Phantom of the Paradise

This movie is beautiful. Its a consummate midnight movie. Okay, so Paul Williams, Bill Finley, and Jessica Harper may not be the best actors in the world. And sure, the effects, set, camera moves, and acting is SO VERY seventies, but that doesn't take away from the most beautiful score of any made for film musical, heart tugging writing, and a great villain. Also, the humor of this film is great. De Palma was obviously having fun. I mean, this movie can be viewed as a bad piece of overblown trash, or a studio trying to capitalize on a midnight movie craze, but wheres the fun in that? The direction is solid, the music is relevant, and the movie tells a story. Its fun, entertaining, and emotional. What more do you want from a movie? Plus, you have Rod "Twilight Zone" Serling doing the opening narration! What a beautifully cheesy movie.

Talented underground creators. How great it is to be in their worlds! that's when we get them at the height of their more uncontrolled and pure creativity. unmanipulated, wild. The outcome of what they do when they work within the underground is hardly the best work they produce, but it's often their more passionate creations, and practically always indicates what they will master when they "grow up".

Here we have a film that exists in 3 levels (at least 3 that matter to me):

• this is a film within a social and cultural context. The kind of music we hear here (not the multiple parodies, but the music that is intended to be "good") was a reaction to the 60', or the next step of the evolution. Within the same underground spirit that created this film, there was a growing tendency to extend and invent forms that would accommodate the fantasies of new musicians. That's what today we know as progressive rock. This film would pave the way for Tommy, for Live at Pompei, and for The Wall.

• Paul Williams, great mind, great talent. Much of what works here is his vision, from the mood even to some roots of the story. His parodies are great, but his real stuff is good enough. I enjoyed getting to know him better, and it Is funny that he comes to perform the guy who steals his own music.

• de Palma, who was my first interest when coming to this. The fact is i didn't know so well what to expect, and i ended up appreciating more the other levels than this one of the director. Apparently by this time he had clarified what he wanted to explore, but he was far from mastering any of his enormous visual skills, or this film was such a collective work that he just couldn't make his personal statement so well. Anyway we have here eventually the first split screen of his career (i'm not absolutely sure of this), something he would take all his careers with incredible results. Other than that, we don'te have his magical camera eye yet.

The story matters only for the fact that we have a battle between creative and money grower, something that all the people involved here might know pretty well back in those days.

Jennifer Harper has a pretty face, and illuminates the set when she sings.

My opinion: 4/5

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This is probably one of those ones that most people either love or hate, so there isn't that much point in trying to sell it to anyone. I've been hugely attached to it since it came out. I don't think I'm alone in saying that it's "my" answer to Rocky Horror (which to me is simply "entertaining" - which is no insult). A lot of people seem to really dislike Paul Williams. But, love him or hate him, he threw himself completely into the role of Swan. To me, Swan is one of the best comical or semi-comical villains ever (it took me a long while to think of it, but I wonder whether his use of the word "Excellent" in one scene might have inspired Mr. Burns' line on The Simpsons). Everyone else was very good in it, obviously Gerritt Graham as Beef, and George Memmoli as Philbin. I wish , in the first place, that there were FEWER tongue-in-cheek horror films (or whatever you want to call them), and in the second place, that they were as original as this one.

Mix "the Phantom of the Opera" with "Faust" and "the Picture of Dorian Gray", sprinkle it all with 1970's electric glam-rock, Gothic horror and uttermost baroque scenery and costumes. And there you get "Phantom of the Paradise", a picture that has everything to be the perfect cult movie, and would deserve much more attention than its more famous counterpart "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", released one year later.

Whereas "Rocky Horror" remains a farce all the way through, "Phantom of the Paradise" is a real tragedy in the original meaning : the story of a genial but naive musician who gets his work swindled by an evil baby-faced producer who has sold his soul to the Devil. Besides, "Phantom" is more a film about music or a film with songs in it than a proper musical, and it's better so because the story is really interesting. Like "Rocky Horror", " Phantom" is full of parody and incredible gimmicks, but the plot and the soundtrack are far superior, and on the whole, "Phantom" has a lot more class.

Many people who have seen the movie when it was released were teenagers, and it's one of those movies I know many people to have seen ten times or more. Looked at from a mature point of view, it is true that "Phantom" appears somewhat kitsch and not so profound, and it is obvious that the director must have had great fun shooting such a delirious show. But let's say then that as "typical midnight movie", "Phantom of the Paradise" remains a gripping and creative kitsch masterpiece, and still keeps up with its cult movie status thirty years after. That's what classics are all about.

Countless scenes and details would deserve comments, but let's say that two of them are really hard to forget: when the hero gets his face destroyed in a record-press after his escape from Sing-Sing in a toy box, and when he murders the campy music-hall star who usurped his music in the middle of the stage, by shooting a neonlight across his chest as the climax of a hysterical rock concert.

Interesting to know that the same three singers successively impersonate a parody of a sixties group with banana hairdos and falsetto voices, a nutty band in pants and wigs, and finally appear with ominous black and white make-up in a hard-rock performance that reminds of "Kiss". I guess you wouldn't tell if you didn't know.

The casting is very good although none of the actors seemed to have achieved real stardom. You don't get to see so much of William Finley because he wears a mask throughout much of the film, but Paul Williams, who has had a rather mediocre singing career, was perfect for the role as machiavelic producer Swan. The angelic blond face and the malign nature of the character make a very powerful contrast.

However, I found the most impressive performance was given by Jessica Harper. Her big dark eyes and deep voice make her stand out both as an accomplished actress and singer. Her talent has been unfortunately never used any better than in this movie, which was her first star role, and that's "the hell of it".

As for director Brian de Palma, I have not seen many of his films outside of this one, so I'm not too sure, but it looks like "Phantom" really has a place apart in his career. For instance, "Carrie", which got more attention, appeared very disappointing to me in comparison, much more like a B-grade horror flick. Mr de Palma certainly seems to have a fascination for blood, and "Phantom" has of course its fair share of it. Contracts are even signed with blood instead of ink...

This is an absurd and wildly entertaining glam-rock twist on the "Phantom of the Opera" story. Winslow Leach has his rock opera stolen by music biz icon Swan. After terrorizing the record company, Leach is in an awful (but rather hilarious!) accident that renders him disfigured. He terrorizes the opening night of Swan's new rock'n'roll palace, The Paradise.

This is the best horror film I've seen by De Palma. While it is mostly tongue-in-cheek, it does feature one of the most suspenseful uses of his trademark "split screen." The story is great--a surprisingly clever indictment of the music industry. The music is wonderful if you like glam, though the songs that Jessica Harper (the Christine figure) sings seem out of place and are about as deadpan as her performance. Gerrit Graham is a riot as Beef and steals every scene he is in. I recommend "Phantom of the Paradise" to fans of over-the-top productions such as Rocky Horror, as well as anyone looking for a unique twist on a classic tale that doesn't take itself too seriously. My Rating: 7.5/10