Sorry for the delay- personal business got in the way of my posting the past 2 entries, but I DID do my homework and watch the musicals in question. Last time, we looked at "Velvet Goldmine," a cult movie which had musical elements. Today, we look at a very similar work to compare and contrast: "Phantom of The Paradise."
A one sentence summary of "Phantom of the Paradise" would sound absurd: "Based loosely on 'Faust,' 'The Picture of Dorian Grey,' 'Svengali,' AND 'The Phantom Of The Opera,' this is undoubtedly the best ultraviolent superhero rock musical ever written by the midget composer of 'The Love Boat Theme.'" But actually, now that I typed that out, it sounds about right. Struggling composer Winslow Leach (William Finley) wants to write a rock opera based on "Faust" as a solo concept-album piece. His music is heard by eccentric but all-powerful record producer Swan (Paul Williams, also the lyricist/composer of the score), who decides to steal the piece for himself and give the music to his studio band, a three-man vocal group seemingly capable of cheating death again and again- in the course of their concert performances, they are stabbed in the heart, blown to pieces, dismembered and more, yet still keep showing up again and again- to record.
Winslow's journey to redeem his music and reclaim his place as a singer-songwriter takes a terrible toll on him- he is thrown in prison, his teeth are replaced with metal fangs, he is hideously dismembered and left for dead, and finally, his larynx is crushed, rendering him unable to speak or sing without mechanical assistance. Desperate, he makes one final deal with Swan- he will finish the rock opera, but only Phoenix (Jessica Harper), a studio vocalist he is smitten with from afar, will be allowed to sing the songs he writes. Swan agrees, and helps Winslow finish writing by creating a giant, pipe-organ sized vocal synthesizer... which replaces Winslow's own broken throat with Swan's own singing voice. And THEN things get weird. Really weird.
The performances throughout the film, campy as they are, are extremely memorable, and suit the film's tone and style extremely well. Williams, as the diminutive villain Swan, walks the fine line between being sinister and absurd- this tyrant is, after all, only a somewhat dwarfish fellow dressed like a hippie Andy Warhol. If his peculiar speaking voice sounds familiar, it is probably because either: A, you recognize it as the voice of The Penguin from "Batman, The Animated Series;" or B, because Swan's voice and mannerisms in the film were the inspiration for Mr. Burns on "The Simpsons," even down to the steepling fingers and breathy intonation of "Excellent!" William Finley's performance as Winslow/The Phantom of the Paradise is somewhat subtler, but the garish superhero costume, metal teeth and mechanical voice still render him a larger-than-life presence. But the best in show award must go to the Studio Band, made up of Archie Hahn, Harold Oblong and Jeffrey Comanor. Appearing as Grease knockoffs, Beach Boys wannabes, Alice Cooper imitators and studio vocalists, and getting horribly mangled each and every time, these guys turn in performances WAY over the top and score some of the best moments in the entire film.
And now, a moment to talk about the songs. Like "Velvet Goldmine" last time, "Phantom of the Paradise" uses mostly diegetic music, but blurs the lines by including borderline in-character examples as well. Most of the show's songs, especially "Goodbye Eddie," "Life at Last" and "Old Souls" are songs performed in concert or recording situations by the characters. However, at other times, we get to hear the music our composer Winslow Leach hears in his head, as he mentally hums "Never Thought I'd Get To Meet The Devil" on his way to meet Swan. The end credits song, "The Hell of It," was designed for a scene that ended up being cut, but would have involved tap-dancing on the coffin of a deceased character. Finally, the most ambiguous example: "Phantom's Theme (Beauty And The Beast)." Heard over a sequence of Swan manipulating Winslow into finishing the music he writes for Phoenix, the singing voice is clearly that of Paul Williams- but does the song reflect the character of Winslow, or Swan?
One last fun fact to take with you about this musical: despite predating "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" by several years, the film still shares several extremely strange coincidental similarities with its younger sibling. First, both films contain songs about a recently deceased rocker character named Eddie, and both use an anachronistic Fifties doo-wop sound for that song only. Second, both films contain aggressive transvestite blues-rock singers in platform shoes and a corset. Finally, both films contain a scene of "the perfect man" being built, Frankenstein-like, before he rises to sing a song. Weird, huh? That's the best word to describe this entire film. Weird... but good. Give it a rental, and I guarantee you won't regret it.
Phantom of the Paradise: A
LESSON FOR ACTORS: Never give up your dreams. Actor/singer/songwriter Paul Williams had been discouraged from acting due to his somewhat bizarre, boyish appearance and small stature. After making a name for himself as the songwriter behind Barbra Streissand's "Evergreen," the theme from "The Love Boat," and just about every song you remember from The Muppets, he finally got to try his hand at a major film role- a villian, even- and he NAILED it.
WARNING FOR ACTORS: If you don't feel safe attempting a stunt, tell someone! Get it rehearsed more, or even see about using a stunt double if you are working on film. During the scene in which Winslow's face is crushed by the record press, it was assumed that the machine was rigged to stop before ACTUALLY crushing William Finley's face. As it turns out, it wasn't, and Finley was pulled to safety just in time to avoid real death.
LESSON FOR WRITERS: Listen to as much music as you can- you never know what will inspire you. Part of the fun of "Phantom of the Paradise" is the way it uses multiple musical genres not just for variety, but to make a point about the fickle nature of the music-buying public.
WARNING FOR WRITERS: Check your legal status on anything that might be copyrighted BEFORE you start filming. The evil record company in the film was originally called "Swan Song Records," but a dispute with the actual record company of the same name led to heavy amounts of post-production editing to replace all instances of "Swan Song" with "Death Records."
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