Women in Love

The wrestling scene brought homo-erotic images into the mainstream cinema.

As in the later Rainbow, Russell skips most of the political aspects of Lawrence's book.

The photography is by Billy Williams.  Says Joy Gould Boyum (from Double Exposure) "the scenes between Rupert and Ursula tend to be brightly lit, situated in daylight and frequently outdoors.  The scenes between Gerald and Gudrun, in contrast, tend to be set in interiors and most often at night- with the prevailing darkness serving... to comment on the texture of their relationship....".  The use of mirrors is typical of Ken Russell.

The editor is again Michael Bradsell.

Costumes are by Shirley Russell.  Georges Delerue did the music, Russell says: "Certainly the power of the scene is greatly enhanced by the music of Georges Delerue but it’s not the exact music that he wrote for that particular sequence... what I had to do was to cut out the fugue and use the prelude, actually the prelude had tremendous, a sort of growing intensity and power so it worked and the fact that it cut off just as the moment when the two men collapsed worked extremely well".

Glenda Jackson, red hair and fringe, confronting the Highland cows, red hair and fringe.

Alan Bates naked in the field.

The wrestling scene.

The opening sequence with the coal miners on the bus and the silent dialogue of Glenda Jackson.

the elements: water and earth.

The Music Lovers

Not simply a biography of Tchaikovsky, but also looking at the people around Tchaikovsky, the music lovers though few of whom love the music.  Tchaikovsky cannot handle the contradictions in his life and turns his haunted thoughts into music. The music lovers drag Tchaikovsky down to their own fantasies.

The film is packed with images and excitement, the life story providing a common link. Music, gay forbidden love, a mother dying of cholera, a sponsor who never wants to meet Tchaikovsky and who suddenly ended the sponsorship, critical failure and death by cholera, just like his mother.

	The drink of life, early in the film, and death by cholera from infected water at the end.
	Initially Nina looks to an uncertain future, and after her marriage with Tchaikovsky she looks at no future.
	The famous scene of unrequited sex on the train shows the influence of painter Egon Schiele (right).
	Tchaikovsky in a mask (compare with Wicker Man) and as a Christ figure.
	Tchaikovsky and Madame von Eck tasting the juices of the same peach.  They would never meet though she would fantasise over him.
	Glenda Jackson, superb throughout, as she goes from the lonely whore searching for love and sensuality to life in a mental asylum.

The working titles were The Lonely Heart (from a Tchaikovsky song None but a Lonely Heart) and Opus 74 (the number of  the symphony Pathétique).

I saw the film when it came out in Edinburgh. I saw it on Wednesday and before it had moved on (Saturday) I had seen it another three times. My introduction to Ken Russell.

Richard Chamberlain and Glenda Jackson star.  Kenneth Colley as Modeste Tchaikovsky, Max Adrian as Rubinstein and Isabella Telezynska as Madame von Meck are excellent.  Childrens´ roles are played by Russell's family. Costumes are by Shirley Russell.

The screenplay is by Melvyn Bragg. Bragg later became an arts presenter and sponsored a number of Russell documentaries.  Photography is by Douglas Slocombe (who later worked in the Raider of the Lost Ark films) and the editor is Michael Bradsell.

The film cost £1.6M.

The 1812 Overture scene bursts with kitsch joy.

The premiere of the first piano concerto and the critical backlash. The scene benefits from Chamberlain actually playing the piano, rather than requiring cutting from long shot to hands. Although he plays in the visuals, the music is dubbed on (the actual pianist was Rafael Orozco).

Drinking the glass of water infected with cholera.

Tchaikovsky trying to commit suicide by drowning but the river is too shallow.

The unconsummated marriage, and the relationship with his sister.  Says Russell "the sister was the ideal woman he could worship, and wouldn't have to have sexual relations with" from Films and Filming July 1970.

The dream sequence of Tchaikovsky conducting to the crowds and eventually becoming his own statue has references to Fritz Lang's Metropolis (right).

The Devils

Aldous Huxley's "The Devils of Loudon" filmed by Russell.

 The film confirms Russell's immense talent, and again the imagery is breathtaking.

Gaudier is tortured and burnt alive just before the walls of Loudon, and its independence, are destroyed.  Gaudier's wife is lost among the mountains of bricks as she climbs over the wall to leave the city.

The original version was censored, the later versions include the short but harrowing torture scene. The power of Russell's imagery was so powerful that many critics complained of scenes which they thought were in the film, but were not, rather they were implied.

When on a television programme with Russell, critic Alexander Walker called the film "monstrously indecent". Russell famously hit him over the head with a rolled up newspaper.

Vanessa Redgrave is excellent as the prioress who loves Grandier from a distance. Her frustration causes her to denounce Grandier. Glenda Jackson turned the role down because parts were too similar to the madhouse scenes in The Music Lovers. Just as Jackson previously, Redgrave was pregnant during the filming, eventually having a miscarriage.

Most actors were chosen by Russell based on their physical appearance.

Peter Maxwell Davis provides the music. Derek Jarman provided the sets, massive brick constructions. The photography is by David Watkin, the editor is Michael Bradsell, costumes are by Shirley Russell.

The torture of Reed was censored in the original versions, but is included in later versions (it lasts seconds).  The rape of Christ scene was censored by the studio.  A restored version with the full sequence, was shown at the National Film Theatre on  23 Nov 2004.

The films was based directly on Huxley's novel, and on John Whiting´s stage play of the novel. The premiere of the play, 10 years before the film, included Max Adrian as Father Barre and Dorothy Tutin as Sister Jeanne, both in this film, though in different roles.

British comedian Spike Milligan was a candidate for a part in the film (information from Spike by Norma Farnes).  Russell's early documentary Portrait of a Goon was about Milligan.

The girls dancing in devilish ecstasy until the vessel with the relic of the blood of Christ subdues them. Then it is revealed the vessel is empty, there is no blood.

The holocaust imagery of bodies in the plague pit resemble the bodies in the bath (Billion Dollar Brain) and the plastic models being burnt in French Dressing.

Lots of nuns.

Unconsummated love (the prioress) and forbidden love (Grandier and lovers, and the homosexuality of the audience in the opening sequence watching the king in drag).

Christ imagery as the prioress dreams of Grandier as Christ walking on water.

The enormous walls of Loudon have the same splendour as the walls in Metropolis.