A disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music. However, an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The P... Read allA disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music. However, an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise.A disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music. However, an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise.
- Director
- Writers
- Brian De Palma
- Louisa Rose(uncredited)
- Stars
- Director
- Writers
- Brian De Palma
- Louisa Rose(uncredited)
- Stars
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 3 wins & 5 nominations total
Videos1
- The Juicy Fruitsas The Juicy Fruits
- (as Harold Oblong)
- …
- Director
- Writers
- Brian De Palma
- Louisa Rose(uncredited)
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
- All cast & crew
Storyline
- Taglines
- The music made him do it!
- Genres
- Certificate
- PG
- Parents guide
Did you know
- TriviaWhen Swan (Paul Williams) is adjusting Winslow Leach's (William Finley) voice, the singer is not Finley but Williams. This makes it a little in-joke when Swan announces that the voice is "perfect".
- GoofsBrian De Palma can be seen at around 1:02:58. He's right there plain as night, in the darkness just over Phoenix's left shoulder, sitting in a director's chair with his right arm raised, along with another crew member over Phoenix's right shoulder, then he vanishes when the spot picks her up.
- Quotes
The Phantom: [to Beef] Never sing my music again. Not here, not anywhere. Do you understand? Never again. My music is for Phoenix. Only she can sing it. Anyone else who tries, dies!
- Crazy creditsThe closing credits feature a series of montages of the cast members, identifying each by name, starting with the musical trio (Oblong, Hahn, Comanor) and concluding with William Finley as Winslow/The Phantom. These montages are made up of shots ostensibly from the movie, and most of them are, but there are also numerous outtakes.
- Alternate versionsIn the pre-release (or press) prints of the movie, the scene where Winslow was disfigured by the record press was longer; His disfigured face was briefly seen steaming with smoke from the press, and Winslow then killed the cop that surprised him (and shot him in the leg, which explained why Winslow walked with a limp for most of the film; however, he was able to run with the greatest of ease towards the end). The scene was removed from subsequent versions, as it was best decided that Winslow's disfigured visage be revealed at the end of the film.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Terror in the Aisles (1984)
- SoundtracksGoodbye, Eddie, Goodbye
Written by Paul Williams
Performed by Jeffrey Comanor, Archie Hahn and Peter Elbling as The Juicy Fruits, lead vocal Archie Hahn
Here we have a film that exists in 3 levels (at least 3 that matter to me):
- this is a film within a social and cultural context. The kind of music we hear here (not the multiple parodies, but the music that is intended to be "good") was a reaction to the 60', or the next step of the evolution. Within the same underground spirit that created this film, there was a growing tendency to extend and invent forms that would accommodate the fantasies of new musicians. That's what today we know as progressive rock. This film would pave the way for Tommy, for Live at Pompei, and for The Wall.
- Paul Williams, great mind, great talent. Much of what works here is his vision, from the mood even to some roots of the story. His parodies are great, but his real stuff is good enough. I enjoyed getting to know him better, and it Is funny that he comes to perform the guy who steals his own music.
- de Palma, who was my first interest when coming to this. The fact is i didn't know so well what to expect, and i ended up appreciating more the other levels than this one of the director. Apparently by this time he had clarified what he wanted to explore, but he was far from mastering any of his enormous visual skills, or this film was such a collective work that he just couldn't make his personal statement so well. Anyway we have here eventually the first split screen of his career (i'm not absolutely sure of this), something he would take all his careers with incredible results. Other than that, we don'te have his magical camera eye yet.
The story matters only for the fact that we have a battle between creative and money grower, something that all the people involved here might know pretty well back in those days.
Jennifer Harper has a pretty face, and illuminates the set when she sings.
My opinion: 4/5
http://www.7eyes.wordpress.com
- RResende
- Jun 11, 2010
Details
Box office
- Budget
- $1,300,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 31 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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