Description

Originally rated X, this film combines historical, comedic, and surrealistic elements to tell a tale of politics and witchcraft. In order to take over pre-rennaisance France, Cardinal Richelieu and his power-hungry followers will have to eliminate Father Grandier. Grandier controls the one town that keeps Richelieu from having total control of the region. The plan is to convince the townspeople that Grandier is a warlock and that all of his nuns are possessed by devils. The accusations are heard at a public trial - whose results may surprise you. ... Read more

Reviews (37)

Hell will hold no surprises for you, indeed...
Ken Russell's film, "The Devils"--based on John Whiting's play of the same name and Aldous Huxley's excellent historical treatise, "The Devils of Loudun"--is a drama set in seventeenth-century France dealing with the tribulations of one Urbain Grandier, a Jesuit canon of a self-governing, fortified, provincial town called Loudun. Because of his opposition to the demolition of the city walls and the subjugation of the resistant Protestant Huguenot population, the priest is accused of bewitching a convent of Ursuline nuns and subsequently tried and condemned by ruthless, conspiratorial Catholic authorities of Cardinal Richelieu's incipiently theocratic nationalist regime. As a film, "The editing is clumsy and disjointed and the murky photography makes everything--particularly the Brueghel-inspired shots of maggot-infested corpses borne up on wheels--look like regurgitated sour milk. Although the aspects of historical drama are potentially fascinating, Russell is just too crude and literal-minded a director--and with apparently too jaundiced an eye--to give the story any real deep sense of tragedy or social injustice. The movie merely sets out to shock and horrify with a monomoniacal emphasis on extremely gruesome forms of physical torture, and needless to say, the cautionary elements of Huxley's complex, thoughtful book get lost amidst all of Russell's garishly overwrought baroque-burlesque horror theatrics. What holds the film together if anything does is Oliver Reed's formidable if slightly (inexplicably?) creepy portrayal of Grandier's spiritual regeneration in the face of the unimaginable pain and death awaiting him. However, it is Vanessa Redgrave who truly inspires dread as Sister Jeanne of the Angels, the perverse, crook-backed, self-loathing yet narcissistically deluded mother superior who becomes violently infatuated with the priest. The most flamboyant of the villains is the grimly fanatical "professional witch-hunter," Father Barre (Michael Gothard), a young, athletic, wild-haired, hippie-Dionysus-type whose raving, crucifix-brandishing hysterics and seemingly insatiable fits of sadism grow repetitive and tiresome--not to mention silly--real fast. "The Devils"' climactic scene of Grandier's burning at the stake--in deliberate imitation of Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc"--might be the most horrible and graphically overwhelming cinematic immolation ever, but the brazenly sloppy staging and the underlying adolescent vulgarity of the whole conception renders it little more than shallowly sensationalistic on Russell's part. And the final elegiac image of Grandier's bereaved mistress climbing through the destroyed city walls and into the barren wastes beyond is certainly artfully bleak, yet it's also a somewhat pretentious, dispiriting "historical" nightmare with surprising little real insight.

RUSSELL AND REED AT THEIR BEST
Why 4 stars? Because this VHS contains a cut version of the original british film release. What we now deserve is a DVD with the full uncensored version of this masterpiece by Ken Russell.
Oliver Reed at his best, a powerful performance by Vanessa Readgrave, a beautiful and daunting photography surely confer classic status to this work of art, with surrealistic undertones.
Based on a historical facts, as told by Aldous Huxley's The Devils of Loudun, this is a riveting story about father Urbain Grandier's martyrdom, during the reign of Louis XIII.
After Richelieu convinces the King that self-government of small provincial towns must end, the feudal nobility lose their independence by an edict calling for the destruction of their castles and walls, whilst the Hughenots are being crushed by force. One of these towns is Loudun, where the priest (a Jesuit) is Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), an intellectual young priest, that knows the meaning and consequences of the edict calling for the destruction of the fortified walls of Loudun. Consequently, when Laubardemont, an agent of the Cardinal Richelieu arrives in the town, he is confronted and stopped by Grandier.
But Father Grandier is strikingly handsome and a sensualist. His vows of celibacy have not prevented him from fathering a bastard child with the daughter of Trincant, the town magistrate, and performing an illegal marriage with Madeleine, a young lady with whom he has fallen in love.
Meanwhile the Convent of the Ursulines in Loudun is ruled by Sister Jeanne of the Angels (Vanessa Readgrave), a young humped back noun, with a beautiful face. She develops an obsession with Grandier and has sensual visions which involve the young priest. When she hears about the illicit marriage, she loses control and falsely accuses the priest of sorcery and lewdness.
Grandier's enemies (Laubardemont, Trincant, Father Mignon and others) grasp the false accusation as an instrument for the destruction of the priest. They accuse Grandier of sorcery and call for an exorcist, Father Barre, who starts performing a series of exorcisms never seen before in France. The methods used by him and his assistants to extract the devils reputedly within the bodies of the nuns are base and sadistic. From Sister Jeanne's altered mind come the screams and the behavior that affect the other nuns. From there, collective hysteria spreads and as the nouns bask in their notoriety, their fantasies become more and more unreal. Those who oppose this infernal circus, on the grounds that the exorcists are the ones depraved, deliberately provoking the nouns, are arrested by Laubardemont, who wants to see the matter through. Both Richelieu and his agent are well aware of Grandier's innocence but the raison d' Etat calls for the destruction of the young priest.
Not surprisingly, based on the hysterical accusations of the nouns, Grandier and Madeleine are arrested. Grandier is brought to trial and found guilty of sorcery. He is viciously tortured, vainly, in order to extract a confession of his guilt. When Grandier is burnt alive at the stake, in the public square of Loudun, we see, in the background, that finally the walls of the city are starting to be destroyed...........
A DVD full version of this underrated classic is a must, for the sake of the history of cinema, and to keep alive a strong spirit against political manipulation and religious fanaticism.

A macabre tale of religious mania, power, lust, possession
This movie, partly based on The Devils Of Loudon, by Aldous Huxley [author of Brave New World, Brave New World Revisited, among others] features Oliver Reed, as an indiscreet priest, doing very unpriestly things with a young daughter of a nobleman, and Vanessa Redgrave as a demented nun. It centres [centers] around the "possession", supposedly, of a town, and the convent in Loudon, after the religious wars of the 1630s.
Moderately acted, a few familiar faces appear in the movie (i.e., to viewers of British films and television); including Dudley Sutton [Tinker in the Lovejoy mysteries and John Woodvine, who appeared in the "Armageddon Factor" in the Dr. Who series]. After the Protestant/Catholic religious wars are over, a new priest, Reed, comes in and has his way with a young lady [which later comes back to serve as the basis for his trial]. Vanessa Redgrave, as the aforementioned demented nun, has a lustful fantasy about the priest, very unnunlike. Along the way, a power hungry cardinal seeks to gain the favo[u]r of the king, and to destroy the town of Loudon, and the walls of the city. There are several representations (or misrepresentations some might say) of figures of the church, the royalty of the time(s), and others. Russell's twisted vision paints a dark, horrific, and unfavo[u]rable time in religious history that's hard, though fascinating, to watch. With a few "naughty bits", i.e., unclothed nuns, unnatural couplings, and general hypocrisy, it paints a disturbing vision of religious mania that serves as a chilling portrait of what power, corruption, lust, greed, and a multitude of other "sins" can evoke as it turns "religious", so-called, people into "Devils". Not for the squeamish, or easily offended, i.e., religiously speaking. Particularly for Catholics, like me, this movie shows that the "Church" had its own dark moments, not only in its persecution of "separated bretheren", i.e., the Protestants, but in the use of "religion", to justify a multitude of wrongs, committed in God's name. Heaven help us all.

DVD edition of 'The Devils' MUST be released!!!!!
'The Devils', "one of the most controversial films ever made in the UK," is not only Ken Russell's BEST film, but probably the most IMPORTANT religious commentary ever put onto film (thanks to the glorious union of Aldous Huxley & Ken Russell). Although you can purchase the widescreen, least censored, Maverick Directors series, UK version (PAL VHS) from www.amazon.co.uk (ASIN: B00004CUX5, Catalogue Number: S015401) -- where the heck is the director approved DVD edition of this film, already???!!! This is an outrage to the film appreciation community, and especially to Ken Russell fans (who have the availability of almost every other Ken Russell film EXCEPT 'The Devils', arguably his VERY BEST, on DVD)!! Every rational reviewer of this film cries the same thing (hello, Warner Brothers!) -- consumers WANT a director approved DVD edition of 'The Devils' (NOT the butchered, US version), including Flim Four's 'Hell on Earth', "an hour-long documentary presented by Mark Kermode on Ken Russell's 1971 film" PLEASE, ALREADY!!!

Blame the transfer, not the movie!
I wish people would stop criticising the photography in The Devils. The photography is superb. Unfortunately, when The Devils first appeared on VHS, it suffered the double insult of being released in the censored American version, rather than the full UK print, in a completely hideous transfer which looked as if someone had filmed it off the TV with a camcorder. In the UK, the full version of the film was finally released in a decent print in 1997 in the Maverick Directors series. However, Warners will not release this version of the the film in the States. The Devils was being prepared for DVD release in Europe, with audio commentaries by Ken Russell and Vanessa Redgrave. However, it seems that Warner has postponed the DVD indefinitely. Why are they so determined to sabotage this film? ... Read more

Reviews (63)

Great premise, poor execution! Dull & boring!
I dunno--this movie just didn't do a thing for me! "Watcher in the Woods" was made at a time when the Disney Corporation was trying to break into the adult market. They produced a number of disjointed, unsatisfying films: "Tron;" "Something Wicked This Way Comes;" "Tex;" "The Black Hole;" and "Watcher," among them. They were really trying to find their way and eventually hit paydirt with "Splash." Alas, "Watcher" is much ado about nothing. The great Bette Davis is completely wasted in a thankless role. Basically, it's a hoary old plot about "something in the woods" that, uh, "watches." Oh, and it also likes to follow you around while you're biking. Is it a ghost? A monster? Answering that question would give away the ending, which (according to lore) was reshot twice. This is definitely After School special stuff--replete with zooms, horrid acting by "typical" kid stars, cheesy special effects, and flacid attempts at shock (a screeching cat, snarling dog, little girls talking in someone else's voice, yada-yada). You've heard and seen it all before. Scary? Nope! Dull? Yep! This is surprising, since "Watcher in the Woods" was directed by John Hough, who also helmed the terrifically spooky "Legend of Hell House." "Watcher" has a nice video transfer and received the deluxe treatment from Anchor Bay. But it's significant that Disney hasn't even bothered to rerelease "Watcher" (and other of its pre-Splash attempts) on their own label. They've all been licensed to Anchor Bay. If Disney doesn't believe in their own material, why should you?

A great scary slumber party movie!!!
Two young girls and their family move into a big old mansion with an interesting past!!!I remeber watching this as a child and just being absolutely fascinated and frightened. It is so fun and suspenseful and scary! I would reccomend this for age 9 and up for a super scary slumber party or nightime movie!! I cannot wait for my seven year old to get old enough to watch it, but right now she is too prone to nightmares after semi scary movies! Also recommend, "The Labrynth" for a fifth grade slumber party movie! Oh the memories!

OK movie, but a must for DVD collectors
The Out-of-Print Anchor Bay version of the WATCHER IN THE WOODS DVD is up there with the first, one-day release of the LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (w/the original ending) as the Holy Grails of DVD collectors.

This version has two Alternate Endings which has more special F/X, explains the story better and actually shows what the Watcher in the Woods looks like (the original version you never actually see the Watcher or know its origins). The alternate endings also make more sense (as we follow Jan going into the other Watcher's Homeworld and bringing the unaged Karen back). The movie itself is so-so, but the special features in this rare DVD find makes it worth it.

20 years later, still scared.
When my parents bought their first VCR, I was allowed to rent any Disney movie I wanted. I chose this one, and I had nightmares for YEARS. There are very scary, abrupt images of a trapped, blindfolded girl in random mirros--frightening for a child. It is a very, very creepy film. Parent should preview it before showing it to children 10 and under.

Another Twilight Zone Story from Disney
If you've looked at my reviews, you know that I have an affection for Rod Serling. Most of my favorite films are Twilight Zone types of stories and this one is no exception.

Disney has fluctuated between outstanding animated features and some very good live-action films. At one point, the studio lost some of its direction (after Walt died, by the way), and the animation became less than perfect, the live-action films strayed from being family classics (in the sense of Swiss Family Robinson, Old Yeller, etc.) and called up a darker side of the studio. This story, along with Black Hole, Something Wicked This Way Comes, and Child of Glass, is of that era, or should I say, flavor. All four films are not your standard Disney fare. Of them, only Child of Glass remains in the vault, possibly because it was made for television, rather than for the theater. It is well worth looking for and hopefully the studio will release it some day in the future.

Back to the present. This one is due for rerelease in August, 2004. I have it on DVD and as a one-time video store employee, I would recommend it for someone who wanted to see something different in the way of suspense and horror. And, like the good suspense film it is, it does not resort to violence, but a collection of oddities which seem more surreal and strange than supernatural.

Ironically, the original release (and the Anchor Bay DVD has all the alternate endings and other goodies - I can't speak to the new release) has one of the strangest twists at the end that one can imagine. Thank you Disney for doing it this way, instead one of the alternatives, for it truly remains the best approach, even if the FX needed to pull off the other approaches had been available and perfected. This is the best and it turns out to be something different!

Science Fiction.

Huh?

Yes. The ending is purely science fiction in nature and scope. Something that you wouldn't expect given the gothic setting of the story and yet, that is exactly what it is. I won't reveal how, but not one customer came back and disagreed with me after watching the film.

A note on my rating. Normally, I would have given this five stars, but after watching this a couple of times, I found Holly's voice to wear thin and grate on my nerves. As the story progresses, her voice correctly shows the tension that she is developing as the mystery deepens. It reaches a shrillness that is seldome used as she approaches her own breaking point. Unfortunately, the increasing shrillness works only with the alternate endings. With repeated watchings (it isn't noticeable in the first watching) it fails to work well with the selected ending, even though the ending was the best choice as I mentioned earlier. It is unfortunate that the studio didn't go back and remix her voice to correct the problem, but they were running out of time once the producers realized they couldn't pull off the original ending. As I mentioned, you probably won't notice the problem on your first, or even second watching, but it is there.

One final word. Even on the third and forth watchings, I still tended to jump out of surprise... and that's something that's a rarity. ... Read more

Description

True story that started with an executive in London placing an ad for a woman to share a tropical paradise and wedded bliss, dreaming of sexual abandon.Unfortunately his partner doesn't share his dreams. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

A cautionary tale for those with tropical escape fantasies.
This film just about cured me of my annual February fantasies about escaping from our bleak winters. Those who consider this a standard male fantasy film about sharing a desert island with a beautiful young woman weren't paying much attention. It does start out that way, paunchy, fifty something man advertises specifically for a pretty woman in her 20s to share the adventure for one year which he intends to write a book about. It rapidly blows up in his face. That they realistically portray this decidedly unheroic man facing his personal realities as he fails again and again to provide food, shelter, and be a source of sexual attraction to his increasingly frustrated, bored and literally starving young woman is what makes this movie stand out from the usual Hollywood "manly-man impresses woman right into bed" feature film. And it is a true story. At the end of the year together they go their separate ways happy never to have to see each other again. Interestingly, I hear the woman wrote the book and was published within months of leaving the island. I don't know if the man ever did.

a gem of a movie I thought was gone forever
This is a wonderful movie for multiple reasons. The beautiful landscapes, the interesting relationship that is built between Reed and Donohoe, and the mounting strain of being castaway. Inserted shots of their withered bodies, in conjunction with their images of self is truely gripping. Full of freedom, aka nudity, the roles of man and woman are explored with an honest beauty. While there are some moments with other people on the island that are not as well conceived, some of these moments show the flaws and insecuritites of man beautifully. A movie that is not for everyone, but nice if your looking for something different and beautiful to look at. With such a small audience I was surprised to see a rather old movie still available for purchase. Buy it while you can. I would say hold out for a DVD release, but I am surprised it is even around at all! Who knows if a DVD for this title will ever be produced.

They have to be kidding to give more than 3 stars!
They have to be kidding to give this more than 3 stars! Lets start with the film making.. Its aweful. With the setting they had the cinematography could have been breathtaking, it isn't. The technology existed in 1987. But this is a poorly shot movie.

Editing. As poor as the filming was, the editing is very unpolished and poorly done, some might say choppy.

Script. The poor editing AND a poor script make this difficult to watch when Donahoe is NOT on screen.

The characters. Gerald, played gamely by Oliver Reed, is not a likeable person at all. From the beginning he is clumsy and very odd. Lucy, on the other hand is extremely likeable with or without clothing.

Story. With the hook this movie had, you would think they could have come up with a good script to go with this, but they didn't. But maybe it was the poor direction and editing that ruined the story.

We have an unarguably poorly made movie that is getting 4 and 5 star rating reviews. Apparently the only thing that matter with this movie is that Amanda Donahoe is naked a large percentage of the movie. So lets give her a 5, everything else a 1 or 2 and we end up with a 2 to 3 star movie. I round down to 2 stars because it is quit boring.

Amazing true story
The film "Castaway" from director Nicolas Roeg reminds me of the cliche-'truth is stranger than fiction.' Based on a true story, it's the tale of a British writer Gerald Kingston (played by Oliver Reed) who conceives of the brilliant plan to cart himself off to a desert island--with a suitable woman in tow--with the idea that he will write a bestseller based on his 'back-to-nature-Adam-and-Eve' experiences. Good plan, and it certainly smacked of a possible salacious bestseller. So middle-aged Gerald advertises for a wife, and is thrilled when young, blonde, and beautiful Lucy Irvine (Amanda Donohue) responds to his advertisement for "wife wanted."

A man--a woman--alone on a tropical island in the South Pacific--well one thing leads to another, and Gerald and Lucy are soon lovers. Then the story becomes extremely interesting when the idyllic scenario shifts and the practicalities begin to set in. Both Gerald and Lucy begin to suffer from a variety of health problems related to their deprivations, and soon they are at each other's throats.

When Lucy Irvine told her story to the British press, it created quite a scandal for some time in England. The irony, of course, is that Lucy Irvine wrote the book "Castaway" which detailed the plan for the bestseller, Gerald's behaviour, and the inevitable disintegration of their relationship. The film does a rather nice job of contrasting all the hopes and dreams of the island life with the harsh realities of malnutrition, illness, and isolation. Both Donohue and Reed were perfectly cast in their roles--their initial passion is believable, and the disillusionment inevitable and well done--displacedhuman.

ACTING
I came across this film again,
I saw it first some years ago,
Two people, island, stranded game,
The best of acting I have known.
He's tough; she's beautiful and gay,
The island - paradise and dreamlike,
They had agreed to stay away
From civil pleasures and the mankind.
But isolation, lack of food,
The mental strain and aggravation,
Took toll in settling the mood
With angry fighting and frustration.

The sores had healed of proper care
The world was better, full of food,
And busy life came back prepared
Exchanging problems - bad for good.
But one sore deepest and infected
Would never heal, no matter what,
They failed each other, left neglected,
They cracked the unity accord.
The lesson taught and learned intensely,
There is a limit to the strain,
The best intentions played immensely,
Could crash you down full of pain. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

The Best of Ken Russell's Efforts
Or at least the best that I've seen. A very amusing, highly satirical film. It's not a straight-forward biography, but rather it tries to capture the important milestones in Mahler's life. Russell introduces a number of sly references to other films including Visconti's 'Death in Venice'. Russell doesn't make Mahler an entirely sympathetic character especially in his treatment of Alma, but he does bring out their love and devotion for each other. Also, Mahler's nonchalant discarding of his Jewishness to gain a position at the Vienna State Opera doesn't make him particularly admirable. The scene in which he placates Cosima Wagner is very funny and may not please some Wagnerites. Watch for the various Wagnerian icons there! Other segments I liked were the dream funeral and the interview with Hugo Wolf. Robert Powell is a handsome and intense Mahler, and the boy who plays young Mahler is, for once, not conventionally cute. I don't know what the complaint about the DVD is, but mine seems quite all right.

Poor quality transfer
While I love the movie, the quality of the transfer to DVD is very poor. It's not much better than the VHS tape. It definitely is in need of remastering. If they ever do that, I'll buy another copy.

Strictly for "art movie" fans. Mahlerians be wary.
I look forward to Ken Russell's Mahler listening to the hype, but it ended up in a horrible disappointment. Never mind if it's an art movie, Ken Russell ended up making more of an abstract mess of what-he-thought was an interpretation of Mahler's life. If you can stomach bizarre movies like Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, then you can bear the scenes like the Mahler's mock funeral and the Conversion with Cosima Wagner. I don't mind all of these supposedly symbolic and dream-like scenes of Mahler, but it expands little on his private life unlike movies like Amadeus and Immortal Beloved, no matter if the movies are partly fictional. I was under the impression that Robert Powell was going to conduct his Symphony no 8 and then Mr Russell will accompany the score with more symbolic events or picture narratives. It didn't happen eventually. There are vital stories of Mahler's life that are missing; how he became a world-class maestro from being a lowly conductor in a spa resort, his reputedly eccentric tantrums with his players, struggle with anti-Semitism in Vienna, how he met Alma Schindler and of course, the triumphant performance of his life; the Eighth Symphony.

It also seems that Ken Russell made this film as if intended for only Mahlerians. Sadly, viewers will be left baffled about Mahler by the end of the film. How are they suppose to understand the justopoxition of irony in scenes of Mahler's childhood? (for example, Mahler's father found out his son had skipped piano class and the whole family was struggling from getting Mahler hurt, the scene where young Mahler locked himself in a storeroom was accompanied by brass band music). Viewers do not understand why Mahler dominated his wife to such an extent she was forbid to compose. We didn't see Mahler conduct any orchestra at all except for the part he imagined himself conducting a Landler in his home. What is so damned special about Mahler? What is the hype? In Amadeus, moviegoers familiar by Mozart are convinced by his genius through demonstrations shown in film.

The music in this film is AWFUL to extent Mahler's music is clattered around the film as snippets using when suited to Russell himself. Haitink isn't a mature Mahlerian yet compared to Bernstein and most of the music conducted by Haitink is trash, even though at his later years his interpretations mature steadily. Seriously, I thought it was led by some Hollywood conductor when at the ending credits, I cannot believe the soundtrack was conducted by Bernand Haitink! Simply baffling when considered his interpretation of Symphony no 9 is so legendary that Deryck Cooke, a Mahler scholar, declared it the finest he ever heard.

To sum it up, if you're looking for chronological biography of a film like Amadeus, this is a let down. If you're a Ken Russell fan, a rent is considered. Otherwise, just stay your bloody hands elsewhere.

For any Mahler lover, a DVD worth having in a collection
As a Mahler lover, I could say that the music in the dvd is excellently played. The sellection is right. Most scenes seem to be adequate to his life.
Some parts of the film resulted rather funny to me,e.g. when Mahler is forced to fight a dragon and comes out of its cave with a pork head, then eating part of it. Some would say it is symbolic, but this part seems to be in contrast with the rest of the film, which could be said to be serious. But anyway, it is ok, I mean it is not disgusting. I think that any Mahler lover just does not want any representation to be unrespectful of the artist we love so much. This film is respectul.
A scene in which Alma is represented as being shadowed by him is twofold, as you can take her as death walking behind him. There is also a scene with death arriving in a boat, mixing her with the soprano singer who practiced with Mahler. Interesting.
Just the beginning of the film, pays its price. With a shocking fact plus the climax of his unfinished tenth symphony.
Even though there are many scenes in which Alma is depicted as to prone to flirt, the emphasys, in my opinion, does not go beyond the line. In fact, a scene starting with Beethoven`s statue in a graveyard, in a time close to Mahler`s death, is I think, depicting quite acurately the state of mind of Gustav.
I mean, I think Alma could have been just waiting for his death in order to find for herself a younger lover. Maybe I am wrong.
To finish, as a Mahler lover I always end up deeply sad, because he died early. I wonder, what if he had lived for 60 years. Why Albert Camus died in his 40s.
In fact there is no god; but had there been one, he was the one who killed Mahler and Camus, because he would have seen that these guys were creating perfect art, and his universe is chaos.
We all know that Gustav Mahler is the only God ever existed.

Mahler/Christ/Ken Russell
Film auteur Ken Russell made at least six biographical movies about celebrated composers, three of which enjoyed commercial release in the United States: "The Music Lovers," about Tchaikovsky; "Mahler," about its titular subject; and "Lisztomania," really about Wagner as much as it was about Liszt. Unseen in commercial release in North America (and unseen by me) are studies of Frederick Delius, Sir Arnold Bax, and Bela Bartók. Known for his extravagance - and, let us be honest, his vulgarity - Russell nevertheless believes passionately in these projects and endows his composer-artists with an especially powerful aura. (At one point, in the late 1960s, Russell apparently tried to help in the promotion of Lyrita's release of symphonies by Bax, although his plan was eventually scuttled by Lyrita's management.) The Tchaikovsky, Liszt, and Mahler films are all studies in the link between neurosis and creativity and portray the artist not merely as a social outcast, unfit really for society, but as a martyr to his own talent, which inevitably consumes him. "Mahler" (1974), as fantastic as portions of it might be, maintains the closest marriage with reality. Robert Powell (famously Jesus in Zeffirelli's film of that name) as Mahler represents perfect casting. For one thing, he looks the part. British beauty Georgina Hale (where is she twenty-five years later?) is alternately innocent and whorish as Alma Schindler, who, twenty years younger, became Mahler's wife only to betray him, as Mahler perhaps betrayed her, too. There is enough neurosis in their story to go around. Russell gives us not so much a straight narrative as a series of vignettes in flashback from Mahler's point of view as he returns by train to Vienna for the last time in 1911, the year of his death. Using Bernard Haitink's recordings of the Mahler symphonies (with the Concertgebouw Orchestra), Russell illustrates the music in the visual fantasies or episodes that make up the film. Examples? To the apocalyptic "organ chord" from the First Movement of the Tenth Symphony, we see Mahler's lakeside hut at Maiernegg burst into flames; then a cocooned female figure gradually emerges from her chrysalis in a weird ballet. To the death-march on "Frère Jacques" from the First Symphony, with its interruptions by an oompah-ing klezmer band, we see Mahler watching his own funeral and interment helplessly, his coffin carried by black-uniformed SS men while Alma, in matching SS miniskirt and jackboots, does a lewd dance on the grave. In a crucifixion scene accompanied by bleeding chunks from Wagner's "Ring," Cosima Wagner, the Mistress of Bayreuth,gives him a pass for being circumcised, then compels him to eat pork, thus licensing him to conduct the most Teutonic of Teutonic music. (This follows the announcement of the composer's conversion to Catholicism - as I said, nothing is too vulgar for Russell.) For the "Veni, Creator Spiritus" from the Eighth Symphony, Russell gives us a cinematic suite of Gustave Doré engravings based on Dante's "Paradiso." And so it goes. At one point, a reporter claiming to be "Ernst Krenek" bursts into Mahler's Pullman compartment. (The real Ernst Krenek would have been about three years old at the time.) What holds the sequence together is the music in combination with Powell's remarkable performance. He even convinces when he undertakes the thankless job of conducting an unseen (and of course nonexistent) orchestra for the camera. (We all do it, but none of us wants to be photographed while doing it.) While room remains for as less surreal treatment of Mahler, Russell's, despite its eccentricity, is still a worthy attempt. Aficionados of Mahler will especially want to have it. I recommend it with the cautions implicit in what has gone before. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

Not exactly Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend, but...
...it's a wonderful (and hilarious) movie!!
Most of the play is in this movie (on stage), but everything funny in this movie is on stage but has to do with things off stage or off stage.
I love the show, The Boy Friend and I am not at all offended at what Ken Russell did with it: one of the mains things is the Busby Berkeley style numbers (hilarious).
Other things I like about this movie is much of the casting: Twiggy is absolutely wonderful as Polly; Glenda Jackson makes an unforgettable appearence as Rita; Moyra Fraser has a great stage presence, playing Mme Dubonnet; Antonia Ellis is hilarious and steals the movie as the jerky Maisie; Georgina Hale is both cold and sweet as Fay; Tommy Tune could not have been better as Tommy (originally Bobby); Barbara Windsor is priceless as Hortense; Sally Bryant is great as the thick-headed Nancy; Murray Melvin is sweet as Alphonse; Max Adrien is fun as The Show's Director and Catherine Willmer is delightful as the Director's uptight wife.
I didn't really care much for Vladek Sheybal (De Thrill). I thouht he could have done much better. Christopher Gable (Tony) is much better off as a dancer. And Bryan Pringle was pretty lifeless.
The dream sequences are beautifully put together and wonderful with Christopher Gable's choreogrophy. The sets were beautiful (and way too complicated for an actual performance of The Boy Friend) and the props were hilarious. The backstage charactor personalities (along with reat actors) contributed so much to making this film funny. And I couldn't get enough of Busby Berkeley styled numbers.
As for singing: Twiggy suprised me with her nice and gentle voice; Antonia Ellis sung with many diferent levels and she was great at it; Tommy Tune can sing, of course; Barbara Windsor's voice may not have been beautiful, but her voice is warm and charming and that absolutely fit the part she played; Georgina Hale's voice is thin and a little flat, but her seductive tone fit her (offstage charector) part; Moyra Fraser may be the only one who SANG all the way through "Fancy Forgetting," but I wasn't convinced that she could actually sing. When she spoke through songs, I felt that it was to cover up the fact that she has an exremely limited range, however "Fancy Foretting" was good; Max Adrian sung just right for his character (while carrying a tune), but outside of that, he probably wouldn't be on Broadway; Christopher Gable was good; Bryan Prinle was also good.
The movie also has many memorable moments:
Maisie (snobbish) [Offstage Charactor]: Don't cry Polly, you weren't that bad.
Tommy's Life Story
Rita's entire part
Everything Polly had to do to memorize lines
Maisie's ad-libs/Attempt to seduce De Thrill
Fay's attempt to seduce De Thrill
Nancy trying to learn French
Bad Props (on stage)
...and many, many more.
The reason that I give this movie 5 stars instead of 4 or 3 (which my review may sound like thats right) is that I can re-watch it and still find it Fabulous! This movie is definetly going on my 10 Funniest Movies list!

That certain thing called...MAGIC.
This year 2003 marked the 50th anniversary of Sandy's Wilson's THE BOY FRIEND. Not only the stage musical is a hit but Ken's Russell's film The Boy Friend should have given more credits.The film was cleverly put togther and the production is A class.At the right time this film should get a lot of oscar nominations for best director, best choreography and most of all best musical. If ever they produce the 50th anniversary cd of this UK muiscal you should buy it. Just to hear Lilian Montevecchi singing as Madame Dubonnet is worth getting the cd.

Twiggy's show
No this is not based on the original "Boy Friend", so all of you original fans will have to go elsewhere. I thought the original was outdated so was delighted with Ken Russell adding a backstage story and straight out going druggy.. I think 30 minutes should have been edited, (explains why it's only 4.)
The main surprise in this movie is Twiggy. People who dismissed her as a phase in modeling should watch this. She sang wonderfully back in the 70's. She had a sweet gentle voice. I think the soundtrack of this movie should be released. I just bought the record and am happy with it. Also this movie is flat out magical. I had many daydreams about it when I was 15.

I LOVED THIS BUT........
Say what you will - it's not the sweet stage version but it's pretty wild - and how great is TWIGGY?

Now, if I loved this movie then why only 3 stars instead of 4 or 5? Simple... the darn video was modified to "fit my screen". If a movie ever deserved widescreen letterbox, it's THIS one! In fact, some of the musical numbers are so large, the video pops into widescreen for them and then retuns to formatted when finished (wouldn't that be even harder to do?!).

Anyway, if you're listening MGM, it's time to release this one on DVD, letterbox - and don't forget to add lots of tasty tid-bits... how bout comentary by Tommy Tune, Twiggy, Glenda Jackson and Ken Russell???

By the way, the stage version is really wonderful and deserving of a Broadway revival - the movie is indeed VERY different and in some ways Ken Russell erases the innocence of the stage version - but for a film, this movie is GREAT... just eliminate your expectations of what the stage version is like because there's no comparison.

What tha......??????
I have had the good fortune to work on a production of the original Broadway musical script and score of "The Boy Friend" written by Sandy Wilson. This video of the same show (supposedly) is incredibly derivative and quite frankly, frightening. I wish I could give it 0 stars, but.... "The Boy Friend" VHS is a mix of "42nd Street," "Noises Off," and some horrible acid trip. Twiggy - as good as she is in other vehicles - is simpering and annoying in this one. The fun of the original has been removed - gone are the carefree spoofs of love, gone is the energetic silliness of the girls, gone is the utter fun of the typical "boy meets girl/boy loses girl over misunderstanding/boy and girl get it together for the end" theme of the late 20's and early 30's movie musicals. In my opinion, this was a misguided attempt at.... something. I haven't figured out exactly what yet. Please see and enjoy and have FUN at the original stage show being performed in your area and ignore this bit of druggy tripe... you'll feel better in the morning. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Would you like an extra pillow?
Finally on DVD. Love it. I first saw this mistresspiece about the same time as the equally wacky, sex-drenched Tromeo and Juliet (What? You didn't know Juliet had a lesbian lover?), and it has lost none of its magic.

Other reviewers have described it well, so I won't overkill the story line. While this is a lightweight look at the S & M industry/subculture, it is genuinely entertaining, with Chris Anholt (Tia Carrere's sidekick in Relic Hunter) perfectly cast opposite the Divine Guin Turner - check out Go Fish and Chasing Amy.

Apart from being sheer entertainment with a great soundtrack, the movie captures the madness by which corrupt and perverse Government officials presume to judge a subculture in which the genderless, non-hierarchical role-playing is actually very sane and healing.

Hilarious, sexy, exciting. I hope they make a sequel with the same cast.

Introduction to diverse lifestyle
This is a fun movie for fetishists and non fetishists alike. Fetishists will find it amusing and will consider it light entertainment. Non fetishists will find an introductory view point on the BDSM scene without being drawn in to close.
The strong point of this movie is the atmosphere and scene creation using authentic costumes and realistic sets.
The lead and her supportive actress are enticing and play their parts with an engaging style. Enjoyable on the easy side of entertainment.

Who ever said Love wasn't Painful??
Preaching To The Perverted is a visually stunning foray into the bondage nightclub scene, with a surprisingly gentle and heart-warming love story behind it.

The photography, costumes, cast, settings, effect, and music all combine into an exquisitely beautiful and erotic film. If you want dirty "spank me till I bleed" cinema, this is *not* your film. PTTP is a gorgeous visual delight with an industrial/club soundtrack and a lot of eye candy.

There is beauty, love, humor, and yes...a bit of "strapped down" stimulation. Rather like a more risque Exit To Eden, with the stage beauty of All That Jazz.

The Story? Young Peter, played by Christien Anholt (Marcellus in Mel Gibson's Hamlet and a bit part in Power of One) is recruited by Henry Harding (Tom Bell), member of Parliament who heads the United Front Opposing Filth.

They send Peter into the heart of the sex and fetish clubs in order to gather evidence for prosecution in his campaign to shut down the industry. Peter is a fresh innocent, who surprisingly holds himself rather open-minded in his investigation.

In the House of Thwax, he meets Dominatrix Tanya Cheex (played superbly by Guinevere Turner) who begins to gently introduce him into her world.

Along the way, Peter finds himself attracted to Tanya, and realizes that he does not want for her to go to jail in Harding's prosecution. He must make a choice now, not only about the prosecution, but whether the clubs actually cause any harm to anyone.

What I really liked about Peter was that in all he went through, he never lost his innocence, or his inner strength. He manages to stay steadfast in his beliefs and uncorrupted, while at the same time accepting the diversity of others.

And while Tanya is the ultimate beauty with her own convictions; sassy and spirited and free, she learns that sometimes soft does not mean weak.

This really is a great film. I laughed my butt off at the "horse and carriage" scene, I almost cried at the ending, and throughout the entirety of it, I gasped in pleasure at the overall beauty of it. This is human nature at its best, not its worst, and as long as you are not repelled by a many "northern orbital body" scenes and a few spankings, I think that you will agree that Preaching To The Perverted is a beautifully done masterpiece. Enjoy!

Stylish and Funny
This is a marvelous movie (not five star since I save that for things that stand the test of time) -- funny, stylish, delighting in itself. The background players, many of them actual members of the London Fetish scene, seem to be having a marvelous time and are definitely eye candy. The story is simple and the humor somewhat predictable, but the sets and costumes make it worth watching.

Immerse in the perverse!
Not for nothing has the rep of this cult movie from Britain grown and grown, until now it is finally striking out in the States after a little grappling/groping with MPAA over its, er, saucier elements such as the infamous Relaxicisor scene (applied between Guin Turner's legs). It's more cartoonish and stylish than Secretary, but you really do get immersed into a world that most hardly know is there. A blasting dance music sound track and brilliant design, photography, costumes and direction make this a must for anyone interested in the offbeat. Girls especially love it because they stay on top throughout the film. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

All Star Cast Pulls It Off
The tremendous cast drives this fact-based story of a ship of over nine-hundred Jewish refugees allowed to leave Germany not long before the start of WWII to settle in Cuba. The Germans had no intention of letting the ship dock in Cuba, but it was a propoganda ploy. As the title of the film indicates, there is a feeling of doom permeating the whole story.

Max Von Sydow does an excellent job portraying the compassionate captain trying to find some way of saving his passengers despite the personal risk to himself and his family back in Germany. An all-star cast populates the passengers with strong performances coming from Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Wendy Hiller, Maria Schell, as well as Sam Wanamaker and Lee Grant who both get a memorable scene of hysteria each.

The attempts on land to solve the problem of the ship make up the other part of the film. Most of these cameos are brief, although Ben Gazzara and especially Katherine Ross standout.

The direction isn't particularly inspired, and if it weren't for the compelling story and cast, the film would have been far less effective. It is darkly photographed, which adds to the atmosphere of the story and sets and costumes are all authentic and well done.

Voyage of the Damned isn't a great film, but the plight of its characters and the fact that it really happened will keep viewers watching until the end.

a great little flick !
I rented this movie one night because the title caught my eye as did the list of the stars.This movie is very long but extremly well scripted,casted,acted and edited.Story a german cruise ship the St.Loise(mispelled)filled with 937 Jewish refugees. The ship is enroute to Havana but the Nazi government made a deal with some Havana officials not to allow them to dock or let anyone off.The best performances are Lee Grant(oscar nomination and Golden Globe nomination),Osker Warner,Malcom Mcdowell,Katharine Ross(Winner of the Golden Globe best supporting actress),Faye Dunaway,Orsonne wells,Julie Harris, Jonathan Pryce the list goes on and on please rent this great movie!1!!!!

Voyage of the Damned
The true story of the SS St. Louis at the start of WWII with Jewish refugees endevaoring to escape Nazi Holocaust, being sent from port to port in search of a haven to survive. As usual, petty politics complicated their lives and in the end they were forced to sail back to Europe where most of them perished at the hands of Nazis and their Europen sympathisers. It is a (possibly forgotten) lesson in priorities...One that still has not been learned by today's democracies.

JUDEN IST VERBOTEN..!!
The ill fated voyage of the SS.St Louis has long passed into folk lore as one of the nazi propaganda machines more devious creations. All courtesy of Dr Joseph Goebbels. Briefly the idea was to allow a specially selected group of some 900 jewish refugees to leave Germany ostensibly to Cuba and then wait for the fallout when their visas were refused entry first by Cuba then the US, Canada and other so-called 'democratic' countries. The reasons given for refusal were couched in political jargon but the underlying translation was, 'sorry but we dont want to be overrun by thousands of jewish migrants, take your problems elsewhere'. Juden ist verboten !. The nazis would chomp with glee at these actions which would of course support their aryan theories that the jews were a race apart, and that the policies of other nations were indeed no different from Hitlers germany. Sad to say the plan worked all too successfully.

The star studded cast here give mixed portrayals of a cross section of the ships passengers. They are led by Oskar Werner and Faye Dunaway as Egon & Denise Kreisler. Max von Sydow gives an understated performance as the beleaguered ships captain, determined to stay neutral and non-political despite being caught in the middle of some diplomatic pointscoring. After the war his courage and bravery is honoured by world jewish congress. Lee Grant tends to overact her role but unforgettable is James Mason as Remos, the incorruptible foreign minister determined to save two young girls following a personal appeal by their father to a certain influential high class prostitute. Played superbly by Katherine Ross her parents are also on the ship and their is a brief but tearful reunion scene as the mother realises her daughters true profession. But this is just one story of many. No doubt the story is full of historical inaccuracies and the purists will howl at this but for all that it is still a watchable film re-enacting one of the more shameful episodes of WWII not entirely of the nazis own making.

Excellently acted true story of Jews during WW2.
All-star cast (Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Sam Wanamaker, Maria Schell, Julie Harris, Max von Sydow, Wendy Hiller, etc.) recreate the true and gripping story of a shipload of Jews seeking to emigrate from Germany during the Second World War. They have been granted passage on a German ship but then cannot find a country that will take them in.

Beautifully executed from start to finish, this movie is based on the book of the same title. It has great acting, interesting characters and a poignant story. The action of the movie has an upbeat ending, but the final frames of the movie inform us of the ultimate fate of each passenger. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

All Star Cast Pulls It Off
The tremendous cast drives this fact-based story of a ship of over nine-hundred Jewish refugees allowed to leave Germany not long before the start of WWII to settle in Cuba. The Germans had no intention of letting the ship dock in Cuba, but it was a propoganda ploy. As the title of the film indicates, there is a feeling of doom permeating the whole story.

Max Von Sydow does an excellent job portraying the compassionate captain trying to find some way of saving his passengers despite the personal risk to himself and his family back in Germany. An all-star cast populates the passengers with strong performances coming from Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Wendy Hiller, Maria Schell, as well as Sam Wanamaker and Lee Grant who both get a memorable scene of hysteria each.

The attempts on land to solve the problem of the ship make up the other part of the film. Most of these cameos are brief, although Ben Gazzara and especially Katherine Ross standout.

The direction isn't particularly inspired, and if it weren't for the compelling story and cast, the film would have been far less effective. It is darkly photographed, which adds to the atmosphere of the story and sets and costumes are all authentic and well done.

Voyage of the Damned isn't a great film, but the plight of its characters and the fact that it really happened will keep viewers watching until the end.

a great little flick !
I rented this movie one night because the title caught my eye as did the list of the stars.This movie is very long but extremly well scripted,casted,acted and edited.Story a german cruise ship the St.Loise(mispelled)filled with 937 Jewish refugees. The ship is enroute to Havana but the Nazi government made a deal with some Havana officials not to allow them to dock or let anyone off.The best performances are Lee Grant(oscar nomination and Golden Globe nomination),Osker Warner,Malcom Mcdowell,Katharine Ross(Winner of the Golden Globe best supporting actress),Faye Dunaway,Orsonne wells,Julie Harris, Jonathan Pryce the list goes on and on please rent this great movie!1!!!!

Voyage of the Damned
The true story of the SS St. Louis at the start of WWII with Jewish refugees endevaoring to escape Nazi Holocaust, being sent from port to port in search of a haven to survive. As usual, petty politics complicated their lives and in the end they were forced to sail back to Europe where most of them perished at the hands of Nazis and their Europen sympathisers. It is a (possibly forgotten) lesson in priorities...One that still has not been learned by today's democracies.

JUDEN IST VERBOTEN..!!
The ill fated voyage of the SS.St Louis has long passed into folk lore as one of the nazi propaganda machines more devious creations. All courtesy of Dr Joseph Goebbels. Briefly the idea was to allow a specially selected group of some 900 jewish refugees to leave Germany ostensibly to Cuba and then wait for the fallout when their visas were refused entry first by Cuba then the US, Canada and other so-called 'democratic' countries. The reasons given for refusal were couched in political jargon but the underlying translation was, 'sorry but we dont want to be overrun by thousands of jewish migrants, take your problems elsewhere'. Juden ist verboten !. The nazis would chomp with glee at these actions which would of course support their aryan theories that the jews were a race apart, and that the policies of other nations were indeed no different from Hitlers germany. Sad to say the plan worked all too successfully.

The star studded cast here give mixed portrayals of a cross section of the ships passengers. They are led by Oskar Werner and Faye Dunaway as Egon & Denise Kreisler. Max von Sydow gives an understated performance as the beleaguered ships captain, determined to stay neutral and non-political despite being caught in the middle of some diplomatic pointscoring. After the war his courage and bravery is honoured by world jewish congress. Lee Grant tends to overact her role but unforgettable is James Mason as Remos, the incorruptible foreign minister determined to save two young girls following a personal appeal by their father to a certain influential high class prostitute. Played superbly by Katherine Ross her parents are also on the ship and their is a brief but tearful reunion scene as the mother realises her daughters true profession. But this is just one story of many. No doubt the story is full of historical inaccuracies and the purists will howl at this but for all that it is still a watchable film re-enacting one of the more shameful episodes of WWII not entirely of the nazis own making.

Excellently acted true story of Jews during WW2.
All-star cast (Faye Dunaway, Oskar Werner, Sam Wanamaker, Maria Schell, Julie Harris, Max von Sydow, Wendy Hiller, etc.) recreate the true and gripping story of a shipload of Jews seeking to emigrate from Germany during the Second World War. They have been granted passage on a German ship but then cannot find a country that will take them in.

Beautifully executed from start to finish, this movie is based on the book of the same title. It has great acting, interesting characters and a poignant story. The action of the movie has an upbeat ending, but the final frames of the movie inform us of the ultimate fate of each passenger. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

The Best of Ken Russell's Efforts
Or at least the best that I've seen. A very amusing, highly satirical film. It's not a straight-forward biography, but rather it tries to capture the important milestones in Mahler's life. Russell introduces a number of sly references to other films including Visconti's 'Death in Venice'. Russell doesn't make Mahler an entirely sympathetic character especially in his treatment of Alma, but he does bring out their love and devotion for each other. Also, Mahler's nonchalant discarding of his Jewishness to gain a position at the Vienna State Opera doesn't make him particularly admirable. The scene in which he placates Cosima Wagner is very funny and may not please some Wagnerites. Watch for the various Wagnerian icons there! Other segments I liked were the dream funeral and the interview with Hugo Wolf. Robert Powell is a handsome and intense Mahler, and the boy who plays young Mahler is, for once, not conventionally cute. I don't know what the complaint about the DVD is, but mine seems quite all right.

Poor quality transfer
While I love the movie, the quality of the transfer to DVD is very poor. It's not much better than the VHS tape. It definitely is in need of remastering. If they ever do that, I'll buy another copy.

Strictly for "art movie" fans. Mahlerians be wary.
I look forward to Ken Russell's Mahler listening to the hype, but it ended up in a horrible disappointment. Never mind if it's an art movie, Ken Russell ended up making more of an abstract mess of what-he-thought was an interpretation of Mahler's life. If you can stomach bizarre movies like Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, then you can bear the scenes like the Mahler's mock funeral and the Conversion with Cosima Wagner. I don't mind all of these supposedly symbolic and dream-like scenes of Mahler, but it expands little on his private life unlike movies like Amadeus and Immortal Beloved, no matter if the movies are partly fictional. I was under the impression that Robert Powell was going to conduct his Symphony no 8 and then Mr Russell will accompany the score with more symbolic events or picture narratives. It didn't happen eventually. There are vital stories of Mahler's life that are missing; how he became a world-class maestro from being a lowly conductor in a spa resort, his reputedly eccentric tantrums with his players, struggle with anti-Semitism in Vienna, how he met Alma Schindler and of course, the triumphant performance of his life; the Eighth Symphony.

It also seems that Ken Russell made this film as if intended for only Mahlerians. Sadly, viewers will be left baffled about Mahler by the end of the film. How are they suppose to understand the justopoxition of irony in scenes of Mahler's childhood? (for example, Mahler's father found out his son had skipped piano class and the whole family was struggling from getting Mahler hurt, the scene where young Mahler locked himself in a storeroom was accompanied by brass band music). Viewers do not understand why Mahler dominated his wife to such an extent she was forbid to compose. We didn't see Mahler conduct any orchestra at all except for the part he imagined himself conducting a Landler in his home. What is so damned special about Mahler? What is the hype? In Amadeus, moviegoers familiar by Mozart are convinced by his genius through demonstrations shown in film.

The music in this film is AWFUL to extent Mahler's music is clattered around the film as snippets using when suited to Russell himself. Haitink isn't a mature Mahlerian yet compared to Bernstein and most of the music conducted by Haitink is trash, even though at his later years his interpretations mature steadily. Seriously, I thought it was led by some Hollywood conductor when at the ending credits, I cannot believe the soundtrack was conducted by Bernand Haitink! Simply baffling when considered his interpretation of Symphony no 9 is so legendary that Deryck Cooke, a Mahler scholar, declared it the finest he ever heard.

To sum it up, if you're looking for chronological biography of a film like Amadeus, this is a let down. If you're a Ken Russell fan, a rent is considered. Otherwise, just stay your bloody hands elsewhere.

For any Mahler lover, a DVD worth having in a collection
As a Mahler lover, I could say that the music in the dvd is excellently played. The sellection is right. Most scenes seem to be adequate to his life.
Some parts of the film resulted rather funny to me,e.g. when Mahler is forced to fight a dragon and comes out of its cave with a pork head, then eating part of it. Some would say it is symbolic, but this part seems to be in contrast with the rest of the film, which could be said to be serious. But anyway, it is ok, I mean it is not disgusting. I think that any Mahler lover just does not want any representation to be unrespectful of the artist we love so much. This film is respectul.
A scene in which Alma is represented as being shadowed by him is twofold, as you can take her as death walking behind him. There is also a scene with death arriving in a boat, mixing her with the soprano singer who practiced with Mahler. Interesting.
Just the beginning of the film, pays its price. With a shocking fact plus the climax of his unfinished tenth symphony.
Even though there are many scenes in which Alma is depicted as to prone to flirt, the emphasys, in my opinion, does not go beyond the line. In fact, a scene starting with Beethoven`s statue in a graveyard, in a time close to Mahler`s death, is I think, depicting quite acurately the state of mind of Gustav.
I mean, I think Alma could have been just waiting for his death in order to find for herself a younger lover. Maybe I am wrong.
To finish, as a Mahler lover I always end up deeply sad, because he died early. I wonder, what if he had lived for 60 years. Why Albert Camus died in his 40s.
In fact there is no god; but had there been one, he was the one who killed Mahler and Camus, because he would have seen that these guys were creating perfect art, and his universe is chaos.
We all know that Gustav Mahler is the only God ever existed.

Mahler/Christ/Ken Russell
Film auteur Ken Russell made at least six biographical movies about celebrated composers, three of which enjoyed commercial release in the United States: "The Music Lovers," about Tchaikovsky; "Mahler," about its titular subject; and "Lisztomania," really about Wagner as much as it was about Liszt. Unseen in commercial release in North America (and unseen by me) are studies of Frederick Delius, Sir Arnold Bax, and Bela Bartók. Known for his extravagance - and, let us be honest, his vulgarity - Russell nevertheless believes passionately in these projects and endows his composer-artists with an especially powerful aura. (At one point, in the late 1960s, Russell apparently tried to help in the promotion of Lyrita's release of symphonies by Bax, although his plan was eventually scuttled by Lyrita's management.) The Tchaikovsky, Liszt, and Mahler films are all studies in the link between neurosis and creativity and portray the artist not merely as a social outcast, unfit really for society, but as a martyr to his own talent, which inevitably consumes him. "Mahler" (1974), as fantastic as portions of it might be, maintains the closest marriage with reality. Robert Powell (famously Jesus in Zeffirelli's film of that name) as Mahler represents perfect casting. For one thing, he looks the part. British beauty Georgina Hale (where is she twenty-five years later?) is alternately innocent and whorish as Alma Schindler, who, twenty years younger, became Mahler's wife only to betray him, as Mahler perhaps betrayed her, too. There is enough neurosis in their story to go around. Russell gives us not so much a straight narrative as a series of vignettes in flashback from Mahler's point of view as he returns by train to Vienna for the last time in 1911, the year of his death. Using Bernard Haitink's recordings of the Mahler symphonies (with the Concertgebouw Orchestra), Russell illustrates the music in the visual fantasies or episodes that make up the film. Examples? To the apocalyptic "organ chord" from the First Movement of the Tenth Symphony, we see Mahler's lakeside hut at Maiernegg burst into flames; then a cocooned female figure gradually emerges from her chrysalis in a weird ballet. To the death-march on "Frère Jacques" from the First Symphony, with its interruptions by an oompah-ing klezmer band, we see Mahler watching his own funeral and interment helplessly, his coffin carried by black-uniformed SS men while Alma, in matching SS miniskirt and jackboots, does a lewd dance on the grave. In a crucifixion scene accompanied by bleeding chunks from Wagner's "Ring," Cosima Wagner, the Mistress of Bayreuth,gives him a pass for being circumcised, then compels him to eat pork, thus licensing him to conduct the most Teutonic of Teutonic music. (This follows the announcement of the composer's conversion to Catholicism - as I said, nothing is too vulgar for Russell.) For the "Veni, Creator Spiritus" from the Eighth Symphony, Russell gives us a cinematic suite of Gustave Doré engravings based on Dante's "Paradiso." And so it goes. At one point, a reporter claiming to be "Ernst Krenek" bursts into Mahler's Pullman compartment. (The real Ernst Krenek would have been about three years old at the time.) What holds the sequence together is the music in combination with Powell's remarkable performance. He even convinces when he undertakes the thankless job of conducting an unseen (and of course nonexistent) orchestra for the camera. (We all do it, but none of us wants to be photographed while doing it.) While room remains for as less surreal treatment of Mahler, Russell's, despite its eccentricity, is still a worthy attempt. Aficionados of Mahler will especially want to have it. I recommend it with the cautions implicit in what has gone before. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Julian close ups
Wow, this is a good one. Not so much for plot, but because I'm more of an "actor person". There are some fantastic close ups of Julian's face and hands in this. Brigitte Nielson is quite a beautiful tall woman too (even if her acting leaves something to be desired). Nice people to look at. Nice film work. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

The Best of Ken Russell's Efforts
Or at least the best that I've seen. A very amusing, highly satirical film. It's not a straight-forward biography, but rather it tries to capture the important milestones in Mahler's life. Russell introduces a number of sly references to other films including Visconti's 'Death in Venice'. Russell doesn't make Mahler an entirely sympathetic character especially in his treatment of Alma, but he does bring out their love and devotion for each other. Also, Mahler's nonchalant discarding of his Jewishness to gain a position at the Vienna State Opera doesn't make him particularly admirable. The scene in which he placates Cosima Wagner is very funny and may not please some Wagnerites. Watch for the various Wagnerian icons there! Other segments I liked were the dream funeral and the interview with Hugo Wolf. Robert Powell is a handsome and intense Mahler, and the boy who plays young Mahler is, for once, not conventionally cute. I don't know what the complaint about the DVD is, but mine seems quite all right.

Poor quality transfer
While I love the movie, the quality of the transfer to DVD is very poor. It's not much better than the VHS tape. It definitely is in need of remastering. If they ever do that, I'll buy another copy.

Strictly for "art movie" fans. Mahlerians be wary.
I look forward to Ken Russell's Mahler listening to the hype, but it ended up in a horrible disappointment. Never mind if it's an art movie, Ken Russell ended up making more of an abstract mess of what-he-thought was an interpretation of Mahler's life. If you can stomach bizarre movies like Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, then you can bear the scenes like the Mahler's mock funeral and the Conversion with Cosima Wagner. I don't mind all of these supposedly symbolic and dream-like scenes of Mahler, but it expands little on his private life unlike movies like Amadeus and Immortal Beloved, no matter if the movies are partly fictional. I was under the impression that Robert Powell was going to conduct his Symphony no 8 and then Mr Russell will accompany the score with more symbolic events or picture narratives. It didn't happen eventually. There are vital stories of Mahler's life that are missing; how he became a world-class maestro from being a lowly conductor in a spa resort, his reputedly eccentric tantrums with his players, struggle with anti-Semitism in Vienna, how he met Alma Schindler and of course, the triumphant performance of his life; the Eighth Symphony.

It also seems that Ken Russell made this film as if intended for only Mahlerians. Sadly, viewers will be left baffled about Mahler by the end of the film. How are they suppose to understand the justopoxition of irony in scenes of Mahler's childhood? (for example, Mahler's father found out his son had skipped piano class and the whole family was struggling from getting Mahler hurt, the scene where young Mahler locked himself in a storeroom was accompanied by brass band music). Viewers do not understand why Mahler dominated his wife to such an extent she was forbid to compose. We didn't see Mahler conduct any orchestra at all except for the part he imagined himself conducting a Landler in his home. What is so damned special about Mahler? What is the hype? In Amadeus, moviegoers familiar by Mozart are convinced by his genius through demonstrations shown in film.

The music in this film is AWFUL to extent Mahler's music is clattered around the film as snippets using when suited to Russell himself. Haitink isn't a mature Mahlerian yet compared to Bernstein and most of the music conducted by Haitink is trash, even though at his later years his interpretations mature steadily. Seriously, I thought it was led by some Hollywood conductor when at the ending credits, I cannot believe the soundtrack was conducted by Bernand Haitink! Simply baffling when considered his interpretation of Symphony no 9 is so legendary that Deryck Cooke, a Mahler scholar, declared it the finest he ever heard.

To sum it up, if you're looking for chronological biography of a film like Amadeus, this is a let down. If you're a Ken Russell fan, a rent is considered. Otherwise, just stay your bloody hands elsewhere.

For any Mahler lover, a DVD worth having in a collection
As a Mahler lover, I could say that the music in the dvd is excellently played. The sellection is right. Most scenes seem to be adequate to his life.
Some parts of the film resulted rather funny to me,e.g. when Mahler is forced to fight a dragon and comes out of its cave with a pork head, then eating part of it. Some would say it is symbolic, but this part seems to be in contrast with the rest of the film, which could be said to be serious. But anyway, it is ok, I mean it is not disgusting. I think that any Mahler lover just does not want any representation to be unrespectful of the artist we love so much. This film is respectul.
A scene in which Alma is represented as being shadowed by him is twofold, as you can take her as death walking behind him. There is also a scene with death arriving in a boat, mixing her with the soprano singer who practiced with Mahler. Interesting.
Just the beginning of the film, pays its price. With a shocking fact plus the climax of his unfinished tenth symphony.
Even though there are many scenes in which Alma is depicted as to prone to flirt, the emphasys, in my opinion, does not go beyond the line. In fact, a scene starting with Beethoven`s statue in a graveyard, in a time close to Mahler`s death, is I think, depicting quite acurately the state of mind of Gustav.
I mean, I think Alma could have been just waiting for his death in order to find for herself a younger lover. Maybe I am wrong.
To finish, as a Mahler lover I always end up deeply sad, because he died early. I wonder, what if he had lived for 60 years. Why Albert Camus died in his 40s.
In fact there is no god; but had there been one, he was the one who killed Mahler and Camus, because he would have seen that these guys were creating perfect art, and his universe is chaos.
We all know that Gustav Mahler is the only God ever existed.

Mahler/Christ/Ken Russell
Film auteur Ken Russell made at least six biographical movies about celebrated composers, three of which enjoyed commercial release in the United States: "The Music Lovers," about Tchaikovsky; "Mahler," about its titular subject; and "Lisztomania," really about Wagner as much as it was about Liszt. Unseen in commercial release in North America (and unseen by me) are studies of Frederick Delius, Sir Arnold Bax, and Bela Bartók. Known for his extravagance - and, let us be honest, his vulgarity - Russell nevertheless believes passionately in these projects and endows his composer-artists with an especially powerful aura. (At one point, in the late 1960s, Russell apparently tried to help in the promotion of Lyrita's release of symphonies by Bax, although his plan was eventually scuttled by Lyrita's management.) The Tchaikovsky, Liszt, and Mahler films are all studies in the link between neurosis and creativity and portray the artist not merely as a social outcast, unfit really for society, but as a martyr to his own talent, which inevitably consumes him. "Mahler" (1974), as fantastic as portions of it might be, maintains the closest marriage with reality. Robert Powell (famously Jesus in Zeffirelli's film of that name) as Mahler represents perfect casting. For one thing, he looks the part. British beauty Georgina Hale (where is she twenty-five years later?) is alternately innocent and whorish as Alma Schindler, who, twenty years younger, became Mahler's wife only to betray him, as Mahler perhaps betrayed her, too. There is enough neurosis in their story to go around. Russell gives us not so much a straight narrative as a series of vignettes in flashback from Mahler's point of view as he returns by train to Vienna for the last time in 1911, the year of his death. Using Bernard Haitink's recordings of the Mahler symphonies (with the Concertgebouw Orchestra), Russell illustrates the music in the visual fantasies or episodes that make up the film. Examples? To the apocalyptic "organ chord" from the First Movement of the Tenth Symphony, we see Mahler's lakeside hut at Maiernegg burst into flames; then a cocooned female figure gradually emerges from her chrysalis in a weird ballet. To the death-march on "Frère Jacques" from the First Symphony, with its interruptions by an oompah-ing klezmer band, we see Mahler watching his own funeral and interment helplessly, his coffin carried by black-uniformed SS men while Alma, in matching SS miniskirt and jackboots, does a lewd dance on the grave. In a crucifixion scene accompanied by bleeding chunks from Wagner's "Ring," Cosima Wagner, the Mistress of Bayreuth,gives him a pass for being circumcised, then compels him to eat pork, thus licensing him to conduct the most Teutonic of Teutonic music. (This follows the announcement of the composer's conversion to Catholicism - as I said, nothing is too vulgar for Russell.) For the "Veni, Creator Spiritus" from the Eighth Symphony, Russell gives us a cinematic suite of Gustave Doré engravings based on Dante's "Paradiso." And so it goes. At one point, a reporter claiming to be "Ernst Krenek" bursts into Mahler's Pullman compartment. (The real Ernst Krenek would have been about three years old at the time.) What holds the sequence together is the music in combination with Powell's remarkable performance. He even convinces when he undertakes the thankless job of conducting an unseen (and of course nonexistent) orchestra for the camera. (We all do it, but none of us wants to be photographed while doing it.) While room remains for as less surreal treatment of Mahler, Russell's, despite its eccentricity, is still a worthy attempt. Aficionados of Mahler will especially want to have it. I recommend it with the cautions implicit in what has gone before. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Lost treasure found again
BUTLEY is one of a number of Gray works that have been described as dissections of the male menopause. Like all good English drama this is not only realistic but also very very entertaining. This film version [compare it to the text and marvel of how little has been cut from the stage version] is not for the bombastic set. It is for all of those who crave a masterwork of verbosity acted by one of England's finest: Alan Bates. That the AFT series has been buried beneath legal ["administrative tangles"?] for so long is typical of our times but from Australia we thank whoever is responsible for making this series available once again.

I have viewed all five of the AFT [Box 1] and found BUTLEY to be the worst, in terms of transfer. The long shots are slightly blurred and there seems to be a slight bumping in the print used for video transfer which occurs periodically. It is a minor fault however.