Phantom of the Opera (Robert Markowitz, 1983, TV movie)

Who  would've guessed that the opera ghost can't carry a tune?

The setting is Budapest, circa early 20th Century - we are not told when, but Bartok is considered a young man of promise.  Elena Korvin sings Marguerite in Faust.  She hasn't the disciplined talent or voice for it but is encouraged by her doting husband Sándor, who is the opera's conductor.  Also keeping her in employment is the opera house's owner, the lecherous Baron Hunyadi.  After a disastrous opening night, Elena is further hit by a scathing review paid for by the Baron as retribution for spurning his advances.  She throws herself from a bridge.  Sándor's revenge on the critic leads to a fight and ubiquitous accident with acid that leads to his disfigurement.

Four years later, aspiring singer Maria Gianelli becomes an understudy in a new production of Faust.  Hunyadi still owns the theater.  Korvin survives in the catacombs beneath, having been rescued by the homeless who live there.  When Korvin sees Maria, and hears her natural talent, he believes her to be his Elena  returned.  Both roles, Maria and Elena, are played by Jane Seymour.  Korvin determines to groom Maria to his late wife's vindicator.

This Phantom was produced by the Halmis, both Roberts Sr. and Jr.  They're a prolific pair, having put out a handful of worthy productions and a library's worth of mediocre ones.  Phantom is one of the latter.  A few of the notes are there but the script and direction fail to find a melody.
Phantom stars Maximilian Schell as Korvin, Seymour, Michael York as an English director overseeing the new production, and Jeremy Kemp as Hunyadi.  They're a good cast doing their earnest best, but the script by Sherman Yellen doesn't  support them.  Their characters are inconsistent, lurching from scene to scene as the plot requires rather than developing naturally.  Korvin is meant to be a  musical genius but cannot tell that his wife is a terrible singer.  When at first he tutors Maria, he is singularly disinterested in her as a person...later he will kidnap her in a demented effort to protect her from the world, yet at no time does he ever evince an inkling of genuine affection for her.  Meanshile, Hunyadi's villainy remains restrained until the story needs it as a plot device. York  as the love interest is all over the map, one minute throwing an conceited fit and the next acting the gentleman and detective to boot.  Presented thus, no chemistry ever develops between any of the characters...and what is the Phantom of the Opera without passion?

The editing is sometimes unhelpful as well, such as the backstory: a stranger helps the ailing Korvin escape to the underground, and I was left wondering who this samaritan was and what his motivation might be  until well late n the story.  The director neglects to let us in on it.  I thought he'd been forgotten.  We never really do learn except by inference near the finale.  The Phantom has made a lair for himself but allowed the homeless to remain with him.  What are thy to each other?  No one involved has any interest in exploring this.  Is he a kind of leader to them, or an eccentric that they tolerate?

Filmed on location in Budapest, photographer Larry Pizer makes the whole affair very...brown.  Perhaps the idea was to emulate a sepia tone to suggest  antiquity, but no amount of lit candles lend warmth or make for a  golden aura, it's just...brown.  After a  while you long for a splash of color.  You want a splash of emotion.

As a phan, I hate to dislike any telling of the Phantom of the Opera.  Alas, of all the versions of this story I've seen this is the least inspired, without flair or feeling or sense.  There are no scares to be had, nor romance, both vital to any good Phantom.  Even the Phantom's masks look defeated.

This is currently available on YouTube.