The Phantom: Documentaries
THE PHANTOM: DOCUMENTARIES
By Seuj Abir (Contributor)
The Phantom and his horse ‘Hero’ | Paramount Pictures
‘The Phantom’ is an American comic-strip character which debuted in 1936. He was created by Lee Falk who created another character called ‘Mandrake the Magician’ who is known as the first ever comic book superhero. The Phantom appeared in newspapers two years before Superman and is still popular around the world. The popularity led him to be appear in various forms of media such as films, television series, animations and documentaries. In this article we’re going to discuss about the documentaries that have been made about the Phantom.
There have been three known documentaries about The Phantom. The first two of those documentaries were made to promote the 1996 paramount Pictures’ film ‘The Phantom’. There is not much information about the third one other than that that was a documentary presentation about the titular character. This article contains more information about the first two documentaries.
The first one, which was called ‘The Phantom: Comic Strip Crusader’ or ‘Biography: The Phantom: Comic Strip Crusader’ was an ‘A&E Network’ special. It was aired as a Part of A&E’s ‘Biography’ program and it was the 59th episode of the 8th season. The biography programs normally focusaed on real-life persons, and the Phantom was one of the very few fictional characters to get their own program. It aired on May 31st 1996, just seven days before the release of ‘The Phantom’ in June 7th 1996.
The documentary featured the history of The Phantom in the comics and some behind the scenes information about the movie. It was narrated by American actor/director Peter Graves. It featured interviews from creator Lee Falk (according to IMDB, Lee Falk’s archive footages, which were probably taken during the filming of the movie in Australia when he visited the set, were used), actors Billy Zane and Kristy Swanson, Director Simon Wincer, Frew editor Jim Shepherd, comic strip artists George Olsen and Keith Williams, and the president of the US Phantom fan club ‘Friends of The Phantom’ Ed Roades.
As mentioned above this documentary was made to promote the 1996 movie. Other than featuring behind the scenes information, and cast and crew interviews, it also featured many deleted shots from the movie. In the end of the documentary a deleted shot of The Phantom and his horse hero rearing in the sunset was also featured.
Snake in the filming | A&E Home Video
In the comic book history portion of the documentary, creator Lee Falk talked about the creation of his characters. He explained that Greek Busts inspired the idea of not showing the Phantom’s pupils when he was wearing his mask. He also talked about the Phantom’s surprising role in ‘World War II’and reveled why he didn’t stop writing those characters.
The documentary had a runtime of 60 minutes. The crew of the documentary included dialogue editor ‘Michael Abel’ from the sound department and first assistant camera operator ‘Roz Naylor’ from the camera and electronics department.
The documentary was released on DVD on March 31st 2006 by ‘A&E Home Video’, after almost ten years from release. The synopsis of the DVD was -
“His real name is Kit Walker, but to friend and foe alike he is the masked crusader known as the Phantom! One of the most enduring comic-strip heroes, The Phantom has thrilled worldwide audiences since 1936. The fictional story starts over 400 years ago, when pirates wreck Walker’s ship off the African coast. Rescued by Pygmies, he vows to fight piracy, greed and injustice wherever they occur. The real story starts with Lee Falk, who invented the hero and has kept The Phantom alive for over 60 years. In THE PHANTOM, Falk talks about his famous character, tells why he still writes the stories, and reveals The Phantom's surprising role in World War II! See how the crime-fighter has evolved over the years, from the earliest comic books to the recent Hollywood blockbuster. And in exclusive interviews, the film’s stars, including The Phantom himself, Billy Zane, discuss bringing this comic-book icon to life. BIOGRAPHY goes to the source for the ultimate examination of "The Ghost Who Walks The One Who Never Dies The Phantom."
The DVD cover | Amazon.com
The fans who later bought it on DVD really praised it and marked it as a very informative documentary. It was ranked #304,142 in Movies & TV and #55,322 in Drama DVDs on Amazon. This documentary is not available anywhere in the internet right now.
The second one, which was called ‘The Phantom: The Man - The Myth- The Legend’ or simply ‘The Making of The Phantom’ was a HBO Special. HBO aired this documentary to provide a first look at the movie. It aired around the same time as the film’s release in 1996.
The documentary featured the origin of the Phantom as well as his evolution in other media. The documentary focused on the making of the 1996 movie. It featured a lot of behind the scenes footage and scene breakdowns from the cast and crew. The scene breakdowns included the jungle action scenes, the New York scenes and the Sengh Brotherhood island scene. The documentary featured a lot of deleted shots from the movie such as extended shots of the Phantom and Diana Palmer on Hero, some shots featuring the Phantom and the Phantom and his horse ‘Hero’ rearing in the sunset scene. It also featured concept arts and storyboards.
Concept art of the Chronicle Chamber | HBO
Storyboard | HBO
The Phantom and his horse ‘Hero’ rearing in the sunset| HBO
The documentary featured interviews from creator Lee Falk, director Simon Wincer, Screenwriter Jeffery Boam, Producer Robert Evans and Richard Vain, actors Billy Zane, Kristy Swanson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Treat Williams, mechanical effects supervisor Al Lorimer and visual fx supervisor Wally Schaab. It was produced by William Rus and Directed by Kevin Gorman. It was not an easy task for the documentary makers to film the behind the scenes footage in Thailand.
Interview with director Simon Wincer | HBO
Interview with screenwriter Jeffery Boam| HBO
Interview with creator Lee Falk| HBO
Interview with Billy Zane | HBO
Deleted shot from the movie | HBO
The documentary was around 26 minutes long. It was very informative and was praised by fans who watched it later on YouTube.
The documentary is available to watch on YouTube. You can watch it by the link below
The third one, which was an original documentary presentation called ‘The History of the Phantom’ was shown at the ‘Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention’ in September 2008. The presentation also included a screening of ‘The Phantom (1961)’ TV Pilot.
Screen grab from ‘The History of the Phantom (2008)’ |????
Additionally there were a few documentaries about the making of ‘Phantom 2040’ and ‘Defenders of the Earth’. The ‘Defenders of the Earth’ documentary was released with the US DVD release. It included interviews with story editor Bryce Malek, writer David Wise, and artist Michael Swanigan. They reflected on various points of creative process, including the origins of the characters, legal issues surrounding the properties, controversial content, and ways in which the production differed from the others. There is not much information about the ‘Phantom 2040’ documentaries, it is not known if they even existed or not.
The Phantom has continuously been being published around the world ever since 1936. Even though he is not popular as he was before ‘The Phantom’ still is the most widely read superhero comic strip in the world. He has a bright future. There are still possibilities of The Phantom to be adapted in other media and carry on his journey in the big screen. Long live The Phantom!
What do you think about this article? Let us know in the comments below!
(Disclaimer: This article has been written based on my personal research. The information about the first documentary is taken from different sources because it is not available in the internet to be bought or watched. If there is any misinformation in this article, I apologize.)
Sources
https://ghostwhowalks.fandom.com/wiki/The_Phantom
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0397875/
https://www.amazon.com/Biography-Phantom-Comic-Strip-Crusader/dp/B000FKP1UE
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_(comics)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defenders_of_the_Earth
About the author-
Seuj Abir is a Phan from India. He loves writing about comic books, books and movies that he likes. He is also an admin of the upcoming Phan website called ‘The Whispering Groves’. Also a member of king comics rises (a cosmeco entertainment branch).Thanks to our pal Seuj for the exclusive article.
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