Universal Classic Monsters

Phantom of the Opera

Erique Claudin had been a violinist at the Paris Opera House for twenty years. However he has been losing the use of the fingers of his left hand, which affects his violin-playing. He is dismissed because of this, the conductor of the opera house assuming that he has enough money to support himself. This is not the case however, for Claudin has spent it all by anonymously funding the music lessons of Christine Dubois, a young soprano whom Claudin has secretly fallen in love with. In a desperate attempt to gain money, Claudin tries to get a concerto he has written published. After submitting it and not hearing a response, he becomes worried and returns to the publishers, Maurice Pleyel & Georgette Desjardins, to ask about it. No one there knows what happened to it, and do not seem to care. Claudin persists, but Pleyel rudely tells him to leave and goes back to the etchings he was working on.

Finally giving up, Claudin stands there for a moment and hangs his head sadly. Someone begins to play music in the next room, and he looks up in shock when he hears it. It is his concerto that is merely being endorsed and praised by Franz Liszt. Convinced that Pleyel is trying to steal his concerto, Claudin leaps up and begins to strangle him. Just as he tosses the body of Pleyel to the floor, Georgette, the publisher's assistant, throws etching acid at Claudin. Screeching and wailing, he dashes out the door clutching his face. Now being hunted down by the police for murder, he flees to the sewers of the Opera. Claudin steals a prop mask from the costume department to cover his now-disfigured face and becomes obsessed with Christine.

Meanwhile, Inspector Raoul Dubert wants Christine to quit the Opera and marry him. But famed opera baritone Anatole Garron hopes to win Christine's heart. Christine considers them both good friends but doesn't openly express if she loves them. Christine is the understudy for the Opera’s female diva Mme. Biancarolli, who will do anything to stay in the limelight. But during a performance of the opera Amore et Gloire, Claudin drugs a glass of wine which Biancarolli drinks and makes her collapse and unable to perform. The director puts Christine in her place and she dazzles both the audience and everyone else. But Mme. Biancarolli who suspects that Garron and Christine are guilty. She orders Raoul to arrest them but he says he can't because there is no evidence to prove that her statement true. So Biancarolli sets a condition. She will forget the whole affair only if Christine's performance is not mentioned in the papers. And that it will be forgotten about completely by everyone. Her conditions are reluctantly accepted, much to Christine and Anatole's dismay. The next night Claudin enters Biancarolli's dressing room and kills her and her maid.

After some time. To catch Claudin, Raoul comes up with a plan: not let Christine sing during a performance of the opera "La Prince Masque du Caucasus" while Garron plans to have Liszt play the concerto after the performance. But Claudin strangles one of Dubert's men and heads to the domed ceiling of the auditorium. He then brings down the large chandelier on the audience and cause chaos to spread. As the audience and the crew flee, Claudin takes Christine down underground. He tells Christine that he loves her and that she will now sing all she wants, but only for him. And that they will remain together. But Christine doesn't recognize Claudin and is afraid of him.

Raoul, Anatole and the police begin pursuing them underground. Just as Claudin and Christine arrive in his lair they hear Liszt and the whole orchestra playing Claudin's concerto. Claudin plays along with it on his Piano as Christine watches. Raoul and Anatole hear Claudin playing and follow the sound. Overjoyed, Claudin urges Christine to sing which she does. While Claudin is distracted by the music Christine sneaks up and pulls off his mask and sees his burnt disfigured face caused by the acid. At that same moment Raoul and Anatole break in. Claudin grabs a sword to fight them with. Raoul fires his gun at Claudin, but Anatole knocks Raoul's arm and the shot hits the ceiling causing a cave in. Anatole and Raoul escape with Christine but Claudin gets crushed to death by the falling rocks. Anatole then tells Christine that she and Claudin had come from the same town district which she responds with by saying while Claudin had seemed a bit like a stranger to her she had somehow "always felt drawn to him". Anatole finishes by saying that Claudin's suffering will be forgotten and his concerto will live on. Back at the Phantom's lair, in memory, one of the final scenes shows The mask propped against Claudin's violin.

Later, Anatole and Raoul demand that Christine finally chooses between the two men. She surprises Anatole and Raoul by choosing to marry neither and pursue her singing career. Because now understands how much Claudin loved her and how much he was devoted to her singing. She leaves the room and joins her adoring fans outside. The film ends with Anatole and Raoul go off to commiserate together.