The Phantom of the Opera

The Phantom of the Opera is a novel from 1909 written by French novelist Gaston Leroux.

The story is about the titular Phantom as he haunts an opera house in Paris. Another point in the story is that he is giving voice lessons to a young singer named Christine Daae, whom he is also attracted to. The main themes of the story is that the Phantom is deformed, Christine is the understudy to the arrogant diva, she has a male love interest (usually named Raoul) and the Phantom kidnaps her and takes her to his lair.

The story wound up being so timeless that they made film after film about it over the course of over 50 years. The first film would be the infamous 1925 silent film with Lon Chaney as the Phantom. The film is more or less infamous because of Chaney's terrifying makeup, which he did himself. After that, the story would rest for 12 years until in 1937, the Phantom would return in the Chinese film, Song at Midnight, played by Jin Shan and named Song Danping. The film is often regarded as being the first Chinese horror film. After that, the Phantom would come back to his roots in 1943, this time in colour and portrayed by Claude Rains. Unlike the original or the Chaney version, where the Phantom is simply named Erik, the Phantom is given the name Erique Claudin.

In Rains' version, the Phantom is given the position of opera house violinist, which further attaches him to the opera. Like the Jin Shan version, he is disfigured by acid tossed in his face, a trope which would be echoed in several future films. Afterwards, the Phantom would rest for 19 years before technically coming back in 1962's Vampire of the Opera. The story, for the most part, drastically derives from the original source material, starting with the fact that the Phantom is a Vampire, who's name is simply Stefano and portrayed by Giuseppe Addobbati. 2 years later, the Phantom would fully come back, only this name in London and as a scarred composer named Professor Petrie, played by Herbert Lom. This Phantom was created by Hammer Films as opposed to Chaney and Rains, who were released by Universal.