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Brian De Palma’s inspired rock’n’roll fusion of Faust, The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray boasts an Oscar-nominated score by Paul Williams, who also stars as an evil record producer who not only steals the work of composer/performer Winslow Leach (William Finley) but gets him locked up in Sing Sing – and that’s not the worst that happens to him along the way. Few revenge scenarios have ever been so amply justified, but the film is also constantly aware of the satirical possibilities offered by the 1970s music industry, exemplified by Gerrit Graham’s hilariously camp glam-rock star. Jessica Harper (Suspiria) appears in her first major role as the naïve but ambitious singer, on whom Winslow secretly dotes. Prodigiously inventive both musically and visually, this is one of De Palma’s most entertaining romps, not least because it was so clearly a labour of love.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, available in the UK for the first time;
• Original uncompressed Stereo PCM / 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio options;
• Isolated Music and Effects soundtrack;
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired;
• Paradise Regained – A 50 minute documentary on the making of the film featuring director Brian De Palma, producer Ed Pressman, the late star William Finley, star and composer Paul Williams, co-stars Jessica Harper and Gerrit Graham and more;
• Guillermo Del Toro interviews Paul Williams (72 mins, 2014);
• The Swan Song Fiasco: A new video piece exploring the changes made to the film in post-production;
• Archive interview with costume designer Rosanna Norton;
• William Finley on the Phantom doll;
• Paradise Lost and Found: Alternate takes and bloopers from the cutting room floor;
• Original Trailers;
• Radio Spots;
• Gallery of rare stills including behind-the-scenes images by photographer Randy Black;
• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by festival programmer Michael Blyth and an exploration of the film’s troubled marketing history by Ari Kahan, curator of SwanArchives.org, illustrated with original stills and promotional material
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Red Dress [Amaray release only]
• Limited Edition SteelBook™ packaging featuring original artwork [SteelBook only]

Arrow are absolutely winning the steelbook game.

In the past, I have generally not cared for steel books and would not spend extra money to have them. But between BFI's recent Nosferatu and this gorgeous hunk'a stuff, I am quickly changing my views.

Wasn't hugely impressed with Nosferatu, preferred the Mabuse steel. House of Usher and Big Trouble in Little China from Arrow are just gorgeous though.

Feego wrote:In the past, I have generally not cared for steel books and would not spend extra money to have them. But between BFI's recent Nosferatu and this gorgeous hunk'a stuff, I am quickly changing my views.

Nosferatu was MoC, not BFI but yes, as most of the MoC's steels, it was gorgeous. I do prefer too the Mabuse steel, though.

Ah yes, MoC it was. As mouth-watering as that steel book is, I may wait until Shout Factory announces their edition of Phantom of the Paradise to see what extras they feature. Arrow and Shout are both doing such terrific work with their cult horror releases, that I really love to support both companies.

Full specs announced:

Brian De Palma’s inspired rock’n’roll fusion of Faust, The Phantom of the Opera and The Picture of Dorian Gray boasts an Oscar-nominated score by Paul Williams, who also stars as an evil record producer who not only steals the work of composer/performer Winslow Leach (William Finley) but gets him locked up in Sing Sing – and that’s not the worst that happens to him along the way. Few revenge scenarios have ever been so amply justified, but the film is also constantly aware of the satirical possibilities offered by the 1970s music industry, exemplified by Gerrit Graham’s hilariously camp glam-rock star. Jessica Harper (Suspiria) appears in her first major role as the naïve but ambitious singer, on whom Winslow secretly dotes. Prodigiously inventive both musically and visually, this is one of De Palma’s most entertaining romps, not least because it was so clearly a labour of love.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS:

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation of the feature, available in the UK for the first time;
• Original uncompressed Stereo PCM / 4.0 DTS-HD Master Audio options;
• Isolated Music and Effects soundtrack;
• Optional English SDH subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired;
• Paradise Regained – A 50 minute documentary on the making of the film featuring director Brian De Palma, producer Ed Pressman, the late star William Finley, star and composer Paul Williams, co-stars Jessica Harper and Gerrit Graham and more;
• Guillermo Del Toro interviews Paul Williams (72 mins, 2014);
• The Swan Song Fiasco: A new video piece exploring the changes made to the film in post-production;
• Archive interview with costume designer Rosanna Norton;
• William Finley on the Phantom doll;
• Paradise Lost and Found: Alternate takes and bloopers from the cutting room floor;
• Original Trailers;
• Radio Spots;
• Gallery of rare stills including behind-the-scenes images by photographer Randy Black;
• Collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by festival programmer Michael Blyth and an exploration of the film’s troubled marketing history by Ari Kahan, curator of SwanArchives.org, illustrated with original stills and promotional material
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by The Red Dress [Amaray release only]
• Limited Edition SteelBook™ packaging featuring original artwork [SteelBook only]

This might be the greatest thing that has ever happened.

MichaelB wrote:• Guillermo Del Toro interviews Paul Williams (72 mins, 2014);

The only reason this alone isn't convincing me to buy a copy is that I already bought one. Good lord.

I am so glad I never bought the French edition. I can't wait for this!

Given this and the eventual Scream Factory disc will stand as the definitive editions in their respective territories, it doesn't seem likely we'll ever see any of the Swan Song material restored into the film proper. It would be amazing if that were ever presented as an alternate branched option, since the footage substitutions are pretty rough in the theatrical version.

The Swan Archives goes into considerably more detail about Arrow's release.

This from the Swan Archives page:

Durham's truly beautiful (and nonprofit) Carolina Theater will be screening Phantom and The Rocky Horror Picture Show starting at 7pm (we're not sure which one plays first) on January 31; both films for $10.

This is how I first saw both films - in London in 1976. I always preferred 'Phantom' - not least for the Paul Williams soundtrack - and am glad that it seems to be finally getting its due.

Wow, the Arrow is drastically darker and that saturation level looks pretty unusual

However, the difference between second half of screenshots isn't as extreme as the first.

Saturation is maybe a bit too strong but I have no problem with the darker look, and I much prefer the colour scheme on the Arrow.

This is not good. The blacks are severely crushed, eliminating all delineation of shadow detail, but in the screengrab of the record-desk there's highlight detail lost as well. I'll cling to a hope that something went wrong with the Beaver captures and these aren't representative of the disc.

I don't know what to make of those caps. Is Beaver the only site to post screenshots from the Arrow so far?

More here.

Did De Palma or perhaps Larry Pizer have any involvement with this release?

I don't believe so. They may have had involvement with the creation of the new master, which comes from Fox. David Mackenzie confirmed the video on the disc matches the original master precisely.

It's surprising a new master was used for this release - I'd expected that this would be using the same master as on the Opening BD, given that it was quite satisfactory. I just can't see the Arrow as preferable, when the receptionist's hair is turned into a blob that's not differentiated from the Swan bird logo behind her.

_shadow_ wrote:the receptionist's hair is turned into a blob that's not differentiated from the Swan bird logo behind her.

You're overstating it a wee bit, no?