Lisztomania and
Valentino
After
The Devils last Sunday, decided to have a Ken Russell double bill today. Both films I enjoyed a lot. While the humour of
Listz was a little too broad for me (I laughed a lot more during
The Devils!), it still had a ramshackle endearing charm, and the bonkers eccentricity ensured it was never boring. One of those films where the obvious flaws only added to the charm. Russell’s imagining of Richard Wagner was really something to behold. Stealing compositions via vampiric blood sucking, staging a Nuremberg Rally with a bunch of children dressed in superhero costumes, creating his own Jew killing Frankenstein’s monster, and finally becoming a guitar/machine gun toting Hitler robot… blimey!
Valentino by comparison felt much more restrained (had the air of having more of the dreaded Studio Money behind it). But then again, compared to something like Dickie Attenborough’s nice-but-bland Chaplin biopic, it was a picture of insanity. I enjoyed Russell’s trick of livening up the lengthy expositional scenes by packing a ridiculous amount of happenings into the back of shot. The best example was a long two-way argument over a contract. In the Studio Lot background they stage a huge Wild West shootout, followed by a public hanging, followed by a funeral procession! I also enjoyed there being two key set pieces shot in Blackpool Tower ballroom and circus.
A very enjoyable double bill, highly recommended. …and I still haven’t seen
Tommy!