Great to finally see a widescreen version of this film and some beautiful Russell compositions presented as they were meant to be (I'm sure my old VHS pan and scan cut off half the image).
I've not seen it for about ten years - having at the time written it off as one of Ken's lesser works - and although it's far from his best, it certainly contains some visually stunning moments (as one would expect) and a full blooded use of colour. Actually the scattergun, pantomimish feel generally goes in it's favour from the fabulous Busby Berkley phallic revue to the Jess Franco-esque Hilter Youth sequences of rape and pilage. A film of great sequences, I guess.
It doesn't quite 'out-Tommy, Tommy' - and does it need to? -but it's certainly a rich work from Ken's 70s purple patch.
As for the DVD, a good job from Digital Classics. As mentioned, a full blooded print and decent early stereo. The DVD liners notes are interesting as far they go with some useful contextualisation and quotes, but tail off just as you get into them. They also include a script extract from the Hell Cave phallic revue, which is interesting as it makes scant mention of the delerious uses for Liszt's erection the girls find in the completed film. Ken's commentary is a little intermitent, but useful nevertheless.