And so it was that the 1963 Hammer version totally ignored the original, and used the famous and popular '43 version (my Dad saw it while in the army and LOVED it) as its springboard, to do the typical 'Hammer' thing of 'different for the sake of different', crafting a film where every single frame screams 'Hammer' (was there ever a studio where the finished product was SO uniquely recognizable?).

In the case of PHANTOM, each time it gets mutated further and further from the original, and while the results may be intriguing to behold, each version is like an entirely different story! So it was that the 1943 remake used the original merely as a springboard for what was really a Nelson Eddy-Jeannete McDonald musical-comedy, pushing the 'real' star almost out of his own picture, and completely changing the back-story (while ironically restoring the original ending from the book- but almost nothing else). In the case of HUNCHBACK, each time it seems to have been done with minor revisions, and generally, the results have been excellent. I long ago noticed an interesting parallel between 2 classic tragic romances, both set in Paris- THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. It is incomprehensible to me why some 'writers' feel the compulsion to totally mess up a classic story by changing everything about the original that made it worthwhile in the first place.

Phantom of the opera cast imdb