1974 - PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE , a Brian De Palma musical

 It doesn't appear that most critics knew what to make of De Palma's take on The Phantom Of The Opera and Faust. It also seems like the studio releasing it was equally clueless when it came to selling the film to the public, audiences stayed away.

However, this is one of the best of the early De Palma films that for a change wasn't heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock. Brian De Palma wrote the screenplay and cleverly mixed a lot of film genres.  His lead actor Paul Williams, a man probably more known for his songwriting than acting put together a very amusing score which parodied a lot of different pop music styles.  Williams is also entertaining portraying the crazed music producer who has made a deal with the devil.  

The film follows plot lines from Faust and The Phantom Of The Opera but De Palma keeps things interesting with his clever camera work and his staging of the musical acts that range from a Beach Boys type of group to a goth/heavy metal band.

 

The rest of the  cast is well chosen with William Finney as the helpless composer turned phantom, Jessica Harper as his love interest and De Palma regular Gerrit Graham as one of William's crazed musical performers.

A very entertaining film, it runs 91 minutes.