Hammer Studios became well known for their horror output. This is mostly due to the way they remade all the classic Universal Monster movies – Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, etc., though they did make a great deal of other films, some of which were not horror-related at all.
In 1962 they adapted another famous horror story, The Phantom of the Opera, with mixed results. The Gaston Leroux book has been adapted numerous times and, of course, was turned into a Broadway Musical. I loved the book, and have seen at least a couple of those cinematic adaptations (though I’ve never seen any version of the musical, much to my wife’s surprise.)
Directed by Hammer stalwart Terrence Fischer the action is moved from Paris to London. Quite a few other things have been changed as well, but my memory is too faulty to lock those down for you.
The basics are the same. A pretty opera singer named Christine (Heather Sears) gets a chance to sing the lead in a brand-new opera. Producer Harry Hunter (Edward de Souza) takes a liking to her. Meanwhile, the Phantom (Herbert Lom) keeps causing problems.
There is a different backstory for the Phantom and Harry takes a much more active role and is more of a hero here. The Phantom spends a great deal of time training Christine to be a better singer than she already is. The real villain in this story is Lord Ambrose D’Arcy (a wonderful Michael Gough) who stole the opera from the Phantom (which we see in a flashback). And most of the really horrible things the Phantom usually does is given to a henchman to do.
All of this is fine, if a bit staid and clunky. The story never has any real oomph to it, and the ending is a dud. Lom is good and the sets have that usual Hammer charm to them. There are definitely better adaptations of the story than this one, but if you are a Hammer aficionado then you’ll probably like this just fine.
themidnightcafe.org 
Yeah, I didn’t like it at all. Horrible stupid ending. I prefer Lon Chaney’s silent version, which I remember as following the novel pretty closely, and though I have never seen it, I hear the musical is closer to the novel than other adaptations. I had only seen Claude Rains’s 1943 version as a kid on a black-and-white TV, and didn’t like the way they changed the backstory and the story. But then I got the Blu-ray set of the Universal Classic monster movies and saw it for the first time in color. It was great! It even won two Academy Awards because of that. And the two leads were real opera singers so those were their voices. I know it deviates quite a bit from the novel, but it is so gorgeous looking and the dialogue is good. Of the 27 movies in the Blu-ray set, I may have enjoyed that one the most!
I think I have that same boxed set. I always thought it was weird they included that version of the story and not the Lon Chaney one. I’ve never seen the Chaney version, should probably remedy that soon. I barely remember the Claude Raines one, but I rated it 3 stars so I seem to have not like it as much as you.
But yes, this version is not great.
The 1929 restored version with some sound:
Maybe Universal sold the rights to the 1929 version to the companies that have put it out on DVD and Blu-ray. Or maybe they wanted this classic monster collection to be of sound movies only. The 1925 version is longer but only exists in really damaged 16 mm prints. I have a Blu-ray set that has both versions. I prefer the longer 1925 version but no studio would put that out in the condition the print is in.
You really do need to watch this 1929 version. It is the standard by which all other versions of the Phantom should be judged.
Maybe the link will work if you copy and paste this and remove the spaces
https : // youtu.be/vElsIYXbhMU
Or just go to YouTube and look for 1929 restored Phantom of the Opera.
Thank you. I’ve been meaning to watch that version for a while. In fact I thought I had seen it, but I was mis-remembering watching the 1920 version of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.
I still have trouble watching silent movies but I’m trying to get more into them.
Must-see silent horror films:
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Nosferatu (Max Schreck)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Lon Chaney)
Must-see other silent films:
Intolerance
The Battleship Potemkin
The Birth of a Nation (racist but a landmark in cinema)
Sparrows (Mary Pickford) – maybe not a classic but I remember really enjoying it
Thanks. I’ve seen Nosferatu, Hunchback, and Potemkin. Caligari has been on my list for ages as has Birth of a Nation (even own it on DVD but the racism has kept me away from it). Never heard of Sparrows but I’ll try to check it out sometime.