Punjab Lasso - in The Movies

In The Movies

The lasso has appeared in the movie versions of the story, although it is rarely identified.

• In the 1925 version, Buquet is found hanged in the cellars of the opera house (as in the novel). Once Joseph is found, his brother Simon exclaims, "The Punjab Lasso! The Stranglers Cord!"

• The lasso is absent in the 1943 version, but the Phantom still strangles someone with a rope.

• In the 1987 animated version, Monsieur Robert, one of the managers, is killed for trying to sell the Phantom's private Box - Box 5 - and he is found hanging in the box, although it is not stated that is it due to the Punjab lasso.

• In the 1989 version with Robert Englund, the chief scene shifter, Joseph Buquet, is found skinned alive and hanging in La Carlotta's closet. As with the previous film versions, it is not mentioned whether or not it is from the Punjab lasso. In one scene the Phantom uses a whip to protect himself from robbers.

• In the 2004 version by Joel Schumacher, which is based on the musical, the lasso is used in a manner more closely related to the original novel - as a piece of rope with no magical properties. As in the stage musical, the Phantom uses it to kill Buquet; to kill Piangi in order to take his place in Don Juan Triumphant; and in his threatening Christine with Raoul's death (in this scene, the Phantom threw the lasso around Raoul's neck—in the book the lasso was always thrown).