WARNING!: As always, this page may be extremely spoiler heavy... If you didn't want to know, then don't blame me that you looked!
Here they are! The meat and potatoes of the Phantom of The Opera movie world. Ranging from some of the most famous movies ever made, to the very dregs of the medium. A few years back it was still impossible to see most of these, but thankfully a lot of that has since changed. I will constantly be adding new information to this section in an attempt to make it as accurate as I possibly can. As you can see its extremely bare bones at the moment. But that will soon change!
***MUCH MUCH MORE COMING TO THIS SECTION SOON!***
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1925) The Phantom of The Opera (And the 1929 sound redux.)
Dir: Rupert julian, Lon Chaney Sr. & Edward Segwick. Wri: Elliott J. Clawson, Frank M. McCormack, Tom Redd & Raymond L. Schrock. Cast: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe. Universal Pictures.
FROM THE VAULTS: I am proud to own an original promotional item from this version! When Universal was trying to get all of America excited for Phantom, a huge promotional campaign was devised, which included the production of all kinds of crazy stuff like Phantom of The Opera Radios, drinks, games and even the films own line of cosmetics! And what I have here is the Eye Liner than came out from that media blitz called Phantom Brow. And entire box of the stuff, still in its original die cut display box! Erik as Red Death folds out when you flip the lid of the box. This has got to be one of the most bizarre and ironic collectibles ever made for The Phantom of The Opera. It's been theorized that this particular box of Phantom Brow came out when Phantom had its 1929 sounds re-release, because of the picture of Mary Philbin on the box is from the film, "Love Me and The World is Mine" which came out in 1928. Enjoy the pictures! They are from the one and only time I have opened up the box.
Where To Buy: There are probably a gazillion different editions of this movie on both VHS, DVD and probably every other format ever conceived of. Just go to amazon.com, E-bay or anywhere that sells DVDs or has heard of DVD's and it will probably be there. If they tell you they don't have it then they are probably lying to you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1943) The Phantom of The Opera
Dir: Arthur Lubin Wri: Samual Hoffenstein, John Jacoby, Eric Taylor. Cast: Claude Rains, Susanna Foster, Edgar Barrier. Universal Pictures.
Where to Buy:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1954) El Fantasma De La Opereta
Dir: Enrique Carreras. Wri: Rene Marcial, Manuel Rey. Cast: Gogo Andrev, Tono Andreu, Alfredo Berbieri.
Very little is known about this one. According to John L. Flynn in his book, Phantoms of The Opera: The Face Behind the Mask, this was a strict adaptation of the Leroux novel. However from other sources, I've also heard that this is nothing but a kind of, Dracula vs. Frankenstein movie, with little to no Phantom at all. From what I can make out of the character at the top of the poster shown above, that does most certainly look like Frankenstein. Could it be that two films of the same name have become confused over time? I suppose we won't know until copies start to turn up. Either way, I want to see this one very badly.
Where to Buy: If anyone out there knows where to find this movie, or has any other information about it, please contact me at Oldphan@hotmail.com.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1959) El Phantasma de la Opereta
Dir: Fenando Cortes Wri: Alfredo Ruanova, Gilberto Solares Producer: Oscar Brooks Cast: Tin Tan (German Valdez), Ana Luisa (Peluffo), Loco Valdez, Vitola, Marcelo, Luis Aldaz.
Where to Buy: Santoandfriends & Ebay.com
Spesail thanks to Oliver Haddo for the photos.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1962) Phantom of The Opera
Dir: Terence Fisher Wri: Anthony Hinds Cast: Herbert Lom, Heather Sears, Edward de Souza, Thorly Walters, Michael Gough. Hammer Studios
FROM THE VAULTS: I've got a few promotional items from this movie, so I thought I would show them off. Besides these two, I also have a very nice Australian day bill poster, though i'm going to have to get a better picture of it before I put it up. In the mean time, here is my Mexican lobby card, and my awesome Press kit. In the future, I'm also going to post up more stuff from the press book. Some of the stuff you were once able to buy from that thing were awesome!
Where to Buy: Amazon.com
Finaly availible on DVD on The Franchise Collection: The Hammer Horror Series box set
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1964) II Vampire Dell'Opera (Also known as Monster of The Opera. or Mostro dell'opera, Il)
Dir/Wri: Rebato Polselli, Ernesto Gastaldi. Cast: JMarco Mariani, Guiseppe Addobbati.
Where to Buy: E-bay!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1972) Phantom of The Cinema Dir: J.X. Williams.
More info at: http://www.jxarchive.org/
*Please note that the movie, Popcorn, which was actually based off of The Phantom, was also released under the title, "The Phantom of The Cinema." They are entirely different films however.
Where to Buy:
*Speshal thanks to Noel Lawrence for the very kind use of these photographs!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1974) Phantom of The Paradise
Dir/Wri: Brian De Palma. Cast: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper.
Where to Buy:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1979) Phantom of the Bijoux, AKA The Meateater and Blood Theater
Dir/Wri: Derek Savage. Cast: Arch Joboulain, Dianne Davis and Peter Spitzer.
Where to Buy:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1987) Phantom of The Opera
Wri/Prod/Dir: Al Guest and Jean Mathieson. Voices: Aiden Grennel, Collette Proctor, Virginia Kerr, Joseph Taylor. Emerald City animated version.
Fun Facts!: This version was a major source of inspiration for Susan Kay when she wrote here novel, 'Phantom'. (Her torture chamber is VERY much the same as it appears in this cartoon.) However in her 'Author's Note' at the end of the novel, she mistakenly credits this movie as having been made in 1967, causing much confusion.
Another thing causing a huge amount of confusion with this version, is the crazy dvd release a few years back, whose cover art has nothing at all to do with what's on the disk. I'm talking about this one right here:
I was excited that maybe we finally had a bran new animated version of Phantom, but in actuality its just the same old 1987 Emerald City animation that we all know and love. Hey, may not be a new movie, but at least now we have the old one on dvd! I dont think my oldVHS copy could possibly take one more trip in the VCR...
Where to Buy:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1988) Phantom of The Ritz
Dir: Allen Plone Wri: Tom Dempsey Cast: Peter Bergman, Russel Curry, Joshua Sussman.
Aside for a few very amusing one liners, this movie is pretty miserable. It was odiously made to cash in on the successes of the then fairly new Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, though one can detect a slight influence from Phantom of The Paradise due to the fact that our Phantom is once again placed in a kind of rock palace.
I actually think that of all the 'accident Phantoms' this guys disfigurement may actually the nastiest of them all. This move has never been released on DVD, (Though it was put out on laser disk.) so actually getting a good look at him is rather hard on my crappy vhs copy. The back of the video box is actually the best picture of him I've seen. Check out that lip! Makes him looks a little like the Andrew Lloyd Webber Phantom huh?
Where to Buy: Amazon.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1988) Opera aka Terror At The Opera
Dir/wri: Dario Argento, Franco Ferrini. Cast: Christina Marsillach, Ian Charleson, Urbano Barberini, Daria Nicolodi.
The most tragic thing this about this movie is that it unfortunately always gets lumped in with Dario Argentos other Phantom of The Opera effort, which to be blunt, sucked the big one. Opera however, is quite a different situation, and in my extremely humble opinion may be the best movie Argento ever made.
The references to Phantom are very very slim, in fact they almost aren't there at all. However it does center around murders in an opera house, and the killer in the end is slightly disfigured, and goes as far as to call himself a monster. Argento does seem to have some kind of fascination with Phantom, an observation that only becomes stronger by the fact that he has made more than one film that gave Phantom such a huge nod.
If you don't like very gory movies, stay very far away from this!
Where to Buy: Amazon.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1989) Phantom of The Opera
Dir: Dwight H. Little Wri: Gerry O'Hara and Duke Sandefur. Cast: Robert Englund, Jill Schoelen, Alex Hyde-White.
Where to Buy: Amazon.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1989) Phantom of The Mall, Eric's Revenge
Dir: Richard Friedman. Wri: Scott Schneid, Federick R. Ulrich, Tony Michelman, Robert King. Cast: Derek Rydell, Jonathan Goldsmith, Rob Estes.... Pauly Shore.
Where to Buy: Amazon.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(1998) Il Fantasma dell'opera "The Phantom of The Opera"
Dir: Dario Argento Wri: Gerard Brach Cast: Julian Sands, Asia Argento, Andrea di Stefano.
Where to Buy:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2004) The Phantom of The Opera
Dir: Joel Schumacher Wri: Andrew Lloyd Webber/Joel Schumacher Cast: Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, Patrick Wilson.
Official Site: http://phantomthemovie.warnerbros.com/
Where to Buy:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All photos © of their respective owners-no infringement is intended. This is simply a fan site dedicated to Phantom of The Opera movies, and is meant for educational purposes only. If you feel that your images have been used unfairly, please contact me at Oldphan@hotmail.com, and changes will be made immediately.