Other editions of book The Phantom of the Opera

The story of the Phantom of the Opera, a half-crazed musician hiding in the labyrinth of the famous Paris Opera House and creating a number of strange and mysterious events to further the career of a beautiful young singer, is today regarded as one of the most famous of all horror stories: widely mentioned in the same breath as Frankenstein and Dracula. Yet the fame of this novel is based almost entirely on the various film versions, while the original book has been largely ignored and is rarely in print. An Accelerated Reader® Title

Phantom of the Opera is an enduring classic of the macabre. The masked monster known as the Phantom of the Opera lives beneath the Paris Opera House, in an opulent palace in the catacombs, where he dreams of the day that he will keep beautiful singer Christine Daae forever. Romantic and suspenseful, this thrilling tale is brought to life in a riveting performance by Academy Award-winner F. Murray Abraham.

First published in French as a serial in 1909, "The Phantom of the Opera" is a riveting story that revolves around the young, Swedish Christine Daaé. Her father, a famous musician, dies, and she is raised in the Paris Opera House with his dying promise of a protective angel of music to guide her. After a time at the opera house, she begins hearing a voice, who eventually teaches her how to sing beautifully. All goes well until Christine's childhood friend Raoul comes to visit his parents, who are patrons of the opera, and he sees Christine when she begins successfully singing on the stage.

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A shadow of unease; a quickening pulse; an unnamed fear breathing on the collar of those who sit alone in their dressing rooms at the great Paris Opera. An unbearable compulsion to glance quickly over a shoulder in the dark corridors to the stage would sometimes reveal a figure in evening clothes moving softly in the shadows—a figure no one could name. Nothing is done, however, until the disappearance of Christine Daaé during her triumphant performance. With an increasing pattern of fear and violence, the Phantom of the Opera begins to strike but always with a beautiful young performer at the center of his deadly desires.

9 1/2 hours on 6 cassettes, Gaston Leroux's classic tale is narrated by Henry Butler. Part horror story, part historical romance and part detective thriller, this timeless tale of a masked, disfigured musical genius who lives beneath the Paris Opera House is familiar to millions of readers, movie&theatre patrons. At the heart of the story's long-standing popularity lies its questioning of a universal theme: the relationship between outward apearance and the beauty or darkness of the human soul.

Purchase one of 1st World Library's Classic Books and help support our free internet library of downloadable eBooks. Visit us online at www.1stWorldLibrary.ORG - - The Opera ghost really existed. He was not, as was long believed, a creature of the imagination of the artists, the superstition of the managers, or a product of the absurd and impressionable brains of the young ladies of the ballet, their mothers, the box-keepers, the cloak-room attendants or the concierge. Yes, he existed in flesh and blood, although he assumed the complete appearance of a real phantom; that is to say, of a spectral shade. When I began to ransack the archives of the National Academy of Music I was at once struck by the surprising coincidences between the phenomena ascribed to the "ghost" and the most extraordinary and fantastic tragedy that ever excited the Paris upper classes; and I soon conceived the idea that this tragedy might reasonably be explained by the phenomena in question. The events do not date more than thirty years back; and it would not be difficult to find at the present day, in the foyer of the ballet, old men of the highest respectability, men upon whose word one could absolutely rely, who would remember as though they happened yesterday the mysterious and dramatic conditions that attended the kidnapping of Christine Daae, the disappearance of the Vicomte de Chagny and the death of his elder brother, Count Philippe, whose body was found on the bank of the lake that exists in the lower cellars of the Opera on the Rue-Scribe side. But none of those witnesses had until that day thought that there was any reason for connecting the more or less legendary figure of the Opera ghost with that terrible story.

This is the HARDBACK version. The silent movie version of The Phantom of the Opera that we are familiar today is not the original 1925 release but a silent version of the 1929 sound remake. Directed by Rupert Julian and starring Lon Chaney, Sr. in the title role as a deformed musician haunting the Paris Opera House, committing murder, and terrorizing the owners and producers in a pathetic and terrible attempt to earn the love of a famous opera singer. Stars included Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, John St. Polis, and Snitz Edwards. The last surviving cast member was Carla Laemmle, who was the niece of Universal Studios' producer Carl Laemmle. In this new illustrated book, follow the history of the 1925 original release from Gaston Leroux's original conception to the 1929 sound remake. What actual events inspired the story? What inspired Chaney's makeup? What was in the hour of footage cut from the film's release that was considered too horrible for audiences in 1925? Contributions by Mary Philbin (Christine), Ray Bradbury, Ron Chaney, Carl Laemmle Junior, Charles Van Enger (cinematographer), Rupert Julian, Virgil Miller (cinematographer), Ben Carré (Art Director), and Patric Leroux. Includes a short biography and bibliography of Gaston Leroux by Francis Lacassin, and a facsimile of the original May 1931 Liberty magazine five-part article, "Lon Chaney, A Portrait of the Man Behind the Thousand Faces," by Adela Rogers St. Johns. "Each page is filled with documented information that will change a few history books. You almost get the feeling that you are part of the Golden' years of Hollywood." -Ray Bradbury "It looks as if this volume of The Phantom of the Opera will be the only record for the rest of time if the original release of 1925." -Ron Chaney

Christopher Cazenove, formerly Ben Carrington on TV's Dynasty, brings his depth of understanding to this performance of Phantom of The Opera. Is there a ghost or coincidence in the opera house of Paris? Is the prima donna crazy, or is she visited by the Angel of Music who teaches her to sing and perform as never before? Phantom is a story of stage, screen and literature. This version will keep you on the edge of your seat.