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Whistle Stopper - Phantom of the Paradise
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List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $4.94
Your Save: $ 5.04 ( 51% )
Availability:
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Starring: Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham, George Memmoli
Directed By: Brian De Palma
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786302842272
Format: Color
ISBN: 6302842271
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Release Date: 1993-06-07
Running Time: 92
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: 1974-10-31
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Classic Literature Meets 70s Horror and Music
Comment: While I can't quite give this movie 5 stars, it is a really interesting combination of several elements. ('Phantom of the Opera,' 'Faustus,' 'Picture of Dorian Gray,' 70s styles, 70s music, and even an interesting foreshadow of 80s music.)
The movie starts innocently enough with a 50s style song. (Though the lyrics to the song kind of foreshadow the tragic end.) We then see Phil asking his boss Swan to wreck a star that he feels double crossed him. (Immediately, the dark characters of Phil and Swan are revealed to us.) Swan then notices the naive and innocent Winslow; he decides he wants Winslow's music. (To make a long story short, Winslow gets arrested; he escapes, but gets disfigured. Only at the end do we truly discover how disfigured he became. One injury that we don't find out about until the end is especially tragic.)
Hateful of Swan more than ever, Winslow seeks revenge. He loses some of our sympathy as he kills several people who had nothing to do with his injuries. Swan (Paul Williams) is nothing short of phenomenal when he smoothly arranges an at least temporary reconciliation with Winslow. With no violence, there is a moment of pure terror as Winslow signs an 'unholy contract.'
From here, the story offers an interesting release of tension, and allows us to see some different types of 70s music. A truly memorable moment is when Swan says: "You know I abhor perfection in anyone but myself."
With Winslow and Swan on peaceful terms (at least for the moment), Swan recruits a group to perform Winslow's music. (The group has a 'faint resemblance' to KISS) Swan also recruits an openly gay guitarist/vocalist whose guitar and vocals seem to foreshadow the 80s. On stage though, he really acts masculine. (Interesting)
Outraged that someone he doesn't like is performing his music, Winslow murders the gay singer/guitarist. (He loses some of our sympathy in that the guitarist/vocalist had nothing to do with what Winslow has suffered.) Now we see that Swan loves anything that will be 'entertaining.' An especially frightening moment is when Swan makes it clear that by signing the 'unholy contract,' that Winslow has given up his 'right to rest in peace.'
From here, all traces of comedy disappear and we have a frightening and brutal climax. One change I would have made is rather than telling falsehoods here and there, I would have had Swan deceptive, but always being able to claim a truth under the deception. (Like the witches in "Macbeth") But that said, this is an interesting 70s horror with great music; it has an interesting meeting of classic literature; and the acting is superb. This is a phenomenal way to have a 70s night.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Movie, Great Music
Comment: I first watched this movie on a CATV system in Escondido CA USA around 1975 - and loved it then. I bought a new DVD just to update the media because the old tape was getting scratchy.
It's still a great movie and I still love the music, except it can get into my head - and I sing it all the time.
It's a great musical and horror (not very scary) and I still love it!
Randall O'Laughlin
Customer Rating:
Summary: Essential for any cult movie fan!
Comment: As a child I remember watching this movie several times on cable tv. I never quite understood what was going on, but I loved the songs & the costumes. When I got older I managed to catch it once again & well in love with it all over again. Like others have said, it might not have aged as well or be as famous as other cult films of the era are, but it is one of the best out there.
The plotline follows that of several tales (Faust, Dorian Grey, Phantom of the Opera) as the main character of Winslow Leach writes his music & finds a girl, only to lose both to the demonic music producer Swan. While trying to regain his music, Winslow becomes damaged by a record press & hides in Swan's new music house "The Paradise". From there the movie hits full gear & some of the best numbers can be heard.
For the most part this movie is a joy to watch. It's quite obviously a satire of many different types of singing genres & stories, but it can still be taken seriously for the most part. Some will be a bit turned off by how dated the movie feels, but it's worth sticking around for.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Phantom of the Paradise
Comment: Lost a bit over the years!Hasn't stood up as well as Saturday Night Fever or Grease...but still fun.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Paradise!!!
Comment: This movie, with Paul Williams ingenius creativity in the movie, the music, everything about it, would not be the same without him.
Like Rocky Horror, just one of those early cult 70's movies you just HAVE to see.
LOVED IT!!!
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Editorial Reviews:
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Describing Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise as an update of the classic Phantom of the Opera doesn't do justice to this demented movie. While De Palma's Hitchcock homages have sometimes led him into dead ends, this rock & roll remake seems to have liberated De Palma's imagination, and the result is weird and funny, with the scruffy underground spirit of the director's early pictures. The Phantom is one Winslow Leach (William Finley), a nerdy songwriter whose "pop cantata" on the subject of Faust is stolen by a freakish, Phil Spector-like rock impresario called Swan (Paul Williams). After getting his head caught in a vinyl-LP compressor, Leach is transformed into a masked creature, haunting Swan's music palace, the Paradise. De Palma proves how nimbly he can establish narrative rhythm: the story moves like a cannon shot, and the musical numbers (especially in the Alice Cooper-like Paradise sequences) are brilliantly cut. The movie seems to predict the Studio 54 scene, MTV, and punk rock--the last, especially, in the figure of Beef, a screeching singer played by the unhinged Gerrit Graham. The songs were written by Paul Williams, that diminutive '70s music icon (he cowrote the Barbra Streisand wet noodle "Evergreen"), and his performance is a reminder of his peculiar, self-spoofing presence: at one point, the preening Swan announces, "You know how I abhor perfection in anyone but myself." Comedy, musical, horror film, '70s artifact--this movie isn't quite definable, and that's what's wonderful about it. --Robert Horton
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