ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

GazerRise Fantastic!

ChanFamous I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Tobias Burrows It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

drednm Trite story of "phantom" who lives on the back lot at a Hollywood movie studio (MGM actually) in a cave. He gets nasty when the studio sells off the acreage and starts destroying the old sets.TV movie with a few name stars has Peter Lawford as the studio head, Broderick Crawford and John Ireland as cops, Peter Haskell as the studio PR guy, Jackie Coogan as a film editor, Jack Cassidy as a photo archive guy, and Skye Aubrey as Lawford's daughter.Cameo appearances by Regis Toomey as a guard, Billy Halop as an engineer, and Kent Taylor and Corinne Calvet as the "premiere" add nothing to the story. The 70-year-old phantom, racing around the lost makes no sense. When they start to bulldoze the sets, the fall down like the cardboard and plywood they are. The real sets might have been only facades, but they were built out of real building materials. It's almost funny to hear the sound effects as the cardboard sets fall down.The most interesting part of the movie is the use of movie clips. We see some real special effects from SAN FRANCISCO, Charles Laughton and Clark Gable in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, Jaen Harlow and Marie Dressler in DINNER AT EIGHT, Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, Greta Garbo and John Barrymore in GRAND HOTEL, Mickey Rooney in YOUNG TOM EDISON, and clips from THE WIZARD OF OZ and the silent version of BEN-HUR (complete with roaring crowds!). There are passing mentions of John Gilbert and Joan Crawford.The acting is terrible and the make-up is even worse. Hard to believe they spent money on re-mastering this for a DVD release when so many real classic films are sitting on shelves in archives.

Michael_Elliott The Phantom of Hollywood (1974) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Worldwide Studio has fallen on some hard times so a decision is to made to sell its back lot to some developers, which will bring in some much needed cash but at the same time it would take away from historic nature. This doesn't sit well with a mysterious figure who starts murdering people on the lot.This here is basically a remake of THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with the main interest being that "Worldwide Studio" is actually MGM. Yes, MGM is the back lot that is used here and some of the most interesting moments happen early on when we see how some of the sets currently look and then we get a clip of the movie that they were once featured in. We get some pretty fascinating scenes doing this and there's another section where some of the MGM classics like SAN FRANCISCO, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY and GRAND HOTEL are paid tribute to.As far as the rest of the film goes, it's a pretty routine murder-mystery but at the same time there's a nice cast that helps keep the film moving even if its 74-minute running time seems a bit longer. I actually really liked the look of the killer as well as his choice of weapon. They really did seem like a costume from the 1930s and as I said we also get a nice cast. Jack Cassidy, Jackie Coogan, Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Peter Lawford and Kent Taylor are all fun to watch here and certainly add to the entertainment.

tomsclassics One of our Hollywood fantasy streets and towns, the MGM backlot, where many a "Twilight Zone" victim, sometimes "Out of Limits" victim lived or wound up, crumples up like old wet cardboard before our very eyes. But, as seen in other scenes in the movie, sadly, perhaps it was too much of a mess to save. But we do get a tour of the backlot sets before it is torn down. And, Jack Cassidy Is the only other reason for looking at this.

Marta Unfortunately, they were permanently dismantling the old back lot on the MGM studio property when this was being filmed, since the land had been sold to developers, so you watch as a grand old Hollywood institution is methodically destroyed and forever lost. If not for that, this movie would be only an interesting oddity. You see many Hollywood film sets from the old days of the cinema, juxtaposed against their present-day condition, and then you see them demolished. Today, it makes for sad viewing when you realize what history is being thrown away.The movie itself is fairly good; the premise being that there is a legend of a phantom who protects the studio when it's in danger. The workmen begin disappearing, and a studio exec starts to delve into the history of the studio to try and find out who's doing the killing.This screams 70's TV movie while you're watching it, but it's a decent film despite that. Jack Cassidy is good, as usual, in the part of the aging film star; he has ego to spare and fits the part extremely well. There are many old Hollywood stars in it, like Broderick Crawford, Jackie Coogan, Peter Lawford, John Ireland, Elisah Cook, Jr., and Billy Halop. All in all, it's a film that is more important than it would have been otherwise, just because of the historic film sets in it that can't be seen anymore. I enjoy this movie immensely, and everyone I talk with about it remembers it fondly. It's worth a look if you can find it.