My husband's all time favorite movie. We got to meet Gerrit Graham a few years ago at our local Comic Con. When I told Gerrit about how much my husband loves the movie (because my husband was star struck) his face lit up.
I had the great fortune of attending the 50th anniversary screening at the Majestic Theatre in Dallas (the actual Paradise itself!) with Paul Williams in attendance! They accidentally showed a print with the original footage intact. Whoops. 😉
One of the best reviews of the movie ever! I'm Gloria from Phantompalooza here in winnipeg, we're hosting Phantoms 50th here in Winnipeg on November 2nd we have fans coming from all over the world...dream it never ends...
I had the pleasure of working with Paul Williams a year ago when he appeared at Cincinnati Comic Expo. It was an honor to be his helper throughout the weekend, and he is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. At the time I had not seen Phantom (but I was of course familiar with all of his other stuff, and grown up on the Muppets, the love boat, and all the other required '70s child viewing!). Now I wish I could go back in time so i talk to him about this incredible film. It is pretty much my favorite movie of all time now. Thank you for this awesome analysis--well done!!
I discovered this movie while exploring Brian De Palma's catalog and instantly fell in love with it! Fascinating that Daft Punk drew inspiration from it as well. Great essay.
Finally got to see this a couple days ago because it's on Prime. I suddenly remembered towards the end that public domain stories adapted into rock operas was an entire genre in the 70's with crap like The Apple, Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, etc. So this movie deserves a lot of respect for actually pulling off the crazy, gaudy public domain rock opera idea that so many other movies failed wretchedly at. I also realized that it's the only adaption of Phantom of the Opera that remembered the original novel was a comedy, not just a thriller.
Thank you for doing this! I love this movie, and I love listening and singing along to the album. I think the movie was cathartic for Paul Williams to be in. Swan is based a bit on Phil Spector and even back then people knew how horrible he was despite being a "genius" producer. His original name was supposed to be Spectre. And so it's likely Paul ran into or at least met people who knew him back then. He just embodies the sleaziness of the music industry and the god-awfulness of Phil Spector, and it must have felt really good to get that all out there. I think crossing the Phantom of the Opera with Doctor Faustus works really well. The Phantom of the Opera is basically about an Opera's Deal with the Devil. And I like it a lot better than the actual Phantom of the Opera. Because this is the only movie where the Phantom has a meet-cute with his love interest. Well, it's not really a meet cute, he kind of ruins. But you sympathize with him more than the character he's based on because of his fall. He loses his hair, his teeth get yanked out and replaced by metal, his face gets crushed by a record maker. He loses his voice, to the point where Swan gives him an electronic voice box that sounds like Swan's voice. So he essentially is an extension of Swan despite being promised freedom. I can ramble on and on about this movie in case you haven't noticed!
Fantastic review ! I saw this in the theater in 1974 . I was young & already a horror film fiend from discovering the Universal monsters at an early age in 1970 w/ our local horror hostess. This is probably my favorite movie of all time. I tried to get to Winnipeg for the 50 year showing plus the soundtrack performance and an appearance by Paul. I tried to get to the one showing at the Majestic in Dallas but I could not pull that off either. How I would love to meet Paul and tell him how much appreciation I have for this soundtrack and his inspired performance ! Watch the Paul documentary “Still Alive” (2011).You did an amazing job on this video … very insightful and well paced . DePalma is a genius . I think this is his best work in retrospect. Congratulations and thank you ! Any chance there is a 50 year release of the soundtrack on LP ? 🎥🎞🎸👍
This is a phenomenal video. I saw this film last year in theatres, which was the best experience of last year for me, and this just made me now want to re-watch it even more. So I must thank you for this amazing video.
One of my favourite films. I discovered it only earlier this year and instantly fell in love with a film that I initially expected to be hilariously awful. It's just a shame that modern general audiences may still not appreciate this film. It is unrealistic and experimental enough to be distracting to those not willing to suspend their disbelief and engage with it sincerely but not so unrealistic that it can be comfortably compared to traditional fantasy, sci-fi or superhero films which they are more familiar with.
In 1989, Jim Steinman compiled a working tape of songs for a play he was planning to make of the film, it never happened and the demo is all that exists - and it's more of a compilation than anything else but I can send it to you if you'd like, great video!
Calling this "one of the greatest american films ever made" is a stretch man. Not even close to being close. It's a footprint in Depalma''s Filmography, and that's a fine. Great video and I appreciate your insights.
My husband's all time favorite movie. We got to meet Gerrit Graham a few years ago at our local Comic Con. When I told Gerrit about how much my husband loves the movie (because my husband was star struck) his face lit up.
I had the great fortune of attending the 50th anniversary screening at the Majestic Theatre in Dallas (the actual Paradise itself!) with Paul Williams in attendance!
They accidentally showed a print with the original footage intact. Whoops. 😉
One of the best reviews of the movie ever! I'm Gloria from Phantompalooza here in winnipeg, we're hosting Phantoms 50th here in Winnipeg on November 2nd we have fans coming from all over the world...dream it never ends...
I had the pleasure of working with Paul Williams a year ago when he appeared at Cincinnati Comic Expo. It was an honor to be his helper throughout the weekend, and he is one of the nicest people you'll ever meet. At the time I had not seen Phantom (but I was of course familiar with all of his other stuff, and grown up on the Muppets, the love boat, and all the other required '70s child viewing!). Now I wish I could go back in time so i talk to him about this incredible film. It is pretty much my favorite movie of all time now. Thank you for this awesome analysis--well done!!
incredible video & analysis! this is one of my favourite movies of all time and i’m glad to see it get some much needed attention.
I discovered this movie while exploring Brian De Palma's catalog and instantly fell in love with it! Fascinating that Daft Punk drew inspiration from it as well. Great essay.
Finally got to see this a couple days ago because it's on Prime. I suddenly remembered towards the end that public domain stories adapted into rock operas was an entire genre in the 70's with crap like The Apple, Godspell, Jesus Christ Superstar, etc. So this movie deserves a lot of respect for actually pulling off the crazy, gaudy public domain rock opera idea that so many other movies failed wretchedly at. I also realized that it's the only adaption of Phantom of the Opera that remembered the original novel was a comedy, not just a thriller.
Thank you for doing this! I love this movie, and I love listening and singing along to the album. I think the movie was cathartic for Paul Williams to be in. Swan is based a bit on Phil Spector and even back then people knew how horrible he was despite being a "genius" producer. His original name was supposed to be Spectre. And so it's likely Paul ran into or at least met people who knew him back then. He just embodies the sleaziness of the music industry and the god-awfulness of Phil Spector, and it must have felt really good to get that all out there. I think crossing the Phantom of the Opera with Doctor Faustus works really well. The Phantom of the Opera is basically about an Opera's Deal with the Devil. And I like it a lot better than the actual Phantom of the Opera. Because this is the only movie where the Phantom has a meet-cute with his love interest. Well, it's not really a meet cute, he kind of ruins. But you sympathize with him more than the character he's based on because of his fall. He loses his hair, his teeth get yanked out and replaced by metal, his face gets crushed by a record maker. He loses his voice, to the point where Swan gives him an electronic voice box that sounds like Swan's voice. So he essentially is an extension of Swan despite being promised freedom. I can ramble on and on about this movie in case you haven't noticed!
Fantastic review ! I saw this in the theater in 1974 . I was young & already a horror film fiend from discovering the Universal monsters at an early age in 1970 w/ our local horror hostess. This is probably my favorite movie of all time. I tried to get to Winnipeg for the 50 year showing plus the soundtrack performance and an appearance by Paul. I tried to get to the one showing at the Majestic in Dallas but I could not pull that off either. How I would love to meet Paul and tell him how much appreciation I have for this soundtrack and his inspired performance ! Watch the Paul documentary “Still Alive” (2011).You did an amazing job on this video … very insightful and well paced . DePalma is a genius . I think this is his best work in retrospect. Congratulations and thank you ! Any chance there is a 50 year release of the soundtrack on LP ? 🎥🎞🎸👍
This is a phenomenal video. I saw this film last year in theatres, which was the best experience of last year for me, and this just made me now want to re-watch it even more. So I must thank you for this amazing video.
I had never heard of this movie but now I want to check it out
Beautifully done I love phantom of The Paradise I saw when I was 9 years old
Brian Brian depalma's masterpiece before Rocky horror brilliantly done brilliantly edited Paul Williams music
Your interpretation of the film is really done thank you very much
One of my favourite films. I discovered it only earlier this year and instantly fell in love with a film that I initially expected to be hilariously awful.
It's just a shame that modern general audiences may still not appreciate this film. It is unrealistic and experimental enough to be distracting to those not willing to suspend their disbelief and engage with it sincerely but not so unrealistic that it can be comfortably compared to traditional fantasy, sci-fi or superhero films which they are more familiar with.
In 1989, Jim Steinman compiled a working tape of songs for a play he was planning to make of the film, it never happened and the demo is all that exists - and it's more of a compilation than anything else but I can send it to you if you'd like, great video!
That sounds awesome, I'd love to get my hands on that
This was a really great video :]
Nice analysis! Especially while not referring to Andrew Lloyd Webber, or even Gaston Leroux. Got my sub!
0:26 I think this person was also in a Hawaii 5-O episode
Oh so that’s the inspiration of the mask
Has there been a Warren Zevon biopic this whole time? Or were thick glasses and somewhat curly blond hair THAT much of a look?
Fe... femto?
Miura said as much :)
Calling this "one of the greatest american films ever made" is a stretch man. Not even close to being close. It's a footprint in Depalma''s Filmography, and that's a fine.
Great video and I appreciate your insights.