Lon Chaney’s ghastly death’s-head visage remains one of the most iconic monster makeups in the history of horror, right up there Jack Pierce’s work on Frankenstein, The Mummy, and The Wolf Man. None of these films can rival the original, however. Hell, there’s even a 1989 version starring Robert Englund as the Phantom! Of course, the adaptation most people are familiar with these days is Joel Schumacher’s 2004 film, an adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, starring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum. There’s Universal’s 1943 film with Claude Rains and Susanna Foster Hammer’s 1962 production with Herbert Lom and Heather Sears and Brian De Palma’s spirited 1974 horror-musical, The Phantom of the Paradise. Leroux’s novel has inspired countless adaptations. Directed by Rupert Julian ( The Cat Creeps), the film stars Lon Chaney ( The Hunchback of Notre Dame) as the Phantom, a deformed performer who haunts the Paris Opera House. If I shall be saved, it will be because your love redeems me.”Īn adaptation of the 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux, 1925’s The Phantom of the Opera is one of the most lavish spectacles of the silent era. “If I am the Phantom, it is because man’s hatred has made me so. SchrockĬast: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Snitz Edwards, Cesare Gravina, Gibson Gowland, Arthur Edmund Carewe It, too, is coming out on DVD along with its predecessor and will be shown on the big screen.Screenwriters: Elliott J. The troubled show received mixed views it played in London, and is still running in Australia, but never got a Broadway premiere date after various rewrites and Webber’s bout with prostate cancer. His sequel to Phantom, Love Never Dies, follows the Phantom and Christine to turn-of-the-century New York, where the Phantom has come to Coney Island. Last October, Phantom of the Opera was performed in a special 25th anniversary show at the Royal Albert Hall in London and next month that performance will be available on Blu ray and DVD. At 63 and with 18 shows to his name, Lloyd Webber is still writing and producing for the stage without thought of slowing down. After 25 years, Phantom of the Opera is the longest running show by a mile on Broadway and the third longest in London’s West End.
He has his critics, but Andrew Lloyd Webber is nothing short of a master at knowing what makes a musical a hit.
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