The Phantom of the Opera

On opening night, the show is interrupted when the body of a murdered stagehand swings out of the wings during Maria's aria. The audience gasps as a pall of fear spreads and Box #5 is avoided, rumored to be haunted. Panic erupts as the performance collapses into pandemonium.

With the show postponed, producer Harry Hunter searches for a new leading soprano. He scouts Christine Charles, a bright chorus girl who could become a star. Her talent promises a fresh take on the lead.

Lord Ambrose D'Arcy is smitten and invites Christine to dinner, offering her a promising career. Christine is flattered but cautious, sensing danger behind the charm.

In Christine's dressing room, a bodiless voice warns her to beware of Lord Ambrose. The eerie warning foreshadows the lurking manipulation around her burgeoning career.

That same night, Ambrose makes a move to seduce Christine in pursuit of control. Harry intervenes and saves Christine from the predatory lord.

On the ride home, Christine recounts the strange singing voice warning her about Ambrose. Harry grows increasingly convinced that a phantom is manipulating events from the shadows.

Harry brings Christine back to the opera house to investigate the strange happenings. In the shadows, the rat-catcher is murdered by a dwarf, escalating the danger.

Christine is confronted by the Phantom and carried to his lair deep in the opera house cellars. The Phantom declares he will teach her to sing and subjects her to relentless rehearsals until exhaustion.

Harry finds an old draft of the opera written by Professor Petrie, a former boarder. He suspects Lord Ambrose stole Petrie's music and published it under his own name.

A flashback reveals Petrie, a starving composer, selling his music to Ambrose to gain recognition. When Ambrose publishes it as his own, Petrie destroys the printer plates, starts a fire, and is disfigured by nitric acid; he is swept away by the Thames but survives and is rescued by the dwarf in an underground drain.

Though physically fading, the Phantom asks to see his opera performed by Christine and grants her time to train. Harry and Christine agree to let him live through the coaching process.

On the eve of a Saint Joan performance, the Phantom confronts Ambrose and rips off his mask. Ambrose flees in horror as Christine prepares to take the stage.

Christine sings from Box #5 as the Phantom watches, moved to tears by her voice. The dwarf is spotted on the catwalk, and in the chase the chandelier begins to fall. The Phantom reveals himself, saves Christine from harm, and is impaled by the falling chandelier in front of the horrified audience.