Author Topic: Mahler  (Read 10516 times)

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Offline BoyScoutKevin

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Re: Mahler
« Reply #5 on: September 17, 2011, 09:11:54 PM »
"Mahler," part 3 continued

Family dynamics. Is there one child in a Ken Russell film that had a happy childhood? Certainly, not . . .

"Salome's Last Dance"
Salome/Rose nor the pageboy

"The Rainbow"
the schoolboy

"Lair of the White Worm"
the boy scout, Kevin

and, certainly not, . . .
"Mahler"
young Gustav

Maybe . . .

"Altered States"
Margaret Jessup

"The Music Lovers"
the von Meck Twins

And notice the lighting used in "Mahler." Always a highlight in any Ken Russell film.

Next time: "Mahler," part 4

Offline BoyScoutKevin

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Re: Mahler
« Reply #4 on: September 17, 2011, 08:22:18 PM »
"Mahler," part 3.

All times are approximate.

00:29 Alma Mahler (Georgina Hale) has a gold ring on her finger. It looks like a wedding ring, as it is on her ring finger. But it is on her right hand instead of her left hand. Do Austrians wear their wedding rings on a different hand, then we Americans?

03:35 We get our first glimpse of Young Gustav (Gary Rich.) Outside of Young Tommy in "Tommy," it is probably the biggest role played by a child in one of Ken's films.

08:54 And Ken's love/hate relationship with Wagner continues. Why, oh why of all the statues in the world, does it have to be Wagner?


Online Iain Fisher

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Re: Mahler
« Reply #3 on: September 11, 2011, 11:44:00 PM »
"What a wonderful metaphor for life's journey is the train journey. Once almost it is a cliche, it has fallen out of favor of filmmakers, maybe because no one travels by train anymore."

Good point, I hadn't thought of that.

Offline BoyScoutKevin

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Re: Mahler
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2011, 10:32:00 PM »
"Mahler," part 2.

00:07 Cameo by Oliver Reed.

04:21 This scene reminds me of the scene in "Women in Love" of Glenda Jackson as Gundrun Brangwen dancing amid the cattle.

So, all of this was filmed in the Lake District?

Here again. Water plays a prominent role in one of Russell's films. How many does this make again? (See the thread "Ken Russell and the Water Motif.")

To be continued . . .
"Mahler," part 3

Offline BoyScoutKevin

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Mahler
« Reply #1 on: August 13, 2011, 10:56:17 PM »
Since Ken Russell's "Mahler" is available for free on the world wide web, I thought I watch and comment on it.

Who chose the opening music? The film is off to a good start.

Just as it helps that Kirk Douglas looked like Vincent van Gogh in "Lust for Life," so it helps that Robert Powell looks like Gustav Mahler in "Mahler."

What a wonderful metaphor for life's journey is the train journey. Once almost it is a cliche, it has fallen out of favor of filmmakers, maybe because no one travels by train anymore.

Mr. Russell, whatever you are trying to say in the opening, I am afraid I cannot take it seriously, because the opening makes me laugh everytime I see it.

5:17 Boy in sailor suit

Outside of the scenes of hallucinations in his films, this scene is one of the most confusing of the scenes in all of Russell's films. For what is Ken trying to say in this scene? Here you have a fictional scene in a factual film about Mahler, taken from a factual scene in a fictional film about Mahler (i.e. Luchino Visconti's "Death in Venice.")

And Visconti does it better. Not that Russell cannot do boy as sex object. See his "Salome's Last Dance" with Russell Lee Nash as the Pageboy or his "Lair of the White Worm" with Chris Pitt as the Boy Scout, but here Visconti does the scene better. Is that because Ken is a better originator than copyist, or is it because a boy in a swimsuit works better than a boy in a sailor suite?

To be continued . . .