Phantom of the Paradise ('74)
Posted: Wed Oct 29, 2008 6:15 amThe following is copied over from a recent blog entry at my DeviantArt page...
http://enshohma.deviantart.com/
...So please forgive me if the following article is a little odd in its reading:
If that wasn't enough, the Fox Movie Channels also get in to the act with a whole swell of their own horror and sci-fi films, but the one that I especially recommend is non-other then the lesser known and somewhat hated by some of my non-hip friends, 1974's The Phantom of the Paradise, which according to MY local listings, will be the subject of Fox's Friday triple play, complete with an lengthy introduction to the film, this Friday at 8PM (central time).
But that's kind of weird considering the film was a major flop at the time (minus one Canadian city), and even as a cult film, it's a small cult indeed. Or at least from my own personal experiences when sharing the film with others. Still, it's an excellent opportunely for more people (namely YOU) to experience one of the major causes behind my current insanity while I was growing up, since I was first introduced to this film at an early age.
Phantom of the Paradise is perhaps the only semi-comedy to come from director Brian De Palma, and even with that said it's a pretty crazy, musical filled, and darkly humorous hybrid of three famous gothic tales; Phantom of the Opera, Faust, and A Picture of Dorian Gray.
William Finley plays Winslow Leach, a struggling and unknown composer whose lengthy cantata based on the story of "Faust" is stolen right under his innocent, dimwitted noise by Swan, a ruthless and powerful though rather mysterious record mogul, played against type by Paul Williams.
In an attempt to see Swan about the situation leads Winslow to meet and fall in love with another struggling artist, a naive but kind singer named Phoenix. Sadly Winslow's life gets far worse when Swan frames him for crimes he didn't commit and is imprisoned for them.
Now although Winslow is a pretty pleasant guy and all, he is capable of sudden bursts of extreme violent rage. And when he discovers that Swan is butchering his life's work for the opening of his rock palace dubbed the Paradise, he escapes from jail and goes on a wonderfully cartoonish rampage. Which ends in tragically when he is brutally injured and deformed at one of Swan's record warehouses and falls into the nearby sea, presumed to be dead by the rest of the world.
But like his inspirational namesake, Winslow returns from the dead so to speak, and dons a cool super villain-style bird getup to become the Phantom of the Paradise, in his attempts to have revenge against Swan and his many employees. But things get more complicated when poor Phoenix is brought into Swan's fold as well, leading to final shocking revelation that Swan is an even bigger monster (both fugitively and literally) then the Phantom himself!
As elegantly ominous as that synopsis is, Phantom of the Paradise more like a live action cartoon with its loose logic, added with some good rock music sequences. It also holds up the enjoyable pace a lot better then similar films do, including the cult classic to end all cult classics (and please don't kill me for stating such because I love this film too) The Rocky Horror Picture Show!
It's one of those weird flicks you really have to love weird flicks to enjoy. And most I've shown the film too either love it or hate it...mostly the latter. But I really hope some of you guys give this weird little rock-n-roll-comedy-horror-fantasy a chance come this Friday (Halloween night). And after which share your opinions, positive and anything but, here as well.
I'll have more on the "Phantom of the Paradise" myself come Friday in a more visual form (*wink-wink*), but until then, a very informative fan site on the movie entitled The Swan Archives...ignore the intro-page's semi-fan fiction text, the rest is more down to earth stuff...or is it: http://www.swanarchives.org/
http://enshohma.deviantart.com/
...So please forgive me if the following article is a little odd in its reading:
If that wasn't enough, the Fox Movie Channels also get in to the act with a whole swell of their own horror and sci-fi films, but the one that I especially recommend is non-other then the lesser known and somewhat hated by some of my non-hip friends, 1974's The Phantom of the Paradise, which according to MY local listings, will be the subject of Fox's Friday triple play, complete with an lengthy introduction to the film, this Friday at 8PM (central time).
But that's kind of weird considering the film was a major flop at the time (minus one Canadian city), and even as a cult film, it's a small cult indeed. Or at least from my own personal experiences when sharing the film with others. Still, it's an excellent opportunely for more people (namely YOU) to experience one of the major causes behind my current insanity while I was growing up, since I was first introduced to this film at an early age.
Phantom of the Paradise is perhaps the only semi-comedy to come from director Brian De Palma, and even with that said it's a pretty crazy, musical filled, and darkly humorous hybrid of three famous gothic tales; Phantom of the Opera, Faust, and A Picture of Dorian Gray.
William Finley plays Winslow Leach, a struggling and unknown composer whose lengthy cantata based on the story of "Faust" is stolen right under his innocent, dimwitted noise by Swan, a ruthless and powerful though rather mysterious record mogul, played against type by Paul Williams.
In an attempt to see Swan about the situation leads Winslow to meet and fall in love with another struggling artist, a naive but kind singer named Phoenix. Sadly Winslow's life gets far worse when Swan frames him for crimes he didn't commit and is imprisoned for them.
Now although Winslow is a pretty pleasant guy and all, he is capable of sudden bursts of extreme violent rage. And when he discovers that Swan is butchering his life's work for the opening of his rock palace dubbed the Paradise, he escapes from jail and goes on a wonderfully cartoonish rampage. Which ends in tragically when he is brutally injured and deformed at one of Swan's record warehouses and falls into the nearby sea, presumed to be dead by the rest of the world.
But like his inspirational namesake, Winslow returns from the dead so to speak, and dons a cool super villain-style bird getup to become the Phantom of the Paradise, in his attempts to have revenge against Swan and his many employees. But things get more complicated when poor Phoenix is brought into Swan's fold as well, leading to final shocking revelation that Swan is an even bigger monster (both fugitively and literally) then the Phantom himself!
As elegantly ominous as that synopsis is, Phantom of the Paradise more like a live action cartoon with its loose logic, added with some good rock music sequences. It also holds up the enjoyable pace a lot better then similar films do, including the cult classic to end all cult classics (and please don't kill me for stating such because I love this film too) The Rocky Horror Picture Show!
It's one of those weird flicks you really have to love weird flicks to enjoy. And most I've shown the film too either love it or hate it...mostly the latter. But I really hope some of you guys give this weird little rock-n-roll-comedy-horror-fantasy a chance come this Friday (Halloween night). And after which share your opinions, positive and anything but, here as well.
I'll have more on the "Phantom of the Paradise" myself come Friday in a more visual form (*wink-wink*), but until then, a very informative fan site on the movie entitled The Swan Archives...ignore the intro-page's semi-fan fiction text, the rest is more down to earth stuff...or is it: http://www.swanarchives.org/
