Late, but not so great
This week saw the passing of British film director Ken Russell and, love him or hate him, his work was certainly controversial – if little else.
Russell had a penchant for making unreliable sensationalised biopics of musicians and writers, debasing and ridiculing them in the process. The most balanced of his films was his 1969 adaptation of D.H.Lawrence’s “Women in Love”, featuring the infamous nude wrestling scene between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed. It was this movie that earmarked his descent into depravity and bad taste. The incoherent 1970 movie “The Music Lovers” dealt with Tschaikovsky’s tortured homosexual life and ended with a disturbing Glenda Jackson in a lunatic assylum. Ms Jackson, who appeared in many Russell movies –, usually as the object of his obsession of degrading and humiliating women – firmly put her foot down when he asked her to star in his next tasteless escapade.
“The Devils” (1971). Here, once again, Russell takes on an extremely intelligent book – Aldous Huxley’s “The Devils of Loudon” – and totally disregards its historic values as to the implications of the Catholic Church in French politics and the reasons so many women ended up in convents. Instead, he gives us a sensational account of sexually frustrated hysteria. (The word ‘hysteria’ springs to mind frequently when describing Russell’s films, as does the term ‘shock for shock’s sake). Jackson was reported as saying there was no way she would play another sexually psychotic woman for Russell, and so the role fell to Vanessa Redgrave. 1971 also saw Russell completely missing the point once again in his over-the-top version on Sandy Wilson’s “The Boyfriend”, starring Twiggy and the incredibly long-legged legend Tommy Tune. Russell’s lovely use of costume and ‘Busby Berkleyesque’ dance routines failed to compensate for the naïve innocence of the humble troupe that Wilson meant to portray.
In ‘74 and ‘75 Russell was back weirding up classical composers again with “Litzomania” and “Mahler” then, just for good measure, with the help of The Who and Elton John, we were subjected to the overlong, nonsensical story of the deaf dumb and blind kid Tommy, a travesty that the rock star cameos were unable to save.
In ‘77 he had the wonderful Rudolph Nureyev masquerading as Valentino, putting a horrendous black mark on an otherwise flawless career. “Gothic” took us back to 1816 where we were treated to a club footed Lord Byron creeping round his Swiss villa scaring the bejeebers out of his house guests –among whom were Percy Shelley and his wife Mary. The strange sexual happenings during this stormy night apparently inspired Mary to write Frankenstein, which seems like a walk in the park after experiencing such a house party. Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know Indeed!
“Altered States” was a huge leap in genre, so snaps for that, but this odd tale of a Harvard scientist messing with hallucinogenic drugs and isolation chambers proved a little too much for actor William Hurt who hammed it up shamelessly. It’s a miracle it didn’t finish off his wonderful acting career before it began!
In all fairness to Ken Russell, he had made a multitude of films since the 1950’s and I have only seen those I have mentioned and those he is most famous for. His earlier work may well have been quite acceptable, but as clean water gathers scum as it flows down the gutter, so has his work become more contaminated as it progressed (or maybe regressed would be a better word).
If anyone out there knows of a Russell film that might redeem him, please enlighten me. I so believe in miracles!
By Amy Thomas
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