Poll

[Debrasue]

Hello Reccura!!! The Andrew Lloyd Webber & Joel Schumacher version??? My most favorite movie in the whole universe....that's where I got my avatar from!!! The other versions were OK...but Gerard Butler put the heart & soul into The Phantom and made him human....no other Phantom was able to capture that and become him...IMHO...but everyone knows I'm Obssessed!!!

[Fen]

I enjoyed the Lloyd Webber one too, mainly because of the music and the sets but if I remember correctly didn't it change the book quite a bit?

[Debrasue]

Hi Fen! Gaston Leroux's story was the 'inspiration' for Andrew Lloyd Webber's Adaptation...it was never intended to be a retelling of the original story. In fact Leroux got inspiration from other sources for his story...John Merrick(The Elephant Man) was a popular celebrity in those days...and the rumor of a man who lived in the caves under the Opera House...Victor Hugo's Hunchback, and the love triangle premise is very old...Svengali & Trilby, Pygmalien, and still popular... My Fair Lady...the master falling in love with his creation...Basically ALW took the basic elements of Leroux's story and set it to his own music...and The Phantom of the Opera became a stage musical....and even the movie version is slightly different than the stage version...but they were never intended to be the same either! So I guess all Art gets inspiration from something that came before...I've personally rewritten the ending in my own mind to suit me...I just can't bear to think of anyone so desperately alone and tragic...in either versions....so ...maybe someday I'll write my own adaptation...with a happier ending....I love both... Leroux book ....and the movie... my favorite movie... plus I also love Gerard Butler's portrayal of The Phantom (ALW never referred to him as 'Erik')...he portrayed him more of a victim of abuse and tragic circumstances... and less of a horror figure...in a lot of ways he was more like Leroux's Phantom than any of the other portrayals(although I could have done without the yellow eyes and other gratuitous horror)...Both adaptations are unique in what they are...just different versions of an old story....but as literature goes...ALW's version is a screenplay...and not a book, so there really is no comparing the two as far as that goes....IMHO of Course! Ha, ha, ha...I just saw this was supposed to be a quick reply! LOL! Sorry! And It's sort of funny...no one compares ALW's Les Miserables (Victor Hugo, author) or Jesus Christ Superstar, or Evita, to actual events or story lines...only his POTO movie....maybe it touches a 'nerve' somehow.....

[Fen]

Lol don't worry about it being a quick reply

Thanks for the details, and I agree about Gerard Butler's performance though I think he had to play it that way, his phantom was much to handsome to pull off the "shunned because of looks" card. Even my brother commented on it

[Debrasue]

If you notice during the movie...we never actually see Gerry's whole face!...But he uses a lot of body language, facial expressions, voice expressions, and of course singing...so there really is so much more to him than just the handsome face! His talent for portraying The Phantom as a man who has lived his whole life alone... is amazing....but like Christine says...''the true distortion is in his soul"...and until he could find a way to cope with that....he would always be as ugly and unlovable as he saw himself!

Also....'Gaston' is the first name....'Leroux' is the last name...just in case someone wants to put him in the right alphabetical order....I know where to find him...but someone who is new to the board might not notice right away.... yeah...sometimes I like to dot the 'T's & cross the 'I's...I'm weird that way I guess.....LOL!!!

[Phangirl7]

I think it should be all 3. It's a classic because....because it just is.
It's romance because of the relationships between Christine, Erik, and Raoul.
It's Horror because there's scary parts that still freak me out even after reading it 8 times!
P.G.7.

[RDraconis]

Horror and Classic. It's freaking ancient and still around and being made into movies- that's classic.

I think it's more mystery at first and horror at the end. I disagree that it's romance at all. There are really sweet bits between Raoul and Christine, though.