Phantom of the Paradise
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section has multiple issues. Please help improve the article or discuss these issues on the talk page.
|
| Phantom of the Paradise | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical poster by John Alvin |
|
| Directed by | Brian De Palma |
| Produced by | Edward R. Pressman |
| Written by | Brian De Palma |
| Starring | Paul Williams William Finley Jessica Harper |
| Music by | Paul Williams |
| Editing by | Paul Hirsch |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
| Release date(s) | October 31, 1974 |
| Running time | 92 min. |
| Country |  |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $1.3 million |
| Gross revenue | $5,386,107 |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Phantom of the Paradise (also known as The Phantom of the Filmore) is a 1974 horror-thriller musical film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The story is a loosely adapted mixture of Phantom of the Opera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Faust. The film was marketed with the tagline "He sold his soul for rock n'roll", and then with "He's been maimed and framed, beaten, robbed and mutilated. But they still can't keep him from the woman he loves." Initially a box office failure and panned by some critics, it has since gained a cult following.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
The story follows a music composer and singer named Winslow Leach (played by William Finley). Winslow's pop cantata "Faust" is stolen by Satanic record producer, Swan (played by Paul Williams). Winslow tries to get it back, and along the way falls for Phoenix, an aspiring singer (played by Jessica Harper). Swan orders his minions to frame Winslow for drug dealing.
In prison, after his teeth are removed and replaced with metal ones, Winslow goes berserk, escapes and tries to destroy Swan's record factory. His face is mutilated in a record press accident and his vocal cords are damaged. Winslow sneaks into Swan's concert hall and residence, the Paradise, and wears an owl-like mask and black leather costume so he can terrorize Swan's musicians.
Swan confronts Winslow, and offers the composer the chance to have his music produced and the return of his voice, in exchange for signing a contract in blood. Winslow agrees, on the condition that Phoenix is the lead singer.
Swan breaks the deal, seduces Phoenix, and puts a gay male prima donna named Beef (Gerrit Graham) in the lead of Winslow's "Faust". Winslow kills Beef, then learns that Swan made a pact with the devil years ago: Swan will live forever, with a youthful appearance, unless the videotaped recording of his contract is destroyed. Winslow's contract with Swan, in turn, says that that Winslow can't die until Swan himself has died. Winslow destroys the recordings and then heads off to the wedding between Phoenix and Swan.
The story ends with Winslow crashing Swan's wedding to Phoenix where Swan planned on having Phoenix assassinated. Winslow manages to stop the assassin's bullet from hitting Phoenix, which ends up killing Swan's henchman, Philbin, who is officiating at the wedding, and exposes Swan as a monster on live television. Swan's face is now hideous due to the tapes being destroyed and the deal between him and Satan being broken. Winslow stabs Swan but the moment he does his wound from trying to kill himself earlier opens. Swan, as he is dying, is carried around by the audience, which is excited to the point of hysteria, and Winslow, dying, crawls on the floor towards Phoenix, who is in shock. She can't believe the Phantom was the nice man she met at the beginning of the film. Swan dies and so does Winslow just as he holds out a hand to Phoenix. When he collapses she walks over to him and lays down next to him, heartbroken, and the film ends.
[edit] Cast and Crew
[edit] Cast
- Paul Williams as Swan: in one scene when Swan is adjusting Winslow's voice, the singer is not Finley but Williams himself, creating an in-joke when Swan announces that the voice is "perfect".
- William Finley as Winslow Leach/The Phantom: The character was named after director Brian De Palma's mentor, Wilford Leach. During production, Finley came up with the bird motif of the Phantom costume, a collaboration with costume designer Rosanna Norton.
- Jessica Harper as Phoenix: Harper beat out singer Linda Ronstadt for the part of Phoenix. A possible in-joke is made in the scene after Phoenix ascent to stardom is a magazine ad with the headline "I'm a Harper's Freak", referencing the actress' last name.
- George Memmoli as Philbin: Swan's chief henchman borrows his last name from Mary Philbin, star of the 1925 version of The Phantom of the Opera.
- Gerrit Graham as Beef: Graham's singing voice was dubbed by Ray Kennedy. Graham has talked about the infamous "musical chairs" casting, where Finley almost wound up with no part to play. At one point, Williams was to play Winslow, Graham was to play Swan and Peter Boyle was cast as Beef. Williams turned down the role of Winslow mostly because he didn't feel physically large or menacing enough for the role. Boyle was unavailable due to filming for Young Frankenstein, after which Graham took the Beef role and Finley ultimately took the Winslow role, which had been written with him in mind. Finley has also said in an interview that Jon Voight was at one time considered for the role of Swan.
- Archie Hahn as The Juicy Fruits/The Beach Bums/The Undeads
[edit] Crew
- Sissy Spacek is credited as "set dresser" for this film, assisting her boyfriend (now husband) Jack Fisk, who was the film's production designer.
[edit] Filming
The record press in which Finley's Winslow character was disfigured was a real pressing plant (an injection-molding press at an Ideal Toys plant). He was worried about whether the machine would be safe, and the crew assured that it was. The press was fitted with foam pads (which resemble the casting molds in the press), and there were chocks put in the center to stop it from closing completely. Unfortunately, the machine was powerful enough to crush the chocks that it gradually kept closing. Finely moved fast enough to avoid injury, but his scream (a real reaction from the incident) was added to the final version of the film.
The "electronic room" in which Winslow composes his cantata (and where Swan restores his voice) is in fact the real-life recording studio, The Record Plant. The walls covered with knobs are in reality an oversize custom-built electronic synthesizer dubbed TONTO, which still exists to this day at the studio.
[edit] Box-Office Performance
The film was a box-office bomb the year of its initial showings. Curiously, the film's major market during its theatrical release was in Winnipeg, Canada where it stayed in local cinemas over four months continuously and over one year non-continuously until 1976. Relatedly, the soundtrack sold 20,000 copies in Winnipeg alone, and it got Gold status in Canada. The film was later shown on area IMAX screens in the 90's.
[edit] Soundtrack
The soundtrack is still available. All songs in the movie are on the soundtrack, except "Never Thought I'd Get to Meet the Devil". Track listing:
- Goodbye, Eddie, Goodbye - Archie Hahn, Juicy Fruits
- Faust - Bill Finley
- Upholstery - Jeffrey Comanor, Beach Bums
- Special to Me (Phoenix Audition Song) - Jessica Harper
- Phantom's Theme (Beauty and The Beast) - Paul Williams
- Somebody Super Like You (Beef Construction Song) - Harold Oblong, The Undeads
- Life at Last - Ray Kennedy
- Old Souls - Jessica Harper
- Faust - Paul Williams
- The Hell of It - Paul Williams
[edit] External links
- Phantom of the Paradise at the Internet Movie Database
- Phantom of the Paradise at Allmovie
- Phantom of the Paradise at Rotten Tomatoes
- The 1975 Phantom phenomenon in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada: Phantompalooza
- Detailed fansite: Swan Archives
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
