RIP Ken Russell

[MDL]

Director Ken Russell died on Sunday aged 84. Shunned by the film industry, Russell spent the last years of his life making weird home movies, casting his family and friends. But in his heyday, his imaginative approach to biographical film and the arts was innovative and exciting. OK, there were plenty of duds and a few outright catastrophes in his output, but Elgar, Song of Summer, Women in Love, The Music Lovers and his masterpiece, The Devils, are just some of the peaks not only of his career, but of British TV and cinema.

He was a lovely bloke, too, by all accounts. I only met him once at a book reading, but he was charming, friendly and warm.

I'm properly upset and I think I'm about to have a bit of a sob.   

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15917073

[MDL]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2011/nov/28/ken-russell-dies-aged-84

[Willoughby earl of Itacarius]

Woman in Love is the film I want to remember him by. In my youth that film made quite a impression. RIP.

[snyprrr]

The Ruling Class?

I surely have enjoyed his over the top, Lynchian strangeness. Can't even begin to think of all his films,...

[springrite]

Maybe not his masterpiece, but I enjoyed Mahler enormously and in fact recently bought the DVD (I have had the VHS for ages).

R.I.P.

[Drasko]

R.I.P.

The Ruling Class?

That's by Peter Medak not Russell.

[AllegroVivace]

Gotta watch "Women in Love" again, after all those years. Rest in Peace, Russell.

[knight66]

Even in films where he was not at his best, he imprinted visuals on me: the outrageous Strauss pic was certainly striking to look at. In Mahler the hut bursting into flames, Tchaikovsky, the composer being dumped into a bath of ice.

About 20 years ago, at the end of a very busy day, I went to a seedy London cinema to watch a double feature of 'Altered States' and then 'The Devils'. I was so bombarded and overloaded by the first film that I cut 'The Devils' and have still not seen it. I remember leaving the cinema feeling like I had been beaten up, if I had stayed on, they would probably have had to hospitalise me! All the same, I was daft not to stick it out, I had not realised what a rare opportunity I had passed up.

It is many years since I saw Women in Love, but I still recall the moment when the pond is drained and the entwined lovers are discovered, dead and streaked in mud. Then there was Glenda Jackson's hieratic dancing.

My favourite remains 'Song of Summer' with Max Adrian as Delius. What a wonderful and atmospheric piece.

Mike

[71 dB]

I have Elgar on DVD. I believe that's the only Ken Russell movie I have seen. 

R.I.P.

[snyprrr]

Lair of the White Worm?

[knight66]

I see you want to speak ill of the dead.

Mike

[MDL]

Lair of the White Worm?

In 2002, Sight & Sound polled 100 film-makers and critics, asking them to name the ten films they considered the greatest or most significant in history. Critic Mark Kermode and director Alex Cox both included The Devils in their lists.

In 2004, Kermode curated a season of horror films at the NFT in which the fully restored print of The Devils was given its world premiere, with Russell, editor Mike Bradsell and actress Georgina Hale in attendance. At some point, either immediately before or after the screening (it's a few years ago now and I can't remember which), Mark Kermode proudly announced that we were about to see (or had just seen) one of the ten greatest films ever made, at which point, Ken squawked, "The Lair of the White Worm!", bringing the house down.

[knight66]

I have never thought of The Devils as being categorised as a horror film. But then, I have not seen it. Another favourite I had forgotten was the TV film about Isadora Duncan.

I only saw it once when it was first broadcast, I wonder how it stands up now?

Mike

[MDL]

I have never thought of The Devils as being categorised as a horror film. But then, I have not seen it. Another favourite I had forgotten was the TV film about Isadora Duncan.

I only saw it once when it was first broadcast, I wonder how it stands up now?

Mike

The Devils isn't horror film; it's a historical drama, but its (actually relatively few) scenes of sex and violence went way beyond the horror films of the time. I think Kermode slipped it into his horror season because he will never pass up a chance to get the film out there in the public eye.

I recently saw The Debussy Film, which I don't think has worn too well, whereas Elgar, Song of Summer and the genuinely amusing Rousseau film, Always On Sunday, remain hugely impressive. I have yet to see the Isadora Duncan film.

[knight66]

Time to have a scout around on Amazon I think.

Mike

[Lethevich]

Lair of the White Worm?

There was a film made of that? I don't care how much it sucks, I am dling this the second I finish typing this post :3

[MDL]

There was a film made of that? I don't care how much it sucks, I am dling this the second I finish typing this post :3

I haven't seen it for years, but I (and quite a few of my friends at the time) really enjoyed it when it came out. It's pretty silly and done on the cheap, but as a bizarre black farce with a peculiar mock-heroic tone that only Russell could conjure up, it's oddly entertaining with a few laugh-out-loud moments.

[snyprrr]

In 2002, Sight & Sound polled 100 film-makers and critics, asking them to name the ten films they considered the greatest or most significant in history. Critic Mark Kermode and director Alex Cox both included The Devils in their lists.

In 2004, Kermode curated a season of horror films at the NFT in which the fully restored print of The Devils was given its world premiere, with Russell, editor Mike Bradsell and actress Georgina Hale in attendance. At some point, either immediately before or after the screening (it's a few years ago now and I can't remember which), Mark Kermode proudly announced that we were about to see (or had just seen) one of the ten greatest films ever made, at which point, Ken squawked, "The Lair of the White Worm!", bringing the house down.

That's funny!!


I recommend watching The Devils and the original Wicker Man back to back.

[Cato]

I once knew a Catholic priest, a missionary in Africa, who was also a mathematician: he was a bent-over little man, with very bad teeth, probably from years of malnutrition in Africa.  He loved Mahler's music, and drove hundreds of miles from Chicago to Pittsburgh and Detroit to Cincinnati to hear Mahler symphonies live, especially the Ninth.

This priest was also an absolute fanatic about Ken Russell movies!  He had seen everything, even The Devils, and could discuss them at length.  To be sure, he saw their weaknesses, and knew that some were just awful, but believed the great ones outnumbered the bad, or if not outnumbered, at least counterbalanced them.

He also loved the Mahler movie.

So Russell's audience was diverse!   0:)

[Daverz]

There was a film made of that? I don't care how much it sucks, I am dling this the second I finish typing this post :3

I saw this in the theater when it first came out, and though it's campy and silly,  a lot of it stuck with me.  Just watched it again via download.  A fun movie.  Amanda Donohoe in black bra and panties and thigh-high boots, wow (oh, and topless and painted blue in later scenes).