Showing results for "Gaston Leroux" in Genre Fiction

The story begins with an investigation into some strange reports of an "opera ghost", legendary for making the great Paris opera performers ill-at-ease when they sit alone in their dressing rooms. Some allege to have seen the ghost in evening clothes moving about in the shadows. Nothing is done, however, until the disappearance of Christine during her triumphant performance.

A phantom has haunted the Paris Opera House for years. Now he is infatuated with singer Christine Daaé. Despite an astonishing debut performance, Christine fails to win the lead in Faust, and the Phantom’s cursed retaliation on the opera house is spectacularly fatal. As the chandelier falls, he kidnaps Christine, and through hidden passages and behind trapdoors, shares his life story with her. To secure her escape, Christine promises to stay true to him forever. But when the Phantom learns of the prima donna’s intention to flee, his passion turns terrifying.

A baffling series of incidents at the majestic Paris Opera sparks frightening rumors about a mysterious opera ghost. Performers are ill-at-ease when they sit alone in their dressing rooms, alleging to have seen the enigma in evening clothes moving about in the shadows. Then a young and beautiful prima donna is visited by a masked "Angel of Music" who teaches her to sing and jealously demands her devotion—but with a price. 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.

Eric possessed many truly brilliant and extraordinary abilities including musical genuis. Being outcast from society for his ugliness, Eric was forced to wander from one country to another. When in France, he worked at fairs demonstrating tricks and ventriloquism. Later he became a bricklayer and was engaged in building the Paris Opera House. Upon completion of the construction, Eric decided to hide from the world in the cellars of the Opera and turned this great building into his own empire.

Un vieil homme, tout voûté, traînant la jambe, parcourt les rues de Paris, un panier de cacahuètes au bras. Sa silhouette est familière aux habitués des terrasses des Champs-Élysées comme à la jeunesse du quartier Latin. "Papa cacahuètes" se moque pas mal des quolibets, sur son passage. Il poursuit son bonhomme de chemin avec une idée fixe en tête. Une idée formidable ! Faire de son fils le maître de la France ! Car il a un fils, ce loqueteux !

Fatalitas ! Après s'être emparé du Bayard, bateau-cage à destination du bagne de Cayenne, l'indomptable Chéri-Bibi trouve sur sa route l'individu qu'il hait le plus : le marquis du Touchais, l'homme qui lui a ravi sa belle Cécily. Mais la vengeance se déguste comme la viande... froide.

La suite des aventures de Palas que nous avons laissé dans une fâcheuse situation avec Chéri-Bibi.

Arigonde dit le Parisien, fric-Frac, le Caïd, le Bêcheur, Palas n'a pas pires ennemis à Cayenne et il passerait de mauvais quarts d'heure sans la protection du "dab du Pré", autrement dit le roi du bagne Chéri-Bibi. Celui-ci l'a pris en affection parce qu'il le sait injustement condamné et a décidé de l'aider à s'évader pour qu'il refasse sa vie.

Le commandant du Bayard ne respirera à l'aise qu'une fois à Cayenne, sa cargaison de forçats débarquée, car quelque chose se prépare, il le sent. La mise aux fers de Chéri-Bibi, chef occulte et incontesté des forçats, ne le rassure pas et il a raison: Chéri-Bibi s'évade et s'empare du navire.