The Phantom of the Opera (1962 film)

File:PTO-LOM.jpg

Herbert Lom as the Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera was a lavish 1962 produced by Hammer Film Productions and starring Herbert Lom. The film's tagline is The Greatest THRILL CLASSIC of All Time!

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler In this version of the story, set in London, Professor L. Petrie (played by Lom) is the Phantom, a penniless unpublished composer who is stolen from and wronged by the dastardly Lord Ambose D'Arcy (Michael Gough) who claims Petrie's opera as his own work. Petrie is then disfigured by nitric acid in an attempt to destroy printing plates and disappears. Christine Charles (Heather Sears) is a young opera singer being secretly trained by Petrie and her charming and brave but ineffectual beau Harry Hunter is the producer of the opera. There is also an evil dwarf assistant to the Phantom who does most of the "dirty work" and hides Petrie in the sewer beneath the opera house. After revenging himself on D'Arcy, the Phantom makes Christine a star in a lavish opera based on Joan of Arc. At the film's conclusion, the Phantom is himself crushed to death by the famous falling chandelier as he attempts to save Christine.

Trivia

• Cary Grant was originally slated to play the Phantom because he wanted to do a horror film. The script altered the Phantom to a more sympathetic character with the "dirty work" done by others. For some reason Grant did not agree to play the role and the part was given to Herbert Lom.
• Saint Joan (the opera that the Phantom has written) is an anachronism since the film was set in the Edwardian era circa 1900 and Joan of Arc was only canonized in 1920.
• Scotland Yard police inspectors ( one played by Liam Redmond) looking for the Phantom were part of additional footage filmed for the American TV showing. Hammer had nothing to do with it. Kiss of the Vampire ( retitled Kiss of Evil) and The Evil of Frankenstein also had American-shot footage added to their television showings as well. This was a common practice when it was thought that parts of the film were too "intense". These scenes were edited out and more acceptable scenes replaced them or extended the running time.

External links

• The Phantom of the Opera (1962) at IMDb