Le fantôme d'Hollywood

The famed MGM back lot is home to a million memories of movies gone by. It's also secret home to a masked killer who goes on the rampage when the lot is threatened with redevelopment.

Inspired by the Phantom of the Opera, this is an interesting thriller that melds the sinister with moviemaking nostalgia. You sort of feel sorry for the phantom who is trying to stop the backlots from being torn down. Well-photographed and located, the phantom of Hollywood is atmospheric, fun and boasts a tour de force performance from Jack Cassidy.

Interesting little TV-movie, obviously inspired by the more famous Phantom Of The Opera. Nice behind-the-scenes shots of decaying MGM sets, some even in the act of being demolished. Peppered with old stars, Jackie Coogan, etc. A nice companion piece to the William Castle's Ghost Story/Cirlce Of Fear episode "Graveyard Shift" which aired the previous year (1973) featuring John Astin and a pregnant Patty Duke Astin. Both seem to hit upon the same note - a sign of the times - the despair of the end of the Hollywood magic factories and a longing for a return to times and people lost. MGM was becoming a hotel chain and record label as Universal was devolving into television and theme parks.

One of our Hollywood fantasy streets and towns, the MGM backlot, where many a "Twilight Zone" victim, sometimes "Out of Limits" victim lived or wound up, crumples up like old wet cardboard before our very eyes. But, as seen in other scenes in the movie, sadly, perhaps it was too much of a mess to save. But we do get a tour of the backlot sets before it is torn down. And, Jack Cassidy Is the only other reason for looking at this.

Trite story of "phantom" who lives on the back lot at a Hollywood movie studio (MGM actually) in a cave. He gets nasty when the studio sells off the acreage and starts destroying the old sets.

TV movie with a few name stars has Peter Lawford as the studio head, Broderick Crawford and John Ireland as cops, Peter Haskell as the studio PR guy, Jackie Coogan as a film editor, Jack Cassidy as a photo archive guy, and Skye Aubrey as Lawford's daughter.

Cameo appearances by Regis Toomey as a guard, Billy Halop as an engineer, and Kent Taylor and Corinne Calvet as the "premiere" add nothing to the story.

The 70-year-old phantom, racing around the lost makes no sense. When they start to bulldoze the sets, the fall down like the cardboard and plywood they are. The real sets might have been only facades, but they were built out of real building materials. It's almost funny to hear the sound effects as the cardboard sets fall down.

The most interesting part of the movie is the use of movie clips. We see some real special effects from SAN FRANCISCO, Charles Laughton and Clark Gable in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, Jaen Harlow and Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, Greta Garbo and John Barrymore in GRAND HOTEL, Mickey Rooney in YOUNG TOM EDISON, and clips from THE WIZARD OF OZ and the silent version of BEN-HUR (complete with roaring crowds!). There are passing mentions of John Gilbert and Joan Crawford.

The acting is terrible and the make-up is even worse. Hard to believe they spent money on re-mastering this for a DVD release when so many real classic films are sitting on shelves in archives.

Unfortunately, they were permanently dismantling the old back lot on the MGM studio property when this was being filmed, since the land had been sold to developers, so you watch as a grand old Hollywood institution is methodically destroyed and forever lost. If not for that, this movie would be only an interesting oddity. You see many Hollywood film sets from the old days of the cinema, juxtaposed against their present-day condition, and then you see them demolished. Today, it makes for sad viewing when you realize what history is being thrown away.

The movie itself is fairly good; the premise being that there is a legend of a phantom who protects the studio when it's in danger. The workmen begin disappearing, and a studio exec starts to delve into the history of the studio to try and find out who's doing the killing.

This screams 70's TV movie while you're watching it, but it's a decent film despite that. Jack Cassidy is good, as usual, in the part of the aging film star; he has ego to spare and fits the part extremely well. There are many old Hollywood stars in it, like Broderick Crawford, Jackie Coogan, Peter Lawford, John Ireland, Elisah Cook, Jr., and Billy Halop. All in all, it's a film that is more important than it would have been otherwise, just because of the historic film sets in it that can't be seen anymore. I enjoy this movie immensely, and everyone I talk with about it remembers it fondly. It's worth a look if you can find it.