And here we end our look back at the Phantom. I wasn't even aware of this version until fairly recently, but for a made for television movie it manages to be a fairly decent take on the tale, although there are some problems.
Elena Korvin (Jane Seymour) is a opera singer in Budapest. She's decent at her job, which her husband Sandor (Maximillian Schell) encourages. Baron Hunyadi (Jeremy Kemp) is encouraging too, although his interests are more carnal than professional. When Elena rejects his advances, the baron promises to make her pay.
During Elena's debut in Faust, with Sandor conducting, she is the victim of a harassment campaign led by Balas (Andras Miko), who was already paid by Sandor to cheer. Influential theater critic Oscar Krauss (Phillip Stone) joins in too when the baron pays him. The reviews published the next day are nothing short of venomous.
Elena drowns herself. Sandor takes the whole thing badly and murders Balas and Krauss, but in the middle of killing the critic Sandor is horribly burned by a bottle of acid Krauss just happens to keep on hand.
Mute rat catcher Lajos (Gellert Raksanyi) happens by and drags Sandor out of the burning office. Four years later, Sandor is living under the opera house and watching the shows. It is during one of these jaunts that he spies Maria Gianelli (Seymour again) being made the understudy of vain diva Madame Bianchi (Diana Quick) for a revival of Faust. Sandor, declaring Maria to be Elena reborn, vows to make her the lead...by any means necessary...
Not bad, but there are some problems. I suppose the biggest issue is the Phantom. Schell looks perfect (and sounds perfect), but why doesn't he go after the baron? Plus, the conductor Hartell (Michael York) doesn't really do much, and I found him far too pompous to be likable.
The love interest reborn/reincarnated was getting clichéd by the 1940's, and it is just as moldy in the 80's.
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