A rock musical comedy horror, it brings together reworkings of The Phantom of the Opera, Faust and The Picture of Dorian Gray, to tell the story of naïve songwriter Winslow Leach, who allows himself to be conned out of his magnum opus, a rock cantata of the Faust legend, by one of the henchmen of music producer Swan.
By the time he realises, it’s too late – and Swan unscrupulously has him beaten up, framed and jailed. But Leach escapes and heads toward the Paradise Club, which Swan is going to launch with a production of the cantata, to seek revenge – and rescue Phoenix, a talent singer that the producer is exploiting.
De Palma both wrote and directed it, and it goes at a frenetic pace for it’s 91 minutes. His send up of the music business was seen by many at the time as essentially pointless – remember what rock was like in the 1970s? – but the energy and the campness of the whole affair carry it through.
In terms of the campness, it’s interesting to note that it came out a year after The Rocky Horror Show premiered on stage in London, so arguably very much of a piece with that.
William Finlay does a fine job as the naïve songwriter/tortured phantom of the title, while Paul Williams makes a deeply disturbing Swan – looking rather like a short Brian Connolly from '70s glam rockers The Sweet.
He also wrote all the songs – his other musical credits include the score for Alan Parker’s 1976 film, Bugsy Malone).
Gerrit Graham makes a fine, campy turn as Beef, an over-the-top rock singer, while Jessica Harper, in her debut, as appropriately sweet and gutsy as Phoenix.
There’s a huge amount to take in visually. For instance, I loved that the stage set of the opening to Faust the musical, together with the costumes and makeup, recall Robert Weine’s German Expressionist masterpiece, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari, while there are scenes – more mocking of the 1970s music business – that are orgiastic in nature, as though like something out of Caligula’s court.
All in all, a most entertaining watch.
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