While there are certainly echoes of Webber here, this is undoubtedly a very different version, and if you're looking for Webber's masterful touch in terms of sets and music, well, you're not going to find it. However, for what is clearly a low-budget, filmed stageplay, it's not half-bad. For the passing fan of Phantom, I wouldn't recommend it. For the ones who seek out every version, this is definitely one to seek out. The managers and Carlotta are extremely entertaining. Buquet is far more attractive than Buquet, to my knowledge, has ever been portrayed. Christine is well-played, very conflicted, and the emphasis on her desire for fame is well-done. Raoul is very well cast, at least for those of us who aren't fond of him--he's handsome, but kind of dopey. And as for David Staller's Phantom, he's arrogant and apt to flip suddenly between sane and irrational. Perhaps he shouldn't be likable, but he's the Phantom and I can't help but be in his camp, so don't ask me to be objective in terms of his likable qualities. There is an emphasis here on his obsession with beauty which plays very well, and when he goes on about his past accomplishments...well, it's excellently done. And any version that contains the line "I am more human than all those who call me monster" clearly has some value. I am sorry to say that the end did not strike me as achieving the tragic potential usually found in Christine's abandonment of the Phantom. However...while the final scene is completely contrary to every version I have ever heard of, it does provide some glee for all of us who believe Erik really ought to get over Christine and find a girl more worthy. The most exciting realization, for me at least, was when I realized that gray-bearded fellow was none other than the Persian, or rather, the Daroga. If you are the sort of fan who knows who the Daroga is, you should see this movie. If not, you probably shouldn't bother. Though it might be worth it just to hear David Staller say "Da-ro-ga."
Review of The Phantom of the Opera
