94 Years of Phantoms

94 YEARS OF PHANTOMS
Philm Phantoms and their ilk

Wha-tha??? You mean there's more than one Phantom of the Opera? Yes, that is accurate. Copiously accurate. It all started with an obscure French novel in 1911 and continued through to 2005, with the movie version of the stage version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera. Stolen from Gaston Leroux, of course. Who probably stole it from someone else. All gloriously satirized by those devilish malcontents, Colder by the Lake.

Ready? Let's begin. Here is but a sampling of the Phantom-equivalents of the Paris Opera-equivalents over the years. Don't rule out the possibility of a pop quiz.

1911. The Phantom of the Opera, a novel written by French mystery writer Gaston Leroux, is published. (Synchronistically, Duluth's Orpheum Vaudeville House opened in 1910. The Orpheum would later become the NorShor Theater in 1940). Click here for a chapter-by-chapter reading of the novel, the story of a deformed genius, Erik, who lives beneath the Paris Opera House, and Christine Daae, the beautiful young orphaned opera singer with whom he is obsessed. Here's a good summary of the basic story. This Phantom is twenty-seven kinds of ugly, yet multi-talented and scary smart.

1925. Starring Lon Chaney, Sr. as Erik, and Mary Philbin as Christine, this classic silent horror film brought Leroux's obscure novel out of obscurity and started the whole creepy masked ball rolling. It's one of the few versions of the story that features "The Persian" as a character. They skip most of the opera setup and get right to the good stuff--Phantom loves girl, Phantom is unmasked by girl, girl is repulsed by Phantom. This Phantom's mask has a kind of dust ruffle on the bottom, which moves when he breathes through it.

1943 brought us Phantom of the Opera starring Claude Rains as Erik Claudin, the concertmaster of the Paris Opera company who lived in poverty so he could give all his money, anonymously, for Christine's voice lessons, while he secretly composes a concerto, later stolen from him by his agent. While previous (and future) phantoms were hideously disfigured from birth, Erik Claudin was among the first phantoms to undergo some kind of accident which necessitated the mask-wearing. In this case, the evil music agent burned his face with acid. A lot of people like this version but it does make the Phantom seem like a sad old lunatic instead of a sexy genius (even Lon Chaney was attractive to Christine until she peeked under his dust ruffle).

1962. Herbert Lom plays a great Phantom, only it's the London Opera House, not Paris. Which means that Christine (Heather Sears) and Harry (Edward de Souza, as the Raoul equivalent) can speak in British accents. A rather sweet love story, and a juicy thriller, with lots of dignity for the Phantom (who in this case is a music professor obsessed with Christine) and a spectacular chandelier-dropping scene. The professor is also among the phantoms who are disfigured mid-life; in this case, there is a fire at the printers (after the Phantom's opera gets stolen) which does the disfiguring.This Phantom of the Opera is part of the "Hammer Horror" series and is often offered as a box set along with other movie monster flicks.

1974. Phantom of the Paradise is Brian dePalma's glam-rock version of the story. Viewed in 2005, it's equal parts silliness and dead-on period piece. Diminutive pop singer Paul Williams is the evil record producer who steals the life's work of composer Winslow Leach. Leach's disfigurement is a result of a) unnecessary prison dentistry, and b) getting his head squished in a vinyl record press at the recording studio. The Christine equivalent is a chick named Phoenix; the Carlotta equivalent is a glam hair-band pretty boy named Beef (this is the only Phantom movie to make over Carlotta as a male character).

1987. Gaston Leroux's story falls into the hands of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Charles Hart. The stage production is seen in London, on Broadway, and in touring productions all over the world. Michael Crawford plays the man in the (half a) mask and is beloved by audiences (or, Night of the Living "Phans"). Gazillions of people have seen Phantom of the Opera. This Phantom is only slightly deformed, and his concern for the safety of the opera's chandelier supersedes his anger towards those who have wronged him; instead of actually dropping it, he allows it to gently float towards the stage. Phans are delighted regardless.

It's 1989, and Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge stars Morgan Fairchild as the mayor of a small town that gets a shopping mall. The developers want to buy the land from some people, and those people don't want to leave their houses. Arson ensues, and teenage Eric perishes in the fire. Or does he??? His girlfriend Melody thinks of him every day but now has a new, non-deformed boyfriend. Meanwhile, Eric lives under the food court in the site of his former house, his mullet hairdo now half-burnt to a crisp. Oh the horror!!! What will Morgan Fairchild do about this at the next city council meeting!!!

1989 again. What a year! Robert Englund (best known for portraying Freddy Krueger) stars as a Phantom whose "mask" is made of human skin parts and carefully sewn on before each public appearance. Ewwwww. In this Phantom of the Opera, Christine has a flashback in the library when she blows dust off an ancient copy of an opera score and is transported back in time.

1990 and a made-for-TV movie, and a good one. In fact, one of the best Phantoms ever in terms of explaining the psychology of the Phantom, e.g. how someone can live out his life in a basement and still be such a snappy dresser, and why his voice calls to Christine and speaks her name. Charles Dance has the title role in Phantom of the Opera; a young Teri Polo is Christine, and Burt Lancaster plays the theater manager (who turns out to be his father ... a corny-sounding plot twist that's actually quite moving).

1996. The Phantom Lover is set in 1935 China. Wei Qing is in love with the star of the opera company, Song Danping, but her evil father forces her to marry someone else. All Phantomesque things proceed as expected--Danping dies in a tragic accident, but doesn't really die, is disfigured (his "mask" is that he hides in the abandoned opera house), Wei Qing goes mad, yada yada yada. But wait a minute--this is a visually beautiful story, with some historical and political statements about art and its audiences. The most tragic part of the movie is when Danping is performing his masterful opera--a Romeo and Juliet--and opens his mouth to sing; what comes out is overproduced shlocky Asian pop music.

1998. It's been a drag wearing that mask for all these years. Time to give the Phantom a new image! Like, maybe he's not ugly at all. Like, maybe he has some other weird thing going on, like, oh I don't know. Raised by rats? Yeah, that's it. The gorgeous, buff, and yet sufficiently creepy Julian Sands plays the unmasked Phantom of the Opera in a film directed by Dario Argento. Christine and the Phantom have hot naked sex and communicate telepathically; gratuitous violence takes up the space between. The chandelier drops in a big way.

2004. With the stage production still going strong, filmmaker Joel Schumacher does an ALW-approved film version of Phantom of the Opera, that is surprisingly entertaining. It clears up all the confusing parts from the stage production, really highlights the songs, and best of all, makes Raoul into a real man who is a viable rival for the Phantom--and it's a good thing too, since the 1/3-mask does little to hide the fact that he's a total babe. Christine changes her clothing approximately 4,329 times during the movie, including two costume changes on the way to the cemetery to visit her father's grave. Phans are angered because Michael Crawford is not chosen to play the movie role, even though he is now in his mid-70's.

2005. Colder by the Lake premiers their latest comic opera, Phantom of the NorShor. It tells the story of Pristine the dull cashier, Ray the hapless janitor, and of course the Phantom of the NorShor. A love letter to the NorShor Theater and our community's historic places, it also asks questions. A lot of questions. You'll laugh, you'll cry. you'll say "I never knew Duluth had so many talented people!"