There is, it's safe to say, a lot going on with The Phantom of the Paradise. It's a collaboration between Brian De Palma, who as a director had just recently started going in the thriller direction he's best known for, and Paul Williams, who is best remembered for writing songs for Muppets and Karen Carpenter. Williams wrote all the songs for the movie, a musical/horror adaptation of Phantom of the Opera, which hadn't yet gotten the Andrew Lloyd Webber treatment. Williams wrote all the songs and also plays the chief villain, an evil reflection of Phil Spector. (The real Spector's murder conviction was quite a ways in the future.)
Things are primed for weirdness and De Palma delivers. The film starts with a voice-over from Rod Serling itself, leading into a doo-wop extravaganza that plays like if Sha Na Na were more death-obsessed. This is an introduction into the world of Swan (Williams), which is even more sordid than you might guess. At this point the antihero/secondary villain, Winslow Leach, is just a songwriter, a very naive songwriter who hands over originals of his work for Swan to critique, and three guesses how that works out. Before his lengthy but quick list of misfortunes and disfigurements, Leach looks like a wimpier Warren Zevon. He's played by frequent De Palma collaborator William Finley, who manages to keep much of his dopey innocence after the character has become a monster and a killer.
Are there flaws in the movie? Oh yes, yes indeedy. For one thing Leach's grand work is a rock opera about the Faust legend, but he doesn't balk at signing a contract in blood. And Swan's scheme unravels at the end due to what seems just a random discovery.
Still, there's fun to be had. De Palma has probably directed better movies, but this one has a go for broke spunk and absolute indifference to realism that keep it lively. He's never seemed to have more fun as a director.
Things are primed for weirdness and De Palma delivers. The film starts with a voice-over from Rod Serling itself, leading into a doo-wop extravaganza that plays like if Sha Na Na were more death-obsessed. This is an introduction into the world of Swan (Williams), which is even more sordid than you might guess. At this point the antihero/secondary villain, Winslow Leach, is just a songwriter, a very naive songwriter who hands over originals of his work for Swan to critique, and three guesses how that works out. Before his lengthy but quick list of misfortunes and disfigurements, Leach looks like a wimpier Warren Zevon. He's played by frequent De Palma collaborator William Finley, who manages to keep much of his dopey innocence after the character has become a monster and a killer.
Are there flaws in the movie? Oh yes, yes indeedy. For one thing Leach's grand work is a rock opera about the Faust legend, but he doesn't balk at signing a contract in blood. And Swan's scheme unravels at the end due to what seems just a random discovery.
Still, there's fun to be had. De Palma has probably directed better movies, but this one has a go for broke spunk and absolute indifference to realism that keep it lively. He's never seemed to have more fun as a director.
2 comments:
You'd think we'd have seen this one but I can't recall that we ever did. Paul Williams looking like a chubby mischievous elf doesn't quite fit the expectations one has of a Faustian villain. That aside, I did watch the trailer and can see what you mean about the death-obsessed Sha-Na-Na doo-wop extravanganza. The whole thing looks as though it could be fun to watch in its entirety - your excellent summary provides all the more reason.
Oddly enough, it also took us decades to get around to watching the Rocky Horror Picture Show. Made around the same time as Phantom it certainly made its mark on entertainment history. Tim Curry was marvelous and the songs so good that even all these years later there are audiences that sing along. Dammit Janet, let's do the Time Warp again.
It occurs to me that the big difference between the two movies is that Rocky Horror was always meant as a farce while Phantom (the original as well as this one) is a tragedy. Yes, I think we're going to have to see it for ourselves. Thanks for the recommendation.
Just last month we watched a DePalma movie that didn't work at all - The Black Dahlia made in 2006. Please avoid.
I think at the time this movie was made The Rocky Horror Show was playing on the West End, but it hadn't come close to being a movie yet. So on one level I don't think De Palma was directly influenced by it, but there was something going on that they were both a part of. Similarities aren't strictly coincidental.
Rocky Horror came out in 1977. Its roots were in early seventies glam rock, so it might have seemed like yesterday's news to audiences at the time. It wasn't a hit back then. Still, you can't keep a good cult movie down. The musical numbers are a good time, and Tim Curry as absolutely brilliant as Frank N. Furter.
There's certainly some comedy to this movie, although that's not dominant. You might well find it interesting.
Black Dahlia doesn't seem that tempting to me. I'm sure it looks good, but if you're going to be spending two or more hours watching a movie that's not enough.
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