Film Notes: Phantom of the Paradise

Come see Phantom of the Paradise with us at the Paramount Theatre on Sunday, May 25.

After director Brian De Palma's early successes, including Robert De Niro’s first major film role, he turned his gaze toward a rock-opera reimagining of Broadway's greatest horndog: the phantom of the opera. In De Palma's vision, the setting would be updated to contemporary times, the phantom would be a stifled musical genius that we follow before he goes mad and gets masked, and the whole thing would swap opera music for the catchy tunes of composer Paul Williams (best known for later writing "Rainbow Connection" and the love theme for the Barbara Streisand A Star is Born).

Phantom of the Paradise was nearly universally panned upon release and limped along to a feeble $250,000 box office—bad news for a film with a budget five times that and worse news for a director just starting to find his footing. De Palma would be fine, finding success a couple years later with the Paul Schrader-written Vertigo riff Obsession and the Stephen King adaptation Carrie. And Phantom of the Paradise would live on in the public consciousness through midnight screenings and a surprisingly dedicated fanbase in Winnipeg, Canada.

There's a very good reason for the film's contemporary reevaluation as an undersung classic. Simply put, there's a lot of talent behind the camera on this one. The crew included legendary production designer Jack Fisk (Messiah of Evil, Eraserhead, The Thin Red Line), editor Paul Hirsch (Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Steel Magnolias, and a little-known film called Star Wars), and special effects by Greg Gauer (The Hills have Eyes, Star Wars). In front of the camera was a pre-Suspiria Jessica Williams in her first starring role and the still-underrated William Finley as the Phantom.

While it didn't hit with most audiences in 1974, Phantom of the Paradise connected in a big way with those who did see it. Daft Punk wouldn't exist without the film (they met at a screening in Paris), the Phantom's iconic mask and leather outfit has been referenced by acclaimed manga artists Kentaro Miura and Hirohiko Araki, and Oscar-winning director Guillermo Del Toro vocally adores the film. As Paul Williams said in an interview with Billboard, "I’m really, really pleased with the movie, and I’m overwhelmed at the way it’s grown through the years. The big philosophical/spiritual lesson, I suppose, is don’t write something off as a failure too quickly."

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