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The Swan Archives Merchandise Page
The Swan Archives has attempted to obtain and catalogue an example of each item of historically significant Phantom-related officially licensed merchandise.
Fortunately for us, there isn't very much of it. Especially if you ignore (as we do) all those stupid home made Death Records refrigerator magnets, gumball rings, lighters, pillowcases, and wall clocks.
Here's what we've found so far...we're always on the lookout for more.
VINYL
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Promotion copy of vinyl soundtrack album from A&M Records
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Standard-issue vinyl soundtrack album from A&M records
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45rpm "Old Souls," by Jessica Harper from A&M records (this one's a promo copy)
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45rpm "Somebody Super Like You," by Harold Oblong and The Undead from A&M records (this one's a Canadian promo copy)
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Exceedingly rare British promo single, with Jessica Harper doing "Old Souls" on one side, and Paul Williams doing "The Hell of It" on the other.
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45rpm EP from Thailand, with four songs from the movie, from 4Track records
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45rpm EP from Thailand, with four songs from the movie, from Express Songs
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8-TRACK
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| What could be more '70's than a Phantom 8-Track?
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CASSETTE
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How many of these did you wear out?
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CD
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| Standard issue North American CD from A&M Records
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DVD
Japanese version from 2002. We were hoping it would be dubbed in Japanese, but it's subtitled.
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| Far and away the best editions of Phantom on DVD and BluRay have been those released by Opening, in France. Their original 2-disc special edition set came out in 2006, and is pictured above. It has 5.1 Dolby Digital and dts soundtracks, and it's got them in French and English, as well as standard stereo soundtracks. It's 16/9 enhanced, and has plenty of extras, the most significant of which is Deborah Znaty's superb 50 minute documentary featurette, Paradise Regained, which features interviews with Brian De Palma, Paul Hirsch, Paul Williams, William Finley, Jessica Harper, Gerrit Graham, Harold Oblong and Archie Hahn, Ed Pressman, and Larry Pizer. It's also got two different theatrical trailers; a ten minute "video postcard" from costume designer Rosanna Norton; a faux advertisement for Phantom action figures featuring William Finley; a short introduction to the film (in French) with Gerrit Graham; and Bob Sinclar's music video for "I Feel For You," which is a little homage to Phantom (and which can be viewed on our Themes page.)
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In December of 2009, Opening outdid themselves by re-releasing their 2006 DVD set with an even better transfer of the film, in both DVD and BluRay formats, pictured here. The BluRay edition lacks the Sinclar video from the 2006 set and the regular stereo soundtrack on the film, but adds a new DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack and is of course in Hi Def. It's otherwise the same as the 2006 2-Disc set, with the extra features remaining in standard definition and PAL format, the upshot being that a North American (NTSC) BluRay player can play the movie, but not the extras. The revised DVD is available in a 2-disc "Ultimate Edition" with all the extra features of the 2006 edition (including the Sinclar video), and in a single-disc edition, containing only the new transfer of the film and Gerrit's French introduction.
Although the Opening DVDs are marked with the Region 2 logo, they're actually region free; they are, however, in the PAL format, so they will play only on PAL-compatible DVD players. Highly recommended, though, as they look and sound infinitely better than the North American DVD.
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In June of 2007, the French DVD set from 2006 described above was issued in a German version by Capelight Pictures. It's the same as the French version, except with German subtitles and German language soundtrack in place of the French. Available from amazon.de, among others.
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This version is one of the twelve disks in the French "Le Cinema Du Monde" Series 8. It's basically Disk 1 of Opening's 2006 two-disc set, so it has the film in Dolby Digital 5.1 and DTS, with French and English soundtracks and optional French subtitles, and has Gerrit Graham's brief introduction to the film (in French), but lacks the extra features from disk two of the Opening set. Although marked as "Region 2," this disk is actually region-free, and in the PAL format.
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| The North American DVD, in addition to having less than perfect picture and no 5.1 soundtrack, is barebones; it doesn't even have the "theatrical trailer" its packaging claims it has. Instead, it has a random collection of clips that it's trying to pass off as a trailer. It's an embarrassment. Production of this DVD was discontinued in July of 2006, but it remains readily available for the time being.
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| Two variations of the cover on the standard European version.
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| Australian version, mate. This is the same video transfer as the North American version, but has only the English language soundtrack, no French audio track, and no subtitles at all. It has the same non-trailer as the North American edition, too.
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Phantom is one of the discs in this 5 disc De Palma collection from France
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Portuguese version; English language audio, with Portuguese, English, and Spanish subtitles. No trailer or special features, but check out the unique cover art featuring orgy-girl #6!
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Greek version -- with Greek subtitles!
VHS
Old North American Key Video version
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Poster advertising the old
North American Key Video version
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French version
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The older French version
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1987 Japanese version
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1993 Japanese version
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VHD
Here's the very scarce VHD from Japan (which we believe is the only market for which a Phantom VHD was ever created). VHD, or "Video High Density," was a commercially unsuccessful (but kinda cool) format in the early 80's, in which a vinyl grooveless disk was enclosed in a plastic cartridge, emerging from its cocoon only once inside the player. Combine the lack of success of Phantom itself with the dismal failure of VHD as a format, and you can do the math: there aren't very many of these Phantom VHD disks still in existence.
LASERDISC
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| North America
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Japan, 1987 edition
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Japan, 1993 edition
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ACTION FIGURES
These two different Phantom 12" action figures were made in extremely limited numbers by Japan's Medicom Toy Corporation. They're highly detailed, quality pieces of work. There's the suicide version, which comes with a little plastic knife, which you can put in the phantom's hand; and the warning version, which comes with a little toilet plunger (which they call a "vacuum pump".) With both of these, there are removable clothes, the phantom's electronic voicebox, and Death Records diecast metal lapel pins. Also, the detail on the faces on the two versions is different; one has him screaming, while on the other his teeth are clenched.
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| In May of 2007, Medicom released their third Phantom action figure, which they refer to as "Phantom Version 2.0". It comes with both the dagger and the toilet plunger, and an extra right hand. It's pictured here in the box, all minty-fresh.
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The Swan Archives staff is of course eager for the introduction of the Phoenix doll, and hopeful that she'll come in a "singer" version and a "screamer" version. And, if her clothes are removable, we hope there will be detailed instructions; the staff doesn't get out much.
BOOK TIE-IN
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| To say that the paperback novel, by Bjarne Rostaing, is "loosely" based on the screenplay is an understatement. It actually appears to be loosely based on a very early version of the screenplay, as it contains a version of Beef's funeral scene, which was deleted from the scripts pretty early on. It's an interesting read, though: Phoenix, a drug addict, meets Winslow soon after he arrives in New York City, they have a "relationship," she steals his money, etc. It's kinda like fanfiction; takes characters we know, and tells a different story about them.
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Here's the same book, with a slightly different version of the cover.
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SHEET MUSIC
All the songs from the film, arranged for easy/intermediate piano and vocal. Also includes some photos (including several nice on-set shots), and Gerrit Graham's write-up from the A&M presskit. This songbook has been out of print for years. |
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The "library edition" of the sheetmusic; same thing, but in hardcover.
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TRADING CARDS
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| "Cards of Mr. Cinema" was a set of French trading cards published by Images et Leisures. The cards are compiled at the site http://www.monsieurcinema.com, sort of a French version of Internet Movie Database, which had its origins in a French television show called "Mr. Cinema".
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HELMETS
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Limited edition full size replicas of the Phantom's helmet were sold briefly in 2007 by Medicom Toy Co. of Japan, but only sold to buyers in Japan. These helmets were packaged in Medicom's Death Records boxes (see below), so along with the helmet, you got a free box. The Medicom helmets are not as nice, in our opinion, as the ones made by the Guy in Winnipeg. For one thing, the visor isn't easily removable from the helmet, as it is in the film; Medicom loses authenticity points here. Also, the right eyehole on the Medicom helmet isn't really a hole; it's a depression in the helmet, over which a piece of dark plastic has been glued. The helmets made by the Guy in Winnipeg, in contrast, have correctly removable visors, and the right eyehole contains the correctly convex smoky covering.
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INEXPLICABLE CRAP
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The marketing geniuses at Medicom Toy Company of Japan are selling these empty cardboard boxes, but only for delivery in Japan. They're shipped flat, in sets of five, and you unfold them. Shown here with a helmet, so you can get an idea of the size of the boxes. Helmet not included. It's only a matter of time before these guys start selling napkins on which they've scrawled the words Phantom of the Paradise with a crayon.
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And who wouldn't want to cuddle up with a dead bird plushie? Apparently, nobody would: Medicom's latest offering, in early 2008, was this unlikely custom-shaped pillow featuring the Death Records dead bird logo. Unfortunately, the company received very few orders for it, it never got manufactured, and the orders went unfulfilled.
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SHIRTS
We generally don't feature unlicensed merchandise on this page, but the Archives receives so many requests from our readers as to where to obtain quality Phantom-related clothing that we feel compelled to make an exception here as a matter of public service.
Unfortunately, most of the "Death Records" shirts you find on eBay and elsewhere just aren't very good. The lettering is usually in the wrong font (crikey, how hard is it to use Arnold Boecklin?), or the quality of the material is dubious, or the bird is blurry or unshaded. We've looked at them all and, after careful consideration, concluded that the best available Death Records shirts are the ones offered by Austin Steele, at his Zazzle store, here. Finally, someone is using half-toning in the bird logo, the right font for the wording, and the right relative size and spacing between the wording and the bird. We appreciate the attention to detail.
We're also partial to this stylish "Beef" shirt, offered by Chantale and Angie over at CinemaObsessed.com, available here. Sure, the lightning bolt should probably be blue rather than yellow, but then it would run the risk of looking like an icicle, or a stalactite from the Wampa ice cave. We're OK with some artistic license on this one.
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All inquiries should be directed by email to archivist at swanarchives.org. The words "grand guignol" appear nowhere on this site. All website text, design, and coding is Copyright 2006-2010, Ari the Principal Archivist. No claim is made to the copyrighted works, trademarks or service marks of Harbor Productions, 20th Century Fox or A&M Records, and The Swan Archives is in no way affiliated with any of these entities.
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