PhantomParadiseMovieReview

PHANTOM

of the

PARADISE

This little gem, from the director of "Sisters," "Carrie" and "Scarface," is a wild ride, and one of my favorite films. I saw it in 1986 on video. A friend of mine recommended it. All he told me was he saw this crazy movie about this guy with silver teeth. Then he ended up buying the soundtrack and became addicted to it. Curious, I rented it, watched it with a pizza, then watched it again an hour later. Then I picked up the soundtrack... It's about a small-time composer, "Winslow Leach (Finley)," the big-time music mogul, "Swan (Williams)," who steals his 200-page cantada,"Faust," and the colorfully insane war between them. Here's the gist of what happens. Swan plans to use Leach's music to open his rock palace, "The Paradise," and starts by turning the title track into a pop song about screwing at the point, "Upholstery." Leach fights for his rights to his music. Determined to get the composer out of the picture, Swan frames him, throws Leach to the courts, which send him to Sing Sing, where Leach's teeth are pulled to prevent infections and replaced with silver ones. Strange. Painful. Six months later, while Leach is losing his mind on a Tiddley Winks' assembly line in prison, he hears Swan's band "The Juicy Fruits" on the radio, and they're singing "Faust." He loses it, kills a gaurd, escapes, gets his head crushed trying to sabatoge Swan's record presses, then heads to the Paradise to raise Hell. As soon as he staggers in a back stage door, he slips into wardrobe storage, dons a leather outfit and a mask which to me has become a classic image, like Michael Myers' pale William Shatner mask and the mug of "Donnie Darko's" Frank the Bunny. It's a silver helmet affixed with a shiny, sculpted silver bird face. The right eye is conveniently covered by a lens, which helps cover Leach's twisted mug. As soon as he gets dressed up, he gets busy with a few sticks of dynamite. After disrupting a Juicy Fruits stage rehearsal with a bomb, the Phantom confronts Swan, ends up making a deal with him he'll eventually regret, and starts rewriting his cantada for the only singer he believes can sing it, "Phoenix (Harper)." But while the Phantom is locked up in a studio writing by candlelight, Swan decides to hire "Beef (Graham)," a flamboyant ultra-glam rocker to sing the compositions instead. One of my favorite scenes is when Beef tries to sing the stuff the Phantom is composing. He throws a fit: "You better get yourself a castrato for this, because it's a little out of my range...Swan, this was scored for a chick!" Swan and the Phantom square off again and again until the firey final reel and one of the most impressive, adrenaline pumping endings I've ever seen. The film has a few inspirations, including"Phantom of the Opera," "Picture of Dorian Gray," "Faust," and to some extent, Alfred Hitchcock, the shower scene in "Psycho" in particular. It's got a lot going for it. Aside from having a great director, it's got great actors. Harper can even sing. Her version of "Old Souls" is a classic. Graham's "Beef" steals the show again and again. The film's funny. In many ways, it's a dark comedy. It's a musical, with a lot of great music. It's still one of my favorite soundtracks. It's a visual odyssey. I'm sure DePalma had a lot of fun putting this together. And it's never boring. Fans will want to seek out the French Region 2 DVD, which includes the documentary "Paradise Regained" and a French intro to the film by Graham. I was hoping the U.S. would put out a definitive package, but so far that hasn't happened on DVD. Maybe someday we'll see it come to Blu-Ray. This flick needs a commentary. I'd love to hear Finley, Harper and Graham on one track and Williams and DePalma on another. For a little while in the 1980s, there was some chatter that this was going to be made into a Broadway musical. That would have been neat, but it never happened. According to IMDB, a remake is in the works for 2010. Can't say I'm looking forward to it. Like the original "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "Halloween," this one's tough to beat.


		*PHANTOM* *of the* *PARADISE*


		*20th Century Fox, 1974. Written and directed by Brian De Palma. Songs by Paul Williams. Starring William Finley, Paul Williams, Jessica Harper and Gerrit Graham*.
		By Stephen Pytak This little gem, from the director of "Sisters," "Carrie" and "Scarface," is a wild ride, and one of my favorite films. I saw it in 1986 on video. A friend of mine recommended it. All he told me was he saw this crazy movie about this guy with silver teeth. Then he ended up buying the soundtrack and became addicted to it. Curious, I rented it, watched it with a pizza, then watched it again an hour later. Then I picked up the soundtrack... It's about a small-time composer, "Winslow Leach (Finley)," the big-time music mogul, "Swan (Williams)," who steals his 200-page cantada,"Faust," and the colorfully insane war between them. Here's the gist of what happens. Swan plans to use Leach's music to open his rock palace, "The Paradise," and starts by turning the title track into a pop song about screwing at the point, "Upholstery." Leach fights for his rights to his music. Determined to get the composer out of the picture, Swan frames him, throws Leach to the courts, which send him to Sing Sing, where Leach's teeth are pulled to prevent infections and replaced with silver ones. Strange. Painful. Six months later, while Leach is losing his mind on a Tiddley Winks' assembly line in prison, he hears Swan's band "The Juicy Fruits" on the radio, and they're singing "Faust." He loses it, kills a gaurd, escapes, gets his head crushed trying to sabatoge Swan's record presses, then heads to the Paradise to raise Hell. As soon as he staggers in a back stage door, he slips into wardrobe storage, dons a leather outfit and a mask which to me has become a classic image, like Michael Myers' pale William Shatner mask and the mug of "Donnie Darko's" Frank the Bunny. It's a silver helmet affixed with a shiny, sculpted silver bird face. The right eye is conveniently covered by a lens, which helps cover Leach's twisted mug. As soon as he gets dressed up, he gets busy with a few sticks of dynamite. After disrupting a Juicy Fruits stage rehearsal with a bomb, the Phantom confronts Swan, ends up making a deal with him he'll eventually regret, and starts rewriting his cantada for the only singer he believes can sing it, "Phoenix (Harper)." But while the Phantom is locked up in a studio writing by candlelight, Swan decides to hire "Beef (Graham)," a flamboyant ultra-glam rocker to sing the compositions instead. One of my favorite scenes is when Beef tries to sing the stuff the Phantom is composing. He throws a fit: "You better get yourself a castrato for this, because it's a little out of my range...Swan, this was scored for a chick!" Swan and the Phantom square off again and again until the firey final reel and one of the most impressive, adrenaline pumping endings I've ever seen. The film has a few inspirations, including"Phantom of the Opera," "Picture of Dorian Gray," "Faust," and to some extent, Alfred Hitchcock, the shower scene in "Psycho" in particular. It's got a lot going for it. Aside from having a great director, it's got great actors. Harper can even sing. Her version of "Old Souls" is a classic. Graham's "Beef" steals the show again and again. The film's funny. In many ways, it's a dark comedy. It's a musical, with a lot of great music. It's still one of my favorite soundtracks. It's a visual odyssey. I'm sure DePalma had a lot of fun putting this together. And it's never boring. Fans will want to seek out the French Region 2 DVD, which includes the documentary "Paradise Regained" and a French intro to the film by Graham. I was hoping the U.S. would put out a definitive package, but so far that hasn't happened on DVD. Maybe someday we'll see it come to Blu-Ray. This flick needs a commentary. I'd love to hear Finley, Harper and Graham on one track and Williams and DePalma on another. For a little while in the 1980s, there was some chatter that this was going to be made into a Broadway musical. That would have been neat, but it never happened. According to IMDB, a remake is in the works for 2010. Can't say I'm looking forward to it. Like the original "Texas Chain Saw Massacre" and "Halloween," this one's tough to beat.
Copyright 2008 By Stephen Pytak