Recently, I've been getting heavily into the films of maverick British filmmaker Ken Russell. Rock fans, of course, will immediately recognize the name as that of the director of the film version of the Who's Tommy (1975), and that's definitely a brilliant piece of work, but he's done so many other great things as well.
He's done one of my favorite sci-fi cult classics, Altered States (1980), from a screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky, starring William Hurt as an obsessed, driven scientist who uses an isolation tank and hallucinogenic mushrooms to trip back in time to experience "the first thought," the primordial origins of mankind - and ends up de-evolving into an apeman for his troubles!
Another film of his that I love is The Devils (1971), adapted from Aldous Huxley's historical tome The Devils Of Loudon (as well as taking inspiration from John Whiting's play made from the same material). It's the rather shocking and unnerving tale of religious corruption and political chicanery gone awry in 17th-century France, as a priest named Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed) is accused of witchcraft and sorcery and of being responsible for the diabolic possession of a convent of Ursuline nuns, led by the hysterical Sister Jeanne (a magnetically disturbing Vanessa Redgrave).
I also enjoy his 1988 horror film The Lair Of The White Worm, based on Bram Stoker's final novel. It's an entertaining, and often downright funny, vampire tale starring Amanda Donohue as the bloodsucking pagan Lady Sylvia Marsh, and it's got an early performance from Hugh Grant (who gets to slice a vampire in half with a sword - take that, Bruce Campbell!)
There are quite a few other of Russell's films that I'd like to see that I haven't yet (or not all the way through anyway), including his classical biopics The Music Lovers (1970; with Richard Chamberlain as Tchaikovsky), Mahler (1974; with Robert Powell in the title role), and Lisztomania (1975). The latter especially sounds rather intriguingly bonkers, with Roger Daltrey playing virtuoso pianist/composer Franz Liszt, and his old Tommy nemesis Paul Nicholas playing a vampiric proto-Nazi version of Richard Wagner! (Apparently there's a death-defying duel between the two of them where Liszt shoots fireballs from his piano!) There are cameos from Ringo Starr (as the Pope!) and Rick Wakeman (I've seen a clip of it on YouTube, and trust me - it's freaking hilarious!). I'd also like to see his biopic Valentino (1977), with the late Rudolf Nureyev portraying silent-film legend Rudolph Valentino. I've seen a clip on YouTube of an intriguingly homoerotic dance scene with Nureyev as Valentino doing a tango with Russian ballet great Vaslav Nijinsky (played by Anthony Dowell). I'm also eager to see his thriller Crimes Of Passion (1985), starring Kathleen Turner as a prostitute named China Blue and Anthony Perkins as a psychopathic street preacher who's obsessed with her.
I recently purchased a couple of cool recent books about Ken Russell: Phallic Frenzy: Ken Russell And His Films, by Joseph Lanza, a biographical analysis of Russell's life and work, as well as a fascinating essay collection Ken Russell: Re-Viewing England's Last Mannerist edited by Kevin M. Flanagan.
He's done one of my favorite sci-fi cult classics, Altered States (1980), from a screenplay by Paddy Chayefsky, starring William Hurt as an obsessed, driven scientist who uses an isolation tank and hallucinogenic mushrooms to trip back in time to experience "the first thought," the primordial origins of mankind - and ends up de-evolving into an apeman for his troubles!
Another film of his that I love is The Devils (1971), adapted from Aldous Huxley's historical tome The Devils Of Loudon (as well as taking inspiration from John Whiting's play made from the same material). It's the rather shocking and unnerving tale of religious corruption and political chicanery gone awry in 17th-century France, as a priest named Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed) is accused of witchcraft and sorcery and of being responsible for the diabolic possession of a convent of Ursuline nuns, led by the hysterical Sister Jeanne (a magnetically disturbing Vanessa Redgrave).
I also enjoy his 1988 horror film The Lair Of The White Worm, based on Bram Stoker's final novel. It's an entertaining, and often downright funny, vampire tale starring Amanda Donohue as the bloodsucking pagan Lady Sylvia Marsh, and it's got an early performance from Hugh Grant (who gets to slice a vampire in half with a sword - take that, Bruce Campbell!)
There are quite a few other of Russell's films that I'd like to see that I haven't yet (or not all the way through anyway), including his classical biopics The Music Lovers (1970; with Richard Chamberlain as Tchaikovsky), Mahler (1974; with Robert Powell in the title role), and Lisztomania (1975). The latter especially sounds rather intriguingly bonkers, with Roger Daltrey playing virtuoso pianist/composer Franz Liszt, and his old Tommy nemesis Paul Nicholas playing a vampiric proto-Nazi version of Richard Wagner! (Apparently there's a death-defying duel between the two of them where Liszt shoots fireballs from his piano!) There are cameos from Ringo Starr (as the Pope!) and Rick Wakeman (I've seen a clip of it on YouTube, and trust me - it's freaking hilarious!). I'd also like to see his biopic Valentino (1977), with the late Rudolf Nureyev portraying silent-film legend Rudolph Valentino. I've seen a clip on YouTube of an intriguingly homoerotic dance scene with Nureyev as Valentino doing a tango with Russian ballet great Vaslav Nijinsky (played by Anthony Dowell). I'm also eager to see his thriller Crimes Of Passion (1985), starring Kathleen Turner as a prostitute named China Blue and Anthony Perkins as a psychopathic street preacher who's obsessed with her.
I recently purchased a couple of cool recent books about Ken Russell: Phallic Frenzy: Ken Russell And His Films, by Joseph Lanza, a biographical analysis of Russell's life and work, as well as a fascinating essay collection Ken Russell: Re-Viewing England's Last Mannerist edited by Kevin M. Flanagan.
