The story is a loosely adapted mixture of several classic European works: Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera, Oscar Wilde's 1890 The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Faust by Goethe/ Christopher Marlowe. The film was a box office failure and received negative reviews contemporaneously, while earning praise for its music and receiving Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. However, over the years, the film has received much more positive reviews and has become a cult film. In 1974, music composer/singer-songwriter Winslow Leach is heard by widely acclaimed record producer Swan as Winslow plays an original composition following a set run through by the 1950s-style nostalgia band the Juicy Fruits, which Swan produces. Swan believes Winslow's music perfect to open "The Paradise" - Swan's highly anticipated new concert hall - and has his right-hand man Arnold Philbin steal it, under the guise of producing Winslow. One month later, Winslow goes to Swan's Death Records to follow up about his music but is thrown out. He sneaks into Swan's private mansion and observes several women rehearsing his music for an audition. One is Phoenix, an aspiring singer whom Winslow deems "perfect" for his music. Winslow realizes Swan's plan to open the Paradise with his music after he is thrown out again. In response, he disguises himself as a woman to sneak in and try to speak to Swan. Swan has Winslow beaten and framed for drug dealing.
Winslow is given a life sentence in Sing Sing Prison and his teeth are extracted and replaced with metal ones (part of an experimental prisoner program to decrease infection amongst inmates, funded by the Swan Foundation). Six months later, Winslow hears that the Juicy Fruits have made an anticipated hit record of his music with Swan's backing. After a breakdown, he escapes prison in a delivery box and breaks into the Death Records building. A guard startles Winslow as he is destroying the records and presses, causing him to slip and fall face first into a record press, which crushes and burns the right half of his face, also destroying his vocal cords. He barely manages to escape the studio, falling into the East River as the police arrive.Ī disoriented, and now deformed, Winslow sneaks into the Paradise costume department and dons a long, black cape and a silver, owl-like mask, becoming the Phantom of the Paradise.
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