Director: Terence Fisher
Writers: Anthony Hinds, Gaston Leroux
Stars: Herbert Lom, Heather Sears, Edward de Souza
1 Hour, 24 Minutes
Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2WxFxWh
Synopsis
We start out underground with a dwarf watching a man in a mask play the organ. Credits roll.
It’s the first performance of a new opera, “Joan of Arc.” The poster is slashed. The main drummer’s drum has been wrecked. The conductor’s music has gone missing. Maria, the lead, thinks she saw a phantom in her room. Things aren’t going well. The show starts on schedule anyway. Lord d’Arcy, who wrote the opera, stands and enjoys the admiration of the crowd.
Lord d’Arcy asks why the box across the way is empty, and his manager, Lattimer, says “there have been complaints.” People who sit there see strange things. The show continues until a hanged man tears through the curtain and nearly swings into Maria. Maria says she’s had enough and quits.
As Hunter, the producer, auditions for a new soprano, he finds a new girl, Christine, and the Phantom watches her from the shadows. Lord d’Arcy invites her to dinner. As she sits alone in her dressing room, she hears a voice from somewhere. He warns her about d’Arcy and explains that she will be singing just for him, as he’ll help her.
As expected, d’Arcy gets creepy, requiring her to go back to his apartment is she wants the lead role. Hunter intervenes and “rescues” her. She tells Hunter about the man whose voice she heard earlier. They go back to her dressing room to see if they can fid the voice. The voice comes back, telling Hunter to leave things alone. “Go while you may!” On the way out, they see the Rat Catcher, who is attacked by someone who puts an icepick in his eye.
Hunter goes off in pursuit of the killer, while the Phantom introduces himself to Christine. He has a paper-mache-looking mask that resembles a one-eyed Michael Myers. The next day, d’Arcy and Hunter argue, and Hunter gets fired, as does Christine.
Hunter spots some music on a piece of furniture, and the landlady says it was written by Professor Petrie, who used to board there. She shows more of his music to Hunter, who plays it on the piano. Professor Petrie was burned to death in a fire at the printer’s. Hunter goes to see the old printer, who says no one died. One man broke in and knocked over a lamp and was badly burned. He ran out screaming, and no one ever saw him again.
Hunter and Christine go see the police about the man, and they say he ran away and jumped in the river right after he was burned so many years ago. Hunter explains that he thinks d’Arcy stole the music that Petrie wrote and is passing it off as his own. He recognized the tune that the landlady showed him earlier.
That evening, the Phantom’s own version of Igor captures Christine and takes her to the Phantom’s underground lair. He explains that he’s going to teach Christine to sing. Meanwhile, d’Arcy fires pretty much everyone, and Lattimer tells him he should hire Hunter back, because thing ran more smoothly with him there. Hunter just happens to walk in right then, and he’s back in charge.
A little later, someone notices that Christine has disappeared. Hunter goes looking for her, and hears her voice coming from the sewer. He finds a way inside the barred-up sewer and tracks down the Phantom’s lair. He fights with the Phantom’s servant. Hunter calls the Phantom “Professor Petrie,” and explains that the opera music is his.
We get a flashback as Petrie explains himself. d’Arcy offered him a paltry fifty pounds for all his work, and Petrie knew he was getting ripped off, but he was desperate. The first thing he did was cross of Petrie’s name and put his own on it. Petrie finds out and sneaks in the printer’s that night. He burns all the copies and pours acid on the printing plates. The room catches on fire, and so does he. He jumps into the river and winds up living in the sewers with his unnamed dwarf companion. We were already told most of this, but now we get to see it as well. Petrie still wants to train Christine to sing; he says if they give him a week, he’ll make her the greatest singer of all time.
Finally, it’s the big night, and Christine as excellent on stage; the opera is a big success. The Phantom confronts d’Arcy. The dwarf gets chased up onto a chandelier which breaks and falls. The Phantom pushes Christine out of the way and is killed when it falls on him.
Commentary
It’s very colorful. Once again, there;s a lot of singing but at least this one is all in English, which is nice for once. The Phantom isn’t Christine’s father, and he’s not in love with her either; he simply wants revenge on d’Arcy. We never see him get revenge on d’Arcy. We never see him kill anyone; the dwarf does all the dirty work.
It’s entertaining, and different from the others.