kkretz07 I can't agree more with the previous poster...this has got to be the best version of TPotO ever! It was my first introduction to the story...as a young child, my twin and I recorded it on a couple of old VHS tapes. At times, a vacuum was running or our ancient computer was on so there was a great deal of 'snow' on the TV screen. But that didn't prevent us from falling in love with it...in fact, our tradition was to watch it at least once a year and many years later, when we were college bound...it was one of 2 movies we watched every year when we got together. The tapes eventually broke and I haven't seen it in at least 15 years but I miss it...oh, how I miss it! I did get the opportunity to see the musical on 2 occasions as well as another video version but I admit, I was terribly disappointed with all 3 of them. The musical and the other movie just fell flat for me...they couldn't touch this made-for-TV version; they just didn't measure up. My husband saw the musical and wasn't impressed (he's a Les Miserables fan...) but I'm wondering if this version might change his mind? I hunted down a copy years ago for a Phantom enthusiast...I think it's time I hunt down a copy for myself and my twin as well. Love it...highly recommend!

MARIO GAUCI This was the eleventh film adaptation of Gaston LeRoux's classic to be made and the seventh I have watched myself (the others being the 1925, 1943, 1962, 1974, 1983 and 1998 versions); therefore, the two most significant ones left out there for me to catch up with, I suppose, are those made in 1989 and 2004. Coming so late in the game and so close to the Robert Englund remake – whilst also being accorded the lengthiest running time (185 minutes – although IMDb curiously gives it as 168!) of all – I guess it stands to reason that this was going to be a very different Phantom to the ones we were used to. For starters, it is an adaptation of Arthur Kopit's theatrical rendition of the original source and, in fact, the author himself wrote the teleplay here; the cast (Burt Lancaster, Charles Dance, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Andrea Ferreol and Ian Richardson) and crew (Kopit and Oscar-winning director Tony Richardson and composer John Addison) roped in for the production also lend the whole a classy distinction missing from previous or later versions. 77-year old Lancaster is in fine form in his Golden Globe-nominated portrayal of the former Opera manager with a secret (so much so that one can hardly believe that he would be dead in four years' time!); Dance is quite wonderful in the title role and I am surprised his performance did not earn him more plaudits (even if the fact that his facial features are always hidden behind a variety of masks may have been behind this oversight); Cassel seems somewhat wasted at first as the laid-back investigating Inspector but his role grows in stature in Part II; Richardson is enjoyably hammy as the initially skeptical but increasingly flustered Italian impresario replacing Lancaster and installing his own wife Ferreol (playing La Carlotta) as the primadonna of the Paris Opera. The all-important role of Christine Daae' is well-served by the lovely Teri Polo (who also portrays The Phantom's mother in a series of flashbacks!) but Adam Storke (as the subsequently reformed Count de Chagny) is blandly handsome at best. As usual, the problems with deviations from the familiar original source crop up here but, as I said earlier, these are to be expected in this case (more so than, say, in Hammer's first Dracula picture which was still a fairly fresh property for moviegoers in its day!): Lancaster is fully cognizant of the Phantom's lair underneath his theater because he is his biological father; in fact, Erik was even born there and, besides devoting himself to music, he also dabbled in painting and building a little woods for himself!!; the Phantom's obsessive love for Christine is not merely attributable to her unique voice but also because she is a dead ringer for his own late (and former opera star) mother; Carlotta does not lose her voice in mid-performance due to the Phantom's foul play but instead it's Christine who does so thanks to the machinations of the jealous Carlotta; the Phantom is not a mistreated composer but an accomplished opera singer who (wait for it) joins Christine in a duet from "Faust" from his proverbial Box 5 in full view of the audience and the gendarmes…even though he was virtually at death's door a few moments earlier!; the Phantom subsequently invites death himself on the Opera rooftop at the hands of his own father rather than from Christine's aristocratic lover, etc. The biggest departure, of course, would be that the film (and the play) 'fumbles' the very highlight every spectator is always waiting for in this story: the unmasking scene (which here occurs with the Phantom's back to the camera and we merely see Christine's fainting reaction to it)!! In the end, there may be more opera than horror here but the lavish production values, the fine performances and the evergreen fascination of the story itself win the day.

jagflight This is my favorite version of The Phantom of The Opera. Burt Lancaster did a wonderful job as Gerard, Erik's Father. My favorite scene was when Gerard and Erik are talking and Gerard finally tells Erik the truth that he is his father. Erik says "i was wondering when you'd say".Gerard gives him a look.Erik says something like" My eyes are the only thing i can look upon in the mirror with out wanting to break the glass, but they aren't her eyes, they're yours." (Erik and Gerard were talking about Erik's Mother)So Erik knew all along that Gerard was his father.The movie made me cry so much. I haven't seen that movie since it aired in 1990, but i remember that scene.i wonder if it's on DVD or VHS somewhere.

John Wayne Peel To start with, this Phantom reinvents the story line with things that Gaston Laroux never had in his book. Like characters that were never in the book, and to add insult to injury, the reviews of the Kopit/Yestin musical claim it is closer to the book than the more famous Andrew Lloyd Webber version. It actually stuck close to the Lon Chaney classic. Even Phantom star Michael Crawford said many times that he based his characterization on the magnificent work of "The Man Of A Thousand Faces." While utilizing actual sets of the Paris Opera House, it's sumptuous production values mask an almost ludicrous storyline that make Erik the Phantom a plagued wimp.What infuriated me most about this entry in the Phantom film history was that after religiously taping the two parts and eliminating all commercials, the director/writer doesn't even show you the Phantom's face. Instead, we are "treated" with looks of horrified disgust by those who supposedly did see his ugly visage. What a gyp.Actors Burt Lancaster and Charles Dance have been better used elsewhere, and both of them should hang their heads in shame for being connected to this complete overhaul of the great original. To date, the only true Phantom Love The Opera is the 1925 silent classic starring Lon Chaney Sr.To make matters all the worse, this Yestin and Kopit version was made into an even less memorable musical with totally forgettable songs.