Suddenly a lot of Ken stuff.  As well as Portrait of a Goon, the BFI now have Ken's amateur film Amelia and the Angel online
"A young angel scours London for her wings in this tender short by the young Ken Russell"

The film is here https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-amelia-and-the-angel-1958-online

A short and sublime film, really beautiful.  Made in 1958 and 26 minutes lomg.  Spot Ken in a cameo, the passer-by the girl runs into.

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
www.bfi.org.uk

I was expecting Tommy to be on the list as well.

Song of Summer is probably the perfect television film (and I'd put The Devils as Ken's perfect cinema film).  It is well worth watching.  The original started with some Laurel and Hardy footage, but this was later removed when the estate of Laurel and Hardy wanted royalties.  In the last DVD issue (by the British Film Institute I think) they added some silent era film (not Laurel and Hardy) which did just as well.

The Observer newspaper got musicians to choose their favourite films about music.

Song of Summer (a tv programme not a film, but as it's Ken we can let it pass.  It was chosen by Neil Tennant of The Pet Shop Boys.  He describes it as “an elegiac film about the painful process of creating music and the end of a creative life. It’s very emotional, unsettling and moving. Delius is an incredibly tragic figure, both fragile and brutal. Russell was brilliant at creating images to accompany music.â€�

The list is mainly pop/rock music plus the odd county/ blues/ classical films included.  There are films based on people (The Doors by Oliver Stone, Out of Control (on Joy Division), Walk the Line (Jonny Cash), Bird (Charlie Parker), The Young Ones (Cliff Richard).  Documentaries included Amy (Amy Whitehouse), Cracked Actor (Bowie), 30th Century Man (Scott Walker), C*cksucker Blues (with a title like that it has to be The Rolling Stones), Woodstock, The Kids are Alright (The Who), Live at Pompei (Pink Floyd)..  Others include Cabaret and the magnificent This is Spinal Tap.

The article is here
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/18/the-best-films-about-music-chosen-by-musicians-documentaries-concert-films-biopics
The interviews were carried out by Jude Rogers and Killian Fox.

Typical. Very typical.
--a little known composer
--humor
--anti-Nazi attitude

Interesting. Very interesting.
--the colors of the Czechoslovakian flag is the same as the American flag: red, white, and blue.
--his attitude toward Americans. One of the few times he depicts Americans in one of his films. And his attitude is not positive.
--his treatment of women.
--an anachronism that is not an anachronism
----table football was invented in 1921, so it is quite possible that it existed at the time this film occurs..

Concluded