A disfigured former composer haunts the Paris Opera House and several people have seen the cloaked, shadowy figure. From his vantage point high above the opera house stage he sees and falls in love with young understudy Christine Daae, who is standing in for the company's principal, Carlotta.
It has always been a question whether "The Phantom of the Opera" (1925) is a great film, or only a great spectacle. It is the idea of the Phantom, really, that fascinates us: the idea of a cruelly mistreated man going mad in self-imposed exile in the very cellars, dungeons and torture chambers where he was, apparently, disfigured in the first place. His obsession with Christine reflects his desire to win back some joy from a world that has mistreated him. Leroux and his adapters have placed this sad creature in a bizarre subterranean space that has inspired generations of set designers. There are five levels of cellars beneath the opera, one descending beneath another in an expressionist series of staircases, ramps, trapdoors, and a Styxian river that the Phantom crosses in a gondola. The Phantom has furnished his lair with grotesque fittings: He sleeps in a coffin and provides a bed for Christine in the shape of a whale boat. Remote controls give him warnings when anyone approaches and allow him to roast or drown his enemies. - Roger Ebert
House on Haunted Hill (1959) - Game of Surviving 12 hours in the haunted houseHouse on Haunted Hill (1959) - Five people are invited by Frederick and Annabelle Loren to spend 12 hours in the house on Haunted Hill. All who manage to do so will receive $10,000. The house is presumably haunted - one of the guests, Mr. Pritchard, who seems to know a great deal about the history of the place and says t [...]
EPISODE 3: A Traitor's CodePlot:The Phantom deals with Professor Davidson (Frank Shannon) and his daughter Diana (Jeanne Bates) who search Africa for the Lost City of Zoloz, reputed to be the source of a large hidden treasure. Also searching is a local crook, Singapore Smith (Joe Devlin), and Dr. Max Bremmer (Kenneth MacDonald), a Nazi agent who plans to destroy the peace in which the native tribe [...]
EPISODE 1: The Sign Of The Skull (1943)Plot:The Phantom deals with Professor Davidson (Frank Shannon) and his daughter Diana (Jeanne Bates) who search Africa for the Lost City of Zoloz, reputed to be the source of a large hidden treasure. Also searching is a local crook, Singapore Smith (Joe Devlin), and Dr. Max Bremmer (Kenneth MacDonald), a Nazi agent who plans to destroy the peace in which the [...]
EPISODE 2: The Man Who Never Dies (1943)Plot:The Phantom deals with Professor Davidson (Frank Shannon) and his daughter Diana (Jeanne Bates) who search Africa for the Lost City of Zoloz, reputed to be the source of a large hidden treasure. Also searching is a local crook, Singapore Smith (Joe Devlin), and Dr. Max Bremmer (Kenneth MacDonald), a Nazi agent who plans to destroy the peace in which the [...]
EPISODE 5: The Seat of Judgement (1943)Plot:The Phantom deals with Professor Davidson (Frank Shannon) and his daughter Diana (Jeanne Bates) who search Africa for the Lost City of Zoloz, reputed to be the source of a large hidden treasure. Also searching is a local crook, Singapore Smith (Joe Devlin), and Dr. Max Bremmer (Kenneth MacDonald), a Nazi agent who plans to destroy the peace in which the [...]
EPISODE 4: The Seat of Judgement (1943)Plot:The Phantom deals with Professor Davidson (Frank Shannon) and his daughter Diana (Jeanne Bates) who search Africa for the Lost City of Zoloz, reputed to be the source of a large hidden treasure. Also searching is a local crook, Singapore Smith (Joe Devlin), and Dr. Max Bremmer (Kenneth MacDonald), a Nazi agent who plans to destroy the peace in which the [...]