Phantom of the Paradise
Phantom of the Paradise
#1Phantom of the Paradise
Posted: 12/19/10 at 4:00pm
I just discovered this Canadian cult film from the early Seventies. Predating Rocky Horror by a few years (the film, anyway), it features uncharacteristic music by pop standards composer Paul Williams, who appears as the film's nonsinging villain AND as the singing voice of the main character.
Is it good? Well, that's debatable. But it is one of those "you have to see it to understand" type films. It's like a bizarre mix of Rocky Horror, Faust, The Phantom of the Opera and Watchmen, with a character and sideplot clearly influenced by Rocky Horror, a demonic pact straight out of Faust, a disfigured composer/antihero like the Phantom, and the colorful dystopian satire of Watchmen (the hero even wears a mask like Night Owl).
sally1112
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/13/04
#2Phantom of the Paradise
Posted: 12/19/10 at 4:50pmThe Simpsons give a wink to this movie in one of the episodes that takes place in the fututre.
#2Phantom of the Paradise
Posted: 12/19/10 at 5:02pm
Phantom of the Paradise directed by Brian De Palma was released by 20th Century-Fox in 1974, a year before they released The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In '75 both films were released to some areas as a double bill.
Jessica Harper's rendition of "Old Souls" is one of my favorite songs from the film, she went on to replace Susan Sarandon in the Rocky Horror "sequel", Shock Treatment in 1981.
husk_charmer
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/19/06
#3Phantom of the Paradise
Posted: 12/19/10 at 6:42pm
And it's not a Canadian film, it's an American.
In fact, the Paradise is actually the Majestic Theatre in Downtown Dallas.
<3 this film.
#4Phantom of the Paradise
Posted: 12/19/10 at 7:39pm
Yeah, groovy movie. It's been on my mind lately and I recently bumped it to the top of my Netflix. LOVE Jessica Harper!
Below I have linked a great resource called Swan Archives. It has many goodies related to the film, including a scene by scene analysis. Exploring that feature I discovered that Betty Buckley dubbed the dialogue for a few female character extras. Guess her work on that led to her role in the Carrie film.
Swan Archives
tourboi
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/15/05
#5Phantom of the Paradise
Posted: 12/20/10 at 1:00am
Love the movie. It's an all out camp fest, and the score by Paul Williams is actually quite good.
Williams toyed with an idea of a stage version a few years ago. I wish he'd revisit that notion.
whyohwhyoh
Understudy Joined: 12/15/10
#6Phantom of the Paradise
Posted: 12/20/10 at 1:12amYES YES YES!! I love POTP and saw it over and over in the 70's. I love Jessica Harper and would love to see her do more film and stage work. Just googled her and didn't realize she'd done all these CD's for children and cookbooks! I think this could make a really terrific stage musical with a lot of rethinking of course. I'd love to see what Michael Grieff or Michael Mayer could do with the material. Or Des McAnuff.
Roscoe
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#7Phantom of the Paradise
Posted: 12/20/10 at 7:36am
A very entertaining movie, I like it a lot. There are rumblings every few years that it will come to Broadway as a stage musical, but nothing ever comes of it, and that's a good thing.
Some really good songs, and a lot of very good fun with a lot of plot sources -- PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, FAUST, all kinds of stuff gets referenced. A couple of holes in the plot, to be fair, but this is one of those disturbing movies where I don't really care. The only film by Brian DePalma that I willingly watch and actually own. And the sublime Jessica Harper, man, I wish she'd work more.
One thing, though -- Paul Williams doesn't do the Phantom's singing. That's Bill Finley doing his own. There's that one scene where Williams' character Swan alters the Phantom's ruined voice electronically to sound like his own, in a wonderful joke about Swan's own insane egotism.
#8Phantom of the Paradise
Posted: 12/20/10 at 8:52pm
Most web sites list Williams as the singing voice of the Phantom, because Winslow sings a song, but the Phantom sings two others, with Williams's voice.
I wasn't sure if it was intended that the Phantom have Swan's voice out of irony (which makes a LOT of twisted sense) or if it was just that that's what the voice coming out of the machine happened to be. Since Swan never sings in character (except over the credits), it was hard to tell if it was an in-story manipulation of his voice, or just a touch of metatheatricality.
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