Savage Messiah: Ken Russell > Savage Messiah: Ken Russell

Lisztomania

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BoyScoutKevin:
Clip (3:00)

I 1st tried to access the 2:52 minute clip on you tube, but was blocked, as it was rated as being "inappropriate for some users." Though, how that clip is more inappropriate than the clips seen so far, I have no idea.

Thus the 3:00 minute clip with Roger Daltrey as Lizst as Charlie Chaplain in a silent film with another actress playing Charlie's wife. Unlike the other clips so far from Lisztomania and the clips from Ken's other films, this clip seemed to be without meaning. Without meaning, unless one watched the film up to that point.

Next time: Lisztomania "Devil Song"

BoyScoutKevin:
Lisztomania - Superior Race (3:23)

Wagner seduces the children in the scene to believe they are the superior race, which is comparable to the seduction scene in Lair of the White Worm, where the villainess seduces the boy scout.

Though, unlike that scene, where the villainess kills off the boy scout, no child character was physically harmed in the scene. Nor is any of the children seen nude, unlike the scene in Lair of the White Worm, where the boy scout is seen nude in the sunken bathtub.

Yet (IMHO) the seduction scene in Lair of the White Worm works better than this seduction scene in Lisztomania, and it is not because of the violence or the lack thereof or the nudity or lack thereof, it is because of . . .

The Acting
Chris Pitt who plays the scout in the film turns in a better acting performance than any of the child actors in the seduction scene in Lisztomania.

The Humor
The seduction scene in Lisztomania lacks the humor that suffuses the seduction scene in Lair of the White Worm. Though, there is seemingly one humorous moment at the end of the scene in Lisztomania, where Wagner takes off his wig, and it looks like he is wearing hair curlers.

The Reality
Despite all the fantastic elements in the seduction scene in Lair of the White Worm, the relationship between the boy scout and his killer is fairly realistic, if stretched. While Wagner may have been an anti-Semite, his attitude toward Jews was more nuanced than depicted by Ken in the seduction scene in Lisztomania. And if the children are dressed like Supermen, it apparently reflects Nietzsche's concept of Superman, which is again more nuanced than depicted by Ken in the film.

The Sympathy
While Ken seems to be sympathetic with the children in the scene in Lisztomania, his sympathy for the scout in Lair of the White Worm seems to be more mixed. And that actually seems to work better.

Next time: Lisztomania - clip

BoyScoutKevin:
Richard Wagner's Auferstehung (3:06)

What one notices about this clip, where lightning strikes Wagner's tomb, and he rises as a Frankenstein-like Monster wielding a guitar firing bullets, is Ken's propensity to repeat himself in his film. Like his "Mahler" of the previous year, that being made in 1974, and this being made in 1975, both films deal with the subject of anti-Semitics.

Though, (IMHO) Mahler is the better of the 2 films for a couple of reasons.
1st. The focus is on the Jewish Mahler, while this film is focused on the non-Jewish Wagner and Liszt. And . . .
2nd. Of Robert Powell, Roger Daltrey, and Paul Nicholas, Robert Powell is the better actor.

One thing I did notice, that I cannot ever remember seeing in one of Ken's film, is the voodoo doll and its use.

Of course, none of this explains Ken's interest, as a non-Semitic, in anti-Semitics. He, seemingly, doing more films on the subject than many directors, even many Jewish directors.

Next time: Lisztomania - superior race

BoyScoutKevin:
Introduction

Regarded as being one of Ken's worst films, and a film I have yet to see, but that will soon change, in part, as there is the trailer, film clips, an interview with Ken, and other people's reactions to the film on the internet, which I will soon see and comment on.

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