Ken Russell on DVD

[MichaelB]

Subjective? Hardly.

Well, it's not exactly objective, is it?

Incidentally, I hate to be cynical, but has the BBC America press office actually seen the DVDs, or are they merely going from the original press release?

[DiVicenzo]

Incidentally, I hate to be cynical, but has the BBC America press office actually seen the DVDs, or are they merely going from the original press release?

I am still not at ease even though we have this answer.
We can only wait and see I suppose...

[Colpeper]

My copy arrived this morning and, sadly, I can confirm that there is no sign of Dance of the Seven Veils.

Perhaps someone should tell BBC America.

[MichaelB]

No real surprise, but thanks for the confirmation.

It's not much of a substitute, I know, but I finally got round to publishing the text of last year's Ken Russell talk online - it's an overview of his entire BBC career from 1959-70.

(Ignore the rest of the site - it's still work in progress)

[DiVicenzo]

My copy arrived this morning and, sadly, I can confirm that there is no sign of Dance of the Seven Veils.

Perhaps someone should tell BBC America.

I thought it was too good to be true...I have just emailed BBC America to tell them...after all they should know!....but as Michael says it's still worth having...

[Lino]

The new Optimum release of Valentino is a nice looking print in its original aspect ratio (1.85:1). A bare bones release. Well worth picking up though.

Does it not even carry the trailer? It's advertised on the Optimum page for it...

[MichaelB]

As far as I'm concerned, a release that only has the trailer is barebones.

[DiVicenzo]

My copy arrived this morning and, sadly, I can confirm that there is no sign of Dance of the Seven Veils.

Perhaps someone should tell BBC America.

I thought it was too good to be true...I have just emailed BBC America to tell them...after all they should know!....but as Michael says it's still worth having...

My copy is on its way. And BBC America replied saying sorry for misleading us and the information has been corrected on their website. I haven't checked.

[colinr0380]

The Art Of Arts TV Sunday 28 September 2008, BBC4 – Three-part history of television arts programmes. Contributors include Sir David Attenborough, Joan Bakewell, Melvyn Bragg, Matt Collings, Andrew Graham-Dixon, Mike Hodges, Jonathan Miller, Jonathan Meades, Ken Russell, Brian Sewell and Alan Yentob

Have just received the listings magazine for next week and in addition to that documentary on BBC4 there are also five Monitor programmes showing before it on Sunday - Henry Moore At Home, Larkin and Betjeman, two film programmes where Huw Wheldon talks with Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock and last but not least Pop Goes The Easel by Russell.

[DiVicenzo]

Have just received the listings magazine for next week and in addition to that documentary on BBC4 there are also five Monitor programmes showing before it on Sunday - Henry Moore At Home, Larkin and Betjeman, two film programmes where Huw Wheldon talks with Orson Welles and Alfred Hitchcock and last but not least Pop Goes The Easel by Russell.

Great! Thanks!

[MichaelB]

Pop Goes the Easel has dated very badly (hardly surprisingly, given its subject!), but it must have had a seismic impact in 1962 - and Pauline Boty's nightmare would look like a parody of a Kubrick film (think The Shining meets Dr Strangelove, all Steadicamesque shots down sinister corridors and a bizarre megalomaniac in dark glasses and a wheelchair), were it not for the fact that Russell got there first.

In fact, there's a rumour that Kubrick saw Pop Goes the Easel on its original broadcast and was duly influenced - he was certainly living in Britain at the time, there were only two TV channels, and he was interested in contemporary art, so it's entirely credible.

[DiVicenzo]

Pop Goes the Easel has dated very badly (hardly surprisingly, given its subject!), but it must have had a seismic impact in 1962 - and Pauline Boty's nightmare would look like a parody of a Kubrick film

Yes, it's very 60's - it's hard to concentrate on it - but the nightmare sequence is superb! And, that poor woman died of cancer at 26, I believe.

[MichaelB]

And, that poor woman died of cancer at 26, I believe.

Slightly older, but not much - and just four years after the programme was broadcast. Which is why she's much less famous than the other three artists.

Even more tragically, her husband died when their daughter was only twelve, and the daughter herself didn't live till her thirtieth birthday.

Here's an appreciation, which also includes a brief bit about the Russell programme.

[Lino]

Well, well, well, could The Devils not be far behind? Digitalclassics in the UK is releasing Lisztomania in May. Interesting. Though, out of all the DVD outfits in the UK, Digitalclassics got the gig?

[DiVicenzo]

Well, well, well, could The Devils not be far behind? Digitalclassics in the UK is releasing Lisztomania in May. Interesting. Though, out of all the DVD outfits in the UK, Digitalclassics got the gig?

Is this an official DVD release or a bootleg???

[MichaelB]

Well, well, well, could The Devils not be far behind? Digitalclassics in the UK is releasing Lisztomania in May. Interesting. Though, out of all the DVD outfits in the UK, Digitalclassics got the gig?

Is this an official DVD release or a bootleg???

Highly unlikely to be a bootleg, I'd have thought - what kind of lunatic would announce an act of piracy several months in advance? Especially if one of the production companies is a Hollywood major?

But I'm intrigued that this isn't being distributed by Warner Bros, since I know for a fact that they don't sublicense their stuff as a general rule - in fact, to be completely title-specific, I know someone who recently tried to sublicense The Devils, but was rebuffed. So I'm guessing that one of the other production companies currently represents the UK rights to Lisztomania.

[Person]

Digital Classics released The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer last year and I had always thunked that it was a Warner title. Maybe Warner UK is open to licensing - especially vintage oddball British films - yet Warner USA is not?

__________________________________

EDIT: Also listed as coming soon:

Green Mansions

Kaleidoscope

Petulia

[DiVicenzo]

Well, in that case it's good news - I had never head of this company before so, it's good news to know they are legit and that indeed we make get 'The Devils; 'The Music Lovers' ; 'Savage Messiah' & 'The Boyfriend' =D>

[MichaelB]

I wouldn't get your hopes up about The Devils - the most recent info I have is that Warner owns it outright and is not prepared to sublicense it to another UK distributor. And that's that specific title, not a general statement of Warner policy.

[BrianInAtlanta]

Yeah! Lisztomania at last!

RELEASE DATE 4TH MAY 2009

A wild and imaginitive send-up of the bawdy life of Romantic composer/piano virtuoso Franz Liszt (played by The Who's Roger Daltrey). Director Ken Russell utilizes ubiquitous phallic imagery and devotes a good portion of the film to Liszt's "friendship" with fellow composer Richard Wagner. The film begins during the time when Franz would give piano performance to a crowd of shrieking teenage fans while maintaining affairs with his (multiple!) mistresses. He eventually seeks Princess Carolyne of St. Petersburg (at her invitation), elopes, and, after their marriage is forbidden by the Pope (Ringo Starr), he embraces the monastic life as an abbe.

"The erotic, exotic, electrifying rock fantasy... it out-Tommy's Tommy"

Starring:
ROGER DALTREY
SARA KESTELMAN
PAUL NICHOLAS
RINGO STARR

Directed by KEN RUSSELL
(C) 1975

"Post-Beatles Rococo...For Mr. Russell, the shortest line between two points is a pretzel." Vincent Canby - The NY Times

"Rage...That was my immediate reaction to 'Lisztomania', Ken Russell's latest and most perversely self-indulgent 'music appreciation' fantasy." Peter G. Davis, NY Times

"Russell is living proof that a filmmaker today can do practically anything." Variety

"A berserk exercise of demented genius..." Roger Ebert

dvd information
Cast: Roger Daltrey, Sara Kestelman, Paul Nicholas, Ringo Starr
Producer(s): Roy Baird, David Puttnam
Director(s): Ken Russell
Format: Colour
Region: 2 PAL
Discs: 1
Classification: tbc
Running Time: 102 minutes
Studio: Warner Bros

[Props55]

So Brian, you can finally get rid of that ancient VHS in the oversize '80s box large enough for a 3/4 inch U-matic cassette!

[BrianInAtlanta]

So Brian, you can finally get rid of that ancient VHS in the oversize '80s box large enough for a 3/4 inch U-matic cassette!

You've been in my house?

[richast2]

...the Pope (Ringo Starr)...

sold.