PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE

US, 1974, 91 minutes, Colour.
Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper, George Mennoli, Gerrit Graham.
Directed by Brian de Palma.

Phantom of the Paradise was a rock musical in the vein of The Rocky Horror Show of the early 1970s. It features the music of Paul Williams, who went on to great success in records, films and an acting career, He is also the star of the film. Jessica Harper (Inserts, Suspiria, Pennies from Heaven, Stardust Memories) was introduced.

The film was written and directed by Brian de Palma who, after a number of independent and experimental features, made Get To Know Your Rabbit and the Hitchcock homage Sisters. He was to go on in the thriller vein with Carrie, Obsession, The Fury, Dressed to Kill. He remade the Howard Hawks classic of the '30s, Scarface, with Al Pacino.

The film relies on a number of popular images from stories and films including The Phantom of the Opera, Faust, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Beauty and the Beast. It is very much a film of the '70s, yet it nevertheless has a vitality of the time which endures.

1. The impact of the rock musicals of the '70s? The emergence of rock singers and their eccentric styles? The emergence of punk rock in the later 170s? The impact for audiences in its time? Later? An accurate picture of a facet of the '70s?

2. The work of Brian de Palma: independent features, the Hollywood tradition? His using traditional stories and genres, his homage to the conventions, spoof? The B budget horror thrillers? The quality of the writing ? trendiness, contemporary tone? Colour photography, colours, angles? Editing? Editing devices ?with echoes of the past? Audience expectations from the title? Serious/humorous? The homage to Hitchcock ? and the spoof of the shower sequence in Psycho? The concert and the echoes of the climax of The Man Who Knew Too Much?

3. The work of Paul Williams as composer, singer? His range? The qualities of his performance ? size, youthfulness, presence?

4. The influence of such stories as The Phantom of the Opera, the variations on Faust and Mephistopheles, The Picture of Dorian Gray, St. George and the Dragon, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Beauty and the Beast, The Devil? The blend of ideas and symbols? The Hollywood use of myths? The rock atmosphere of the '70s and its power of communication and control?

5. The background of show business and musical production: the record industry, studios and technology? The theatre and Hollywood Boulevard? Rock concerts? The anticipation of punk?

6. The songs, the lyrics, the ballads, the spoofs, rock songs? The lyrics and their significance? The idea of a Rock Cantata? The obsessed composer?

7. The plots and the expectation of crises, characters? Audiences anticipating these?

8. The prologue and its documentary style? The tongue-in-cheek treatment of the lifestyle and popularity of pop stars? Instant popularity, millionaire status, age? Success and ruthlessness? The relevance of the Faust legend and the selling of the soul to the Devil, the consequent evil, within the world, within the world of the theatre?

9. Paul Williams as Swan? The Death Records? The emblem of the bird, the dead swan - Swan Song as the last song? The use of the image throughout the film? Swan not being seen initially, an aura of mystery? Audience reaction to his approval of stars or not? His 'playing God'? His henchman, and his lumbering style? His hearing Winslow play? His stealing his music via Philbin? The ambitions with The Paradise? Excluding Winslow? Bashing him, his arrest, imprisonment, Swan controlling experiments in prison - and Winslow's teeth? Swan and the auditions, the girls flocking to his home? The girls and the groupies for the following of the pop stars, sex? Swan and his confronting Winslow, the deal? His voice? The contract and taking his music? The new auditions and Swan's promise to star Phoenix? The transition from his first group to Beef and Company? His bricking up Winslow? Winslow's revenge and Swan's success? The press coverage, interviews? The threats to Beef? Beef's death on stage? Swan's reaction, starring Phoenix, the night with Phoenix? The revelation about Swan's age, the discovery by Winslow of the tape - a technological and electronic Dorian Gray? The build-up to the marriage, the assassination attempt - and the echoes of assassinations of the '60s and '70s? Swan's Dorian Gray death? Swan as a symbol of evil?

10. Winslow and his appearance, the academic, the obsessed dreamer? His music, Cantata? His playing and singing? People ignoring him? His putting up the advertisement? His hopes, Swan's impressions, the deals with Philbin? His being excluded, going berserk? His invading the Swannage? Bashed, imprisoned? The teeth in prison? His going berserk? The records and the Juicy Fruits? Swan's promise? His writing? Swan's deceiving him, bricking him up? His being disfigured? The costumes? The haunting of The Paradise? His first encounter with Phoenix at the auditions, choosing her? His belief that his Cantata would be a success? The hatred, berserk, motivation for revenge? The threats to Beef? His electrocution on stage? His haunting Phoenix and The Paradise? The video and the truth about Swan? The motivation for the assassination attempt? His dying, crawling, Phoenix present? The echoes of The Phantom of the Opera and the visual update? The bird imagery in comparison with that of Swan?

11. Phoenix, her hopes of being a singer, the auditions, the kindly encounter with Winslow, the new audition and her singing, success? Her principles? Willing to sell herself, a variation on Faust? Her being part of the back-up group? Her success? with Winslow on the roof and her discovery of the truth? The night with Swan? The marriage, the blood and Swan's ugliness? Phoenix - the image and symbol of rising from the ashes? Her being redeemed?

12. The Juicy Fruits and the style of the '60s groups, rock, nostalgia? The transition to Beef and his androgenous style, homosexual overtones, feminine overtones? The bizarre images of punk rock? Violence, the limbs cut? The concert and its violent style? The adaptation of the Cantata for Beef ? and his falsetto singing etc, strutting? Reaction of the audience, the frenzy? His fears and wanting to run away? His being hounded back? The bizarre death ? as if it were a part of the punk act?

13. The audience and its frantic response, responding to images? The press and their hype? The values of the showbiz world - and its passing nature?

14. The sketch of Philbin, the assistant, the bouncer, his ugliness, ignorance, money, Philistine tastes?

15. The choreography and its style - and the popular use of myths?

16. The film seen as a moral fable - pop style?