Sunday, May 25, 2014

Phantom Of The Paradise



 
Before the Age of Video some movies played often on the regular 13 channels that all of us lived with. Phantom of the Paradise (Along with Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park) were late night movie staples. This was crap they put on TV to fill the summer nights when there was no Hockey Night in Canada to show. The cool thing is that since you could get CBC on any TV you could plug in outside, you could pull a little 13 inch black and white into the tent trailer. For a teen, that was a cool time with your friends.
 
Phantom also had music so despite it's weirdness it somehow got by the censors at the CBC. Their loss was our gain. This is a film that I loved so much that I have the soundtrack in all the forms it came in right from cassette to cd. Paul William was a talented singer songwriter despite the fact that he had a weird voice and a weird look. However, in a movie like this, it's a plus.
 
I haven't watched this one in years. I still know all the songs by heart but I am interested in seeing how well it hold up as one of those favorite cult classics from my youth.
 

1 comment:

Captain Temerity said...

I am a fan of this weird little film (that has quite the good amount to parallels to Rocky Horror, the film following this one by about a year, but the stage show coming out a year before).

Paul Williams is such an underrated and misunderstood artist these days, but when you tell people he wrote many of the biggest hit songs for The Muppets, they usually gain more appreciation for him. If you haven't, watch the documentary from a couple years ago about him. Quite good.