". However, she is already secretly engaged to Richard Dutton, the co-owner of the opera, who, together with Inspector Hawkins, does everything possible to protect her from access by this monster.

At the opera's annual masked ball, the two lovers steal into a quiet corner and discuss escape plans, but are overheard by Destler, dressed in an impressive red costume with a skull mask. To let off steam, the "Red Death" flirts with Carlotta, who is also present, and murders her after luring her away from the ball guests in the prospect of a tête-à-tête . Shortly afterwards, at dinner, her severed head is found in the soup tureen . In the ensuing panic, the Phantom kidnaps Christine again into his realm, closely followed by Richard and Inspector Hawkins and his men.
In the underground catacombs Destler throws a cruel game of cat and mouse, as a result of which he decimates the police officers one after the other until Richard and Hawkins are the only survivors to get into his hiding place. But both are killed in the ensuing argument. In her anger and desperation, Christine knocks over the huge candelabra and sets the shelter on fire. When the score of his opera “ Don Juan's Triumph ” also catches fire, Destler cries out in pain, Christine falls and everything begins to revolve around her again. A large mirror breaks, the splinters of which buzz around them.

When she opens her eyes, she is surrounded by stage workers and her friend Meg in the New York theater. A man, whose distinctive facial features seem somehow familiar, pushes through the bystanders and helps her up. He introduces himself as the main sponsor of the planned show and announces that she would get the lead role if the accident did not deter her. He is so taken with Christine that he and the other donors invite her to dinner to present and celebrate his “ new discovery ”.
But Christine's joy gives way to sudden horror when she finds floppy disks with the same handwriting next to a high-tech music system with keyboards and computers in his penthouse apartment where he invited her to freshen up before dinner are like the old score from the library. When she switched on the computer, the modern-sounding, yet unmistakable overture to Erik Destler's “ Don Juan's Triumph ” was played through an autorun program . After he steps into the room with a pointed remark, she rips his skin mask from his face and reveals him as the phantom. Erik Destler, who is doomed to walk in this world for all time due to his devil's pact, has persecuted her through the centuries and offers her again the bond for eternity, because " only love and music would last forever ".

She grabs a decorative dagger and stabs him with it. Then she grabs the only printout of his composition and the storage diskette and flees into the street, where she tears up the manuscript and throws it into a gully together with the diskette . As Christine, who now believes the phantom has finally been destroyed, walks down Broadway, she notices a street musician with his hat pulled down on the roadside, who steps forward and begins to play the overture to " Don Juan's Triumph ".

Reviews

  • “A clumsy, gimmicky horror film of repulsive superficiality that has hardly anything in common with the literary model of the same name.” - Lexicon of international film
  • "Infusion floating in the wake of the successful musical, which is committed to a crude blood naturalism with faded colors and cheap sets." - Film Yearbook 1991
  • “A stretcher of very exciting strips, which on the one hand is a cinematic success, but on the other hand unfortunately also evokes painful memories of such Grand Guignol classics as“ Theater des Grauens ”. One is especially reminded of this representative, because Dwight H. Little, who has his noticeable slow-motion tick here on “Halloween 4” largely under control, indulges in many opulently furnished pictures. In terms of the atmosphere, you also feel more like a 60s horror from British Hammer Films than a current US production, because thankfully no teenagers play here and the sets are well tempered. Unfortunately, the young Kevin Yagher's excellent gore effects are cut considerably in the German version. ”- Frank Trebbin - Fear sits next to you, 1998

DVD and Blu-Ray release

" Phantom of the Opera " / October 9, 2012 / Ascot Elite Home Entertainment / FSK 18 ( Unabridged Version )

Others

Comparison with the novel

  • In this film adaptation, the plot was moved from Paris to London.
  • This is the only version of the film in which no chandelier falls into the audience.
  • The "cemetery scene" in which the phantom plays the violin for Christine is very close to the novel.
  • For the first time since silent films, the “Punjab lasso” of the phantom is used again.
  • Also for the first time since the 1925 film adaptation, Christine receives singing lessons from the “Angel of Music” through the wall of her cloakroom.

Planned continuation

  • Robert Englund signed a contract for a sequel to the film, but this never came about due to the negative reviews.
  • " Fangoria Magazine " claimed in 1991 that the script had been rewritten and then used for the film " Dance Macabre ", also with Englund.
  • Englund himself stated in an interview in 2004 that there was definitely a script for the sequel that, in his opinion, was much better than the one for the first film, but in the end was never implemented in any form.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Phantom of the Opera. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed February 6, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used