LornaHansonForbes

One of the odd things about the Emmys is that, at least as far as the rules go, performers on sitcoms and dramas submit one single episode out of the many produced that season to be their Emmy contender. So, you don’t win an Emmy for your whole character arc that season or all the episodes in which you appear, you just win it for one hour or half hour performance. (In theory at least.)

The music at the end of the Alloy Orchestra score for PHANTOM does this stupid theramin whistle effect as the credits roll. God, I hate this score.

I don’t know why, but PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Just became available again on Hulu, so I watched the last half hour. The credits at the end revealed that it was indeed the alloy orchestra responsible for the music, which was performed by three guys...Ergo, I would assume they are working with computer simulated instruments and not the actual thing. And I still *absolutely hate* the music but... The last act of the film is so compelling, you can’t look away no matter how inadequate the score...Even though many scenes of the Phantom being chased by the mob through the streets of Paris are extremely damaged, (Sadly they are the only part of the film that shows such wear) Two things I noticed while trying to ignore the score, 1.When the mob is charging into the cellars to find the phantom at the end, they are being led by a black cat, which is kind of hilarious. Cats will get you every time 2. It’s not clear at all whether or not Mary Philbin’s character survives her leap from the carriage, you could easily read that she dies in Raul’s arms as the mob charges past them.

(I apologize if I sound like a shill for PEACOCK TV by now, but...) For anyone interested, both the 1943 UNIVERSAL REMAKE OF PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and the 1962(?) HAMMER REMAKE OF PHANTOM OF THE OPERA are both available at the moment... gotta be honest though, I am not a fan of either one. (If CLAUDE RAINES was 10 inches taller and NELSON EDDY wasn't in it, the 1943 version might be better]

I'm trying to remember where it was I saw NORMAN KERRY cited as gay, with all CLASSIC FILM STARS I take those things with a dose of rock salt, because I know there are KENNETH ANGERS out there who would claim he once made love to a donkey in Tiajuana whilst operating under the gleeful mantra; "you can't libel the dead, but you sure can have fun trying."

every now and then, there would be a marvelous upset like KIRSTIE ALLEY winning for her marvelous drunk scene in CHEERS...but that was but a blip in CANDICE BERGEN'S STREAK.

BOOM, YOU NAIL MY ISSUE WITH THE EMMYS. To make more of a blanket statement than cite a specific case, THE EMMYS have an irritating tendency to "play favorites," having perennial winners year after year after year... i know one year when FRASIER won, one of the producers commented on stage that he overheard someone in the audience say 'again?' when they won. it also got me how some of their perennial favorites (DORIS ROBERTS, HELEN HUNT and PATRICIA HEATON come to mind) were, in my opinion, the least deserving of the nominees in every year they won. **TO BE FAIR, it's been years since I've seen FRASIER, but I recall it being really good.

Hardly off-topic and VERY interesting, THANK YOU. I knew the shooting of PHANTOM was a MESS, I've read that NORMAN KERRY was gay, don't know if it's true or not, but I also read he charged his horse at RUBEN MAMOULIAN (who, years later, would be fired as the original director of LAURA)

I had not thought of that, you're right! what amuses me in the finale of the animated PHANTOM is that the "Magnum Opus" (Greatest Work) of THE PHANTOM sounds about like a cat running across the keyboard. I don't blame the ceiling for falling in.

pretty sure i've shared this before, but what's one more time? here is an Irish-Produced cartoon based on PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. It runs about 47 minutes and- in spite of some noticeably spotty corner-cutting in animation- it hues pretty close to the LEROUX story, changing some minor things (for the better.) it actually has my favorite ending of all the PHANTOM versions: (it used to run on HBO a lot in the late 80's)

do they know THE THEME FROM THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN?

but just going from what I recall of the score that aired during yesterday morning's PHANTOM broadcast- it sounded (to me) very artificial, like it was using computer simulated instruments and not actual strings and brass and percussion,...there were also things missing like the omininous CYMBAL HISS and XYLOPHONE RIFF that occurs in the score of the version that I am familiar with. It was a bit like PHILLIP GLASS'S "DRACULA" score in that it seemed to rely heavily on one particular refrain [which in the case of this PHANTOM score sounded to me like a brief moment in the ballet of SWAN LAKE] and i just felt like it did not vacillate between humor, action and moods- most especially in the scene where the ballerinas go below to hear JOSEPH BOUQUET'S take of seeing LE FANTOME. And after reading all your comments, I really wish I could go back and give it a look...

Thank you so much for this feedback. I actually went to TCM on my HULU and looked for PHANTOM OF THE OPERA because I was going to watch some more to see if I had misjudged the music...and it is not available on TCM ON DEMAND (ON HULU) which surprised me, because I just can't imagine they wouldn't get digital rights to air it on demand, even if the print they showed is copyrighted. I have noticed since the BIG REDESIGN/MODERNIZATION of TCM a little over a month ago that their ON DEMAND offerings on HULU have BEEN DRASTICALLY REDUCED, I'd say they went from offering 60+ titles at a given time to half that and quite a few films i have tried to watch over the last month (DOCTOR X comes to mind) were up on ON DEMAND for less than 24 HOURS BEFORE BEING PULLED! I guess they're trying to strongarm their viewership to downloading the WATCH TCM APP, and for me, it might actually work because it's starting to irritate me.

I know, I'm sorry. It was very early and I was still waking up and watching the movie as I posted, and the score was really starting to p!ss me off. also, when i post with my phone, it is VERY HARD to edit and voice transcription is VERY UNRELIABLE, so sometimes I post in short bursts which are easier to fix errors in than several paragraphs.

note- I say this as someone with no musical talent whatsoever... But scoring movies is a tricky enough business, REscoring them (or adding a score or music where it has been absent or for copyright issues) is really, to paraphrase MARTIN SCORCESE in that old TCM LETTERBOX PROMO "essentially REDIRECTING a movie." you can really change the whole tone with music, and if it doesn't "fit" with the action/dialogue, it's really noticeable. ...and in the case of a composer rescoring a film where everyone involved is dead and has no say-so, you're giving someone a looooooooooooooot of license with other people's work in a way that makes me squeemish.

THANK YOU!

if we're getting in the habit of doing this, may I suggest adding a score of SPIKE JONZE instrumentals for 1931's FRANKENSTEIN? As MALTIN said, it is "a film that cries out for a score."

THE SCORE in the version that played on TCM this morning sounded like incidental music from a self-produced youtube video....edit- or that plays during the "victory lap" part when you're playing MARIOKART... computer-generated. no regards to changes in tone between comedy and romance and horror, which happen often in the film. no singing during the singing scenes. truly, breasts the tape in front of THE SPECIALLY COMMISSIONED PHILLIP GLASS SCORE FOR 1931 DRACULA as "worst and most needless re-scoring of a film ever." why? WHY DID SOMEONE DO THIS? was there a copyright issue? ps- at least with DRACULA they had the excuse of there not being music originally to fall back on

THIS SCORE [linked below] did NOT play on the version that aired this morning: (NOTE, this version has ACTUAL SINGING during the opera scenes...as it very well should)

Just wretched.

I had to turn off the film.

I don’t even think this music was performed by an orchestra, I think it’s a computer generated score.

OMG. Carlotta is performing Faust right now and I swear to God the score sounds like somebody hit the demo button on a Casio keyboard.

(I know there are a lot of prints and a lot of versions of the 1926 phantom out there)