The Talkies
Stein, Benjamin
"The Talkies" I went to see The Phantom of the Paradise by mistake. I thought I was going to see Luis Bunuel's new movie, The Phantom of Liberty. I think it was because I was confused by having just eaten a Big...
...All kinds of shenanigans follow...
...When...
...I think it was because I was confused by having just eaten a Big Mac and an order of French fries...
...Without thinking twice, the girl chooses fame...
...The writer tries to sneak into Swan's estate, "The Swannage," where he sees an endless line of beautiful and pneumatic girls, each awaiting a chance to try out the casting couch, in the hope of becoming a rock star...
...The Phantom of the Paradise moves along at such a breathtaking pace, is so much fun, has such a good message, that it is hard to believe I saw it at a theatre...
...As the final struggle between the Phantom and Swan unfolds on the stage and both men stagger around the platform covered with blood, the audience goes into a frenzy of ecstasy...
...There he confronts Swan,who persuades him to sell his soul in order to have control over the new rock cantata that Swan is using to open the Paradise...
...But it was a lucky accident, because if you took all of Bunuel's films, great and small, and roiled them into one all-beef-enchirito, they would not be anywhere near as much fun as just one Phantom of the Paradise...
...Swan throws out the girl whom the writer loved and wanted to be a star...
...Swan throws the writer out, has him framed for possession of heroin, then goes about renovating an old theatre to make it the ultimate of rock concert palaces...
...The former had been sickeningly perverse and dull...
...Were "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and its many progeny the only places where people could laugh at themselves...
...Without the slightest bit of pretension, The Phantom of the Paradise strikes its target, the utter insensitivity and exploitative nature of the old rock music business...
...He has been through everything and is currently working with a nostalgia group called "The Juicy Fruits...
...Inspiration comes when Swan sees a singing performance by a small-time writer and pianist, whose work Swan so loves that he arranges to have it stolen by the motorcycle thugs in his employ...
...And coming from everywhere, dominating everything, the fans scream in the background...
...I think I'll see it again to be sure I wasn't dreaming...
...The latter had been repellingly stupid and long winded...
...It works on every level...
...By the time the titles got to the director, I knew I was not in the place I had wanted to be...
...The Phantom throws a neon lighting sign into the heart of a singer on stage (whose name is "Beer) and as "Beef" fries and is jolted to death, the audience goes wild with delight...
...But life is surprising...
...Of course, -Beef" is a prancing queen...
...The Phantom approaches the young girl he loves and tells her that she must choose between true love and fickle fame...
...I was depressed...
...The movie begins with a diminutive but overwhelmingly powerful and important rock producer named Swan trying to decide what his next musical venture should be...
...But Swan, the agent of the Devil, has tricked the Phantom...
...Swan introduces his new star—"Beef"----at a deserted airstrip, -Beef" emerges from a coffin, gives a horrible screaming growl, and then returns to the coffin...
...After ten minutes I was smiling, and by the end I liked it so much I sat through it another time...
...Five minutes of The Phantom of the Paradise had me unclenching my fists...
...When the writer tries to get his material back, he gets beaten...
...Both were pompous and ponderous beyond words...
...But the movie itself is a rock music piece, with genuinely excellent music...
...The director, Brian DePalma, has, with the help of his casting director, put together a scene which shows the beauty, innocence, and rapacity of youth all at once and makes it funny...
...That was the key incredible fact about The Phantom of the Paradise—it was a pleasure to watch...
...Was television the last refuge for those who want to be entertained instead of bored...
...The story is a combination of a rock opera about Faust, a subplot based on the Phantom of the Opera, and a satire of the rock record business...
...Neither had the slightest modicum of sense of humor...
...Neither had the slightest sense of humility...
...He returns to the Paradise and is henceforth the Phantom, dressed as a creature from outer space...
...When the writer hears that his stolen music is going to be used to open the new theatre, the Paradise, he vandalizes the prison, breaks out, tries to set fire to Swan's record company, is maimed, and escapes into the shadows...
...In the same week I had forced myself to sit through The Night Porter and The Trial of Billy Jack...
...The Phantom cries out his love for the girl singer, but she cannot understand anything except that excitement feeds on itself...
...The Phantom of the Paradise captures the essence of movies—it is visual, it has action, it moves along at a terrific pace...
...I was concentrating so hard on what symptoms I would have that I forgot everything else...
...It has fantastically imaginative and funny scenes...
...At the end, the dead protagonists are surrounded by sweating, screaming teeny-boppers who neither know nor care to know the difference between death as entertainment and death as the end...
Vol. 8 • February 1975 • No. 5
