The Phantom of the Opera (1983)

The Phantom of the Opera [1983]:
01). Sándor Korvin/ The Phantom… Maximilian Schell.
02 Maria Gianelli/ Elena Korvin… Jane Seymour.
03). Michael Hartnell… Michael York.


This particular version of The Phantom of the Opera is set in Budapest instead of Paris. It was a made for TV movie. Unfortunately, it is obviously so, unlike the 1991 version. But, one of the cool ironic facts about this movie is that some scenes in it highly resemble the original novel whereas other go so far away from it that it is hardly recognizable as The Phantom of the Opera. Also, one of the men in this is also the auctioneer in the 2004 ALW movie.
We start out with the rehearsal of Faust, Elena Korvin is struggling a little before her debut, her husband is working her a bit hard, apparently. The manager threatens her and she believes she is not good enough, and her husband tries to comfort her. What is it with deceptive managers, anyways? Lack of plot? Someone please tell me? I do love the name of the husband Sándor it’s a pretty name. Sándor then pays someone to start the applause so she won’t be disappointed.
She ends up getting a bad review and boo-ed off of the stage. So she decides to throw herself off of a bridge. I personally am not too fond of this plot. Sándor then takes revenge on all who gave her that review and the man who he paid to applaud her, who got more money to boo her. He fights with the man and ends up getting acid on his face. A man helps him escape.
Years and many masks later… Hey! It’s a full face black mask!!! I like! Apparently, the managers are investigating a missing pipe organ that in the scene just before the phantom was playing (it’s actually a rather small one so I can see how it got stolen).
Hey he has a kitty! Finally a movie that shows him actually having a cat (like in the Susan Kay novel)!
We now have the Prima Donna’s rant. The director actually tells her off! Good director. It was rather comical as well. Which is something that sometimes lacks in Phantom movies but, is in the original book (comedy that is). Then they hold auditions for an understudy. Maria Gianelli sings and Sándor overhears her, and watches from a box. He is infatuated with her because she reminds him of his dead wife (Gah, I hate that). She gets the part.
Maria tells the director of the opera ghost and he says that every opera has a ghost! Cue lights dimming on their “own”. This movie is full of puns and cheesy lines, but somehow it still works. I have no idea how, but it does. Poor Sándor watches from Maria and the director dancing together from afar.
Sándor works watches as Michael (the director) works with her. The Prima Donna gets a letter from Sándor. Telling her not to sing. She goes and blames Maria. “Christine! It’s all a ploy to help Christine!” sorry, couldn’t help it.
Sándor finally confronts Chr… er… Maria and tells her that he will teach her, and gives her the key to his place. This scene is rather interesting to me actually. Maria then goes to his old home and looks around. She sees a picture of Elena. It’s nice to see them rehearsing in the same room for a change. Maximilian can actually be rather expressive with a full face mask. He gives Carlotta rats, as a warning. “Rats! It’s a rat” why always rats?! Could be worse I guess….
I also really don’t like the reasons Sándor likes Maria is because of his dead wife. Kind of creeps me out. I’ve heard people ask “why can’t he just love her for her, like in the original?” I have to agree with this.
Sándor follows Maria around as she spends time with the director. He starts questioning who the other man she spends time with is.
We now have a bath house (why, again, why?). Sándor threatens a man by choking him with his silk scarf. Maria leaves a note for Sándor to meet her at the masked ball. Sándor’s Red Death costume is not as grand as some others have been. There he tells her not to see another man again or she will die. She agrees then leaves the ball. The manager tries to take Maria home with him but, Sándor interrupts abducting the Manager to exact revenge, Maria tries to runaway, but gets abducted as well.
The manager talks himself out of getting killed by Sándor, saying he will make Maria the star that Elena should have been. He then lets him go. Except he dies by way of raven?! His body is found on the set piece portcullis. The police now investigate his murder and the disappearance of Maria. Hey, it’s the Auctioneer from the ALW movie! Yes, Michael York, if you are looking for Orpheus, going underground is the way to do it!
Ah, my favorite scene! The unmasking! Oh, poor Sándor. He speaks quotes from the novel. To finally hear those words spoken, just makes this movie for me. Then it goes away from the quotes. Darn. It stands out because Sándor’s talking pattern changes, but I DON’T CARE! I recently heard a recording of Erik’s Soliloquy (his last words to his friend) and that brought me to tears to finally hear it spoken for the first time in over a decade. The emotion put into it as well, didn’t help. Sándor really doesn’t look burned. The deformity reminds me more of Joseph Merrick. Maria then burns his mask (another similarity to the book) why do they have these close of similarities and then the rest of the movie couldn’t be further from the novel?
Then he shows that he is even crazier then the original Phantom. He shows Maria the body of Elena, and that he plans on making it look like Maria is dead. Apparently this isn’t Phantom so much, as it is Blackbeard. Lovely.
Michael finally comes to the rescues. Sándor’s henchmen tries to stop him, but Michael is able to survived by shoving him down some stairs. Sándor kills him for it.
Michael comes up with a plan to have Maria attend the opera in hopes that Sándor will show up so they can catch him. Is this what inspired Lloyd Webber? Maria then hears him call her name, as he begins to bring down the chandelier. Maria in the mean time decides to move from her box to a seat in the middle of the orchestra level… right under the chandelier. Sándor spots her too late and the chandelier begins to fall. Culminating in the longest chandelier drop ever! She gets out of the way, Sándor is killed. Movie over. Yep, it’s that sudden.
The parts that make this movie tolerable for me, is the fact that the unmasking scene is almost exact from the book, he wears a full face black mask, and she burns his mask in the fireplace. If it wasn’t for those I wouldn’t like it at all. Maximilian Schell’s acting in this movie is phenomenal though. I do wish that they had made this movie better so he could have had more time to show his talent. There are also gaping holes in this movie that never get explained. Kind of makes you wish they could of stuck to the original story, Eh?
Next review will be the 1987 Cartoon version. For those that don’t know. Yes, there is a cartoon version of this story!