Savage Messiah: Ken Russell > Savage Messiah: Ken Russell

Tommy at the BFI in London

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Iain Fisher:
Wow, I wish I had been in the audience

BoyScoutKevin:
I can add that the audience rushing the stage in Elton's Pinball Wizard was not planned. It was a spontaneous gesture made by the audience extras.

Iain Fisher:
I saw Tommy at the BFI, so good to see it on a cinema screen.  And despite previous warning of French subtitles, the BFI seem to have found a good copy as there were no subtitles.

Best scenes are of course the set pieces, Tina Turner's Acid Queen, Elton's Pinball Wizard, a drugged out Eric Clapton in the Marilyn Monroe church performing Eyesight for the Blind.

The BFI programme by Frank Miller mentions then newcomer George Lucas was asked to direct, but he chose to do American Graffiti instead.  Candidates for the Pinball Wizard were Tiny Tim and Rod Stewart, and for the Acid Queen a candidate was Bowie. Christopher Lee was originally in the role that Jack Nicholson took on.

Iain Fisher:
The British Film Institute are showing Tommy from 22-30 Nov 2019. 

"Ken Russell interprets The Who’s concept album as a mix of high-energy kitsch and darker psychological nightmare."

But "We have imported a print from France for these screenings as there is no longer a good print available in this country. The print will have French subtitles which we hope will not impair your enjoyment."  Sad there is no good print available in the UK.

Details are here
http://www.iainfisher.com/russell/ken-russell-news.html

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