THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: Blu-Ray (WB 2004) Warner Home Video

Based on the immortal novel by Gaston Leroux, director, Joel Schumacher’s The Phantom of the Opera (2004) is more obviously a direct descendant of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera of the same title – a sprawling, music-packed extravaganza that despite Anthony Pratt’s immaculate production design,  John Mathieson’s gorgeous cinematography, and, superb performances by Gerard Butler, Emmy Rossum, and Patrick Wilson, only intermittently catches the sublime tail fires of its former stagecraft, to date, the longest running show on Broadway, seen by some 40 million people and the recipient of over 70 major theatrical awards. In hindsight, The Phantom of the Opera – the play, capped off an extraordinary run of success for the collaborating team of Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice – their former glories, reading like a who’s who of pop operas that began with Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1969) and culminated in ‘Phantom’ – with glorious detours into Jesus Christ Superstar (1970), Evita (1978) and Cats (1981). And although subsequent movie versions would be made of all these stage spectacles – except ‘Joseph’ – the resultant cinematic incarnations varied greatly in terms of success, if hardly quality.

There will likely never be another Andrew Lloyd Webber – a legend in his own time, with a knighthood to prove it and peerage from the Queen, to say nothing of his 14 Ivor Novello Awards, 7 Oliviers, 6 Tonys, 3 Grammys, an Oscar, , a Golden Globe, a Brit, the Kennedy Center Honors, an Emmy, and finally, a Classic Brit for Outstanding Contribution to Music.  Accolades aside, Webber’s contributions to the stage are likely never to be equaled. Few composers of any generation have been as completely rewarded, or as richly deserving of the honors bestowed. That the movie version of The Phantom of the Opera did not officially arrive until 2004 owed more to the fact the play’s legendary run, showing little signs of slowing down, precluded the sell-off of film rights to make a ‘competing’ version for posterity.  Warner Bros. had, in fact, secured the rights to produce a picture as early as 1989, granting Andrew Lloyd Webber unprecedented artistic control. Webber fell in love with Joel Schumacher’s efforts on The Lost Boys (1987). Together with Schumacher, Webber ironed out a manageable screenplay with plans to reunited Broadway’s ‘phantom’ - Michael Crawford and his Christine (Sarah Brightman – Mrs. Andrew Lloyd Webber) for a project, then loosely budgeted at $25 million, scheduled to be shot at Pinewood Studios in England the following year. Alas, here, fate intervened. Webber and Brightman became embroiled in a bitter divorce, and Schumacher’s career took flight, affording very little opportunity for their schedules to properly align.

In the interim, Warner Bros. lost interest in Michael Crawford, whose movie career had always been a sort of afterthought to his stage work. Management attempted to foist John Travolta on Webber’s good graces, and then, Antonio Banderas; the latter, having immersed himself in vocal preparations for a TV special based on Webber’s masterpiece. More than a decade would pass before Schumacher and Webber reunited; Webber, now having bought back the rights from the studio and determined to produce independently, investing $6 of his own capital on an $80 million budget. In the end, Warner Bros. returned to the negotiations, forking out $8 million to acquire North American distribution rights. By now, Webber and Schumacher had practically settled on Hugh Jackman as their star; the Aussie hunk having proven his mettle in musicals, but facing scheduling conflicts with his commitments on Van Helsing (2004). At the same instance, Schumacher recommended Gerard Butler, despite his lack of formal musical training. As for Christine – the production hit various snags with securing, first - Katie Holmes, who was working with a vocal coach, then - Anne Hathaway, a classically trained soprano. Again, scheduling overlap forced Hathaway out of the running; replaced with Emmy Rossum, who modeled the relationship between the Phantom and Christine on Suzanne Farrell and George Balanchine. Webber and Schumacher were more successful in their casting decisions for the supporting players: Patrick Wilson – a robust Raoul, Minnie Driver, as the diva, Carlotta, and Ciarán Hinds as Richard Firmin.

The cinematic incarnation of The Phantom of the Opera is decidedly lavish. Employing eight sound stages at Pinewood with computer-generated imagery achieved at Cinesite, production designer, Anthony D. G. Pratt was inspired, not only by architect of the original Paris opera house - Charles Garnier, but also Edgar Degas, John Singer Sargent, Gustave Caillebotte, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. For his own inspiration, Schumacher looked to the unusual affair du Coeur in director, Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast (1946), the cemetery where Christine pleads with her father, based on the architecture of Père Lachaise and Montparnasse. Throughout, Webber and Schumacher closely collaborated on this 'show of shows.' And yet, while never anything less than impressive to look at, the resultant spectacle proved awkwardly to stall in fits and sparks; the major setback for Schumacher, also – ironically - its greatest asset; the Lloyd Webber score. Why? Pop-opera is edifying on the stage because it is larger than life. It translates a palpable energy that can only be truly experienced through the art of live performance. Alas, flattened into the two-dimensional world of a motion picture, such grandeur has quite the opposite effect. The gaudy excess and luscious trappings here are somehow submarining the intimacy in this tragic love story. Even so, there is plenty to appreciate and recommend the movie – especially if one has never had the good fortune to witness the stagecraft firsthand.

Not the least of the picture’s major assets is Emmy Rossum, as the winsome and tragic Webberian heroine, Christine Daae. Rossum in full possession of that intangible freshness that can reach beyond the screen and captivate her audience, makes for an enigmatic ingénue, her alter ego, a vocal palette of pure spun gold. She elevates Webber's 'Think of Me Fondly' into a declaration of poignant romance, while her heart-breaking ode in a frosty graveyard to Webber's ‘Wishing You Were Somehow Here’ is undoubtedly the movie’s tear-jerking dramatic and musical highlight. Far more problematic is its casting of Gerard Butler as the Phantom – capable and chilling as the mad spook, yet rather soulless and entirely lacking in any sort of empathy or compassion, so essential to be able to relate to the phantom as anything more than a sadistic ghoul. This Phantom does not menacingly skulk around, beneath the bowels of the Paris opera house, in so much as he slinks with effeminate disdain for the cultured creatures whom he condemns as bastardizing an artistic mélange he can never possess. Mercifully, and ironic too, as the title of the piece seems to suggest a greater focus on his star turn, Butler’s Phantom is not the whole show here, thus allowing some of the movie’s other formidable assets to narrowly outweigh this major liability.

The movie opens with an aged Raoul (Patrick Wilson) purchasing an ornate music box that once belonged to the late Paris Opera House chanteuse, Christine Daae (Rossum). An orphan, living under the watchful eyes of her caregiver, Madame Giry (Miranda Richardson) and a mysterious benefactor, the Phantom (Gerard Butler), Christine is promoted to the lead of the opera’s latest show after its resident diva, Carlotta (Minnie Driver) is first sabotaged, then outwardly threatened with death by the Phantom. Christine debuts at the opera is a smashing sensation. However, the Phantom has more intimate plans for his young protégé. Seducing her through song, he lures Christine into the bowels of the Paris Opera, exposing his lair and bearing his soul to her. Sadly, Christine loves Raoul and the Phantom – spurned by that revelation, with a loathsome contempt for his own hideous disfigurement – is driven to total madness and self-destruction. In the movie’s climactic moment, the Phantom seizes Christine on stage, dropping together through a trap door into his watery lair while distracting the authorities by releasing the theater's grand chandelier from its ceiling moor. The great orb of glass and candlelit swings into the stage, setting the opera house ablaze and sending extras scurrying to save their own lives. Raoul makes chase and confronts the Phantom in a dual. At the last moment, Christine and Raoul are spared certain death by the arrival of a torch-carrying mob (finale to Frankenstein…anyone?). But by then, the Phantom has vanished into the night - presumably never to surface again. The narrative jumps forward with the aged Raoul clutching Christine's music box - a broken man with only bittersweet memories as his accompaniment into a very uncertain and dark future.

Warner Home Video’s Blu-Ray easily bests its 2-disc Special Edition DVD. Yet, the image never rises to the 'wow' factor associated with the best Blu-Rays currently out there. Yes, the palette is both rich and fully saturated. Yes, reds are velvety and deep. But flesh tones, though appearing quite natural, seem in tandem to suffer from a loss in fine detail except in close-up. The image is sharp, but not refined. Contrast levels also appear slightly weaker than anticipated. Warner has opted to carry over its 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack instead of a lossless track. Extras are all direct imports from the 2-disc DVD and include a thorough back story divided into several documentaries that cover all of the filmic versions, the impetus for the stage show – plus an additional scene left on the cutting room floor, and, the original theatrical trailer. Bottom line: The Phantom of the Opera – the movie, remains a wan ghost flower of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stage spectacular. While the performances are mostly solid and the production values can scarcely be beat, something here is remiss. Everything for the eye – but precious little for the heart. Regrets.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

3.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

3.5

EXTRAS

3