THE PHANTOM
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1996 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule: Another comic strip character makes
it to the big screen as Lee Falk's Phantom becomes
involved in a chase for three mystical skulls. The
plot has more holes than the face of The Phantom's
cave but does have some of the feel of the old
serials. Billy Zane is a curious choice for The
Phantom, but he manages to hold his own. This is
not a good film--along similar lines I much prefer
THE SHADOW--but does have some fun. Still, not
enough for actual respect. Rating: high 0 (-4 to
+4) (Minor spoilers in the review.)
The legend of The Phantom began in the 16th Century when off the shores of the Island of Bangalla ("Bengalla" in the film) Singg pirates captured a British merchantman ship and put all to the sword but for a young boy, Kit, who dived over the side just in time to see his father killed. The boy swam to shore and was rescued by pygmies (not so small in the film). The boy swore revenge on the pirate who killed his beloved father, but days later he found the pirate washed up on shore dead. His goal in life gone, he instead devoted his life to fighting piracy, greed, cruelty, and injustice wherever it occurred. He swore that this would be not just his mission, but that of his sons and their sons. When he died they would carry on after him. So began a long line of Phantoms. As there always was a Phantom around fighting evil, even as generations and even centuries passed, the legend grew that The Phantom could not die. He could appear to die, but would return ever and again looking just the same. He was called "The Man Who Cannot Die" and "The Ghost Who Walks." The pygmies kept the secret that The Phantom was a mortal and gave each Phantom the secrets of their deadliest hunting poisons. He made his home Skull Cave in the deep woods of Bangalla and found other Skull Caves in other parts of the world including the American Southwest. From these he could fight evil-doers everywhere. But when one Phantom's adventures were ended a Phantom would always return to Bangalla, his true home. The pygmies knew that the day would come when each Phantom would die, usually violently, and The Phantom's son would be summoned to don the costume and assume the role of The Phantom.
I have to admit that even as a child I was not very interested in The Phantom. He was just about the least intriguing-looking super-hero I could think of. A black mask and a skin-tight purple suit was just too little costume. He looked a lot like a professional wrestler. But what really unsold me on The Phantom were his garish purple and black diagonally striped shorts (missing in the film). Because I thought the shorts looked silly, the stories probably never got much of a chance to impress me, though modern critics say that it was one of the better adventure comic strips. The Phantom was the creation of Lee Falk, who previously had created Mandrake the Magician. The strip began its long run on February 17, 1936, and sixty years later it was still running. The strip was adapted into a fifteen-chapter Columbia serial in 1943, with Tom Tyler playing the title role. Now, with the character a little over sixty years old, The Phantom is back on the wide screen in a story with a strong serial feel.
The year is 1938 and the world is in turmoil as dictators try to bring about a New World Order. The United States has its own would-be dictator, the ruthless gangster/businessman Xander Drax (played by Treat Williams). Drax's plan to is to get power through the use of supernatural means. He wants to gain possession of three mystical jeweled skulls which when brought together will bring their owner about the same power that the Lost Ark would. (And this film does borrow heavily and repeatedly from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, albeit lacking the style to make it all work.) As the film opens we see three ruthless Indiana-Jones-like characters who have tracked the first skull to the Island of Bengalla (ugh-oh!). The skull is in a cave somewhere in the deep woods (UGH-OH!). But it is safe, you see, because one of the mercenary explorers had actually killed The Phantom several years before (Dead meat!!!). Out of the forest, on a white horse and followed by the wolf, Devil, comes riding The Phantom. And so begins an adventure that will carry The Phantom to New York City and later to a meeting with the last descendants of the Singg pirates, killers of the father of the original Phantom.
Billy Zane is a reasonable actor, best remembered, at least by me, as the sea-going psychopath in the taut thriller DEAD CALM. And in the purple suit he physically looks the part, even without the striped shorts. Treat Williams plays his villain with a subtle tongue-in- cheek. He does not interpret the role so broadly that he could be in a Batman film, but he is not really playing it straight either. Kristy Swanson, known too well as BUFFY, THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, puts the most character in her maiden-in-distress that I have seen from her in any film, but she has a long way to go. And veteran Patrick McGoohan is known for underplaying his roles and so fits right in. Some of the most interesting faces are in bit parts: a gangster here, a cab driver there.
Perhaps the most intriguing part about Jeffrey Boam's script is its unwillingness to commit to whether The Phantom is supernatural or not. The legend is that The Phantom is supernatural and supposedly the truth is that he is not, but there are bits in the film that imply he is able to do what no mortal man could. Does he commune with the ghost of his father or is it only a memory? The supernatural certainly mingles with the natural world in this film. Some of his abilities seem to be just on the edge of what is naturally possible, but it could be just the writing. Certainly Boam is willing to contrive some absurd coincidences, particularly having villains fall a little too perfectly into some set traps.
One problem with the script is that while it is sort of explained how The Phantoms find mates to extend their line, it is a little less clear how the Singg pirates find sufficient mates considering where they are. Nor is it really clear why, lacking the dedication of the Phantoms, they continue their line in the same profession. And it is a little hokey having everybody be descendants of originals, repeating the same battles that have gone on for 400 years. Many of the scenes are not staged very well. When someone swings on a rope, if you watch the angle that the rope hangs you will see definite continuity errors. One odd departure from the original suit is the addition of surface designs. It is like little black lines were added to accentuate muscle definition. One absurd scene has the wolf Devil apparently talking to The Phantom's white horse and telling the horse where to go to pick up his master. The horse then outruns an airplane. Some horse. There is little on-screen violence, but there is a gruesome scene of implied violence (borrowed from the film THE HORRORS OF THE BLACK MUSEUM).
In spite of a valiant effort to recreate a feel of the 1930s, THE PHANTOM never really works perfectly and often not even well. Then again the same can be said of the old serials. And it is good-natured fun in the style of the old movie serials. If you did not like THE SHADOW which had a good deal more panache, it is a good bet you will not like THE PHANTOM. For the sake of that fun I give it a high 0 on the -4 to +4 scale.
Mark R. Leeper
mleeper@lucent.com
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