The Phantom of the Opera (1962)
Directed by: Terence Fisher
Premise: An adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel. The debut of a new production at a London opera house is beset by accidents and deaths. A disfigured musician (Herbert Lom) living beneath the opera house becomes obsessed with an up-and-coming singer (Heather Sears).
What Works: Britain’s Hammer film studio was one of the major companies in the horror genre of the 1950s and 60s. Hammer was best known for their gothic period pieces, namely the Dracula films starring Christopher Lee and the studio’s Frankenstein films starring Peter Cushing, and Hammer’s output was characterized by lurid (for the time) visuals, gore and sexuality, and a sometimes campy tone. Hammer produced its own version of The Phantom of the Opera which was distributed by Universal. It’s immediately evident as a Hammer production. Like a lot of the studio’s horror pictures from that time, 1962’s Phantom of the Opera has a gothic and moody atmosphere. The Phantom has a ghostly quality and the sets are designed and lit with a lot of character.This version of Phantom of the Opera is less an adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel and more a reworking of Universal’s 1943 version. This is an improvement on that material. 1962’s Phantom of the Opera builds on the themes of the 1943 film, namely corruption in the entertainment business, and the filmmakers deepen the concept, using it to drive the drama. Like a lot of Hammer films, the real villain of Phantom of the Opera is a megalomaniacal aristocrat, in this case the music composer Lord Ambrose D’Arcy. Played by Michael Gough, D’Arcy is seething with greed and corruption. The Phantom is dignified and gentlemanly by comparison. The filmmakers also realize that the audience has seen this story a couple of times already and they smartly rework the familiar elements but present them in a new way; the chandelier drop is an effective example.
What Doesn’t: The weakest element of 1962’s Phantom of the Opera is the inclusion of a mute dwarf (Ian Wilson) who is the Phantom’s companion in the catacombs. The dwarf commits all the murders, some of them without a directive, which makes the Phantom more sympathetic but also robs the character of his monstrosity and complexity. He is not a violent figure in this version and that undercuts the stakes of the drama. This becomes especially evident in the climax. The conflict between the Phantom and D’Arcy doesn’t come to much of a resolution and the moment of redemption is hollow because the Phantom is not really a villain.
Disc extras: The Shout! Factory Blu-Ray release includes commentary tracks, featurettes, an interview, image galleries, and a theatrical trailer.
Bottom Line: 1962’s Phantom of the Opera is one of the better versions of this story. It doesn’t have much to do with Gaston Leroux’s novel but it does finds new ways to tell a familiar story and does so with style.
Episode: #1069 (October 19, 2025)