Underplayed Gems

Phantom of the Paradise (1974)

Phantom of the Paradise poster
Directed by
Brian De Palma
Genre
drama film, comedy film, fantasy film, horror film, musical film, monster film
Country
United States
Runtime
1h 34m
Rated
PG
Rating
7.5 of 10 from 755 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

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How it feels

A young songwriter is tricked out of his music by a sleazy record producer. He becomes a disfigured phantom who haunts the producer's new rock palace and demands that his songs be sung by the woman he loves.

glam-rockover-the-topcampydarkly comicsatiricalenergeticmacabretheatrical

What happens

Phantom of the Paradise is a 1974 American rock musical comedy horror film written and directed by Brian De Palma, and scored by and starring Paul Williams. A naïve young singer-songwriter, Winslow Leach (William Finley), is tricked by legendary but unscrupulous music producer Swan (Williams) into sacrificing his life's work. In revenge, the songwriter dons a menacing new persona and proceeds to terrorize Swan's new concert hall, insisting his music be performed by his most adored singer, Phoenix (Jessica Harper). The plot loosely adapts several classic works: the 16th-century Faust legend, Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray and Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera. The film was a box-office failure and received mixed-to-negative reviews contemporaneously, while earning praise for its music and receiving Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. However, over the years, the film has received much more positive reviews and has become a cult classic. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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