The Debussy Film

[BoyScoutKevin]

Part VI

16. Themes
a. The pattern on the floor

17. Thoughts
a. Oliver Reed. I am an actor playing an actor playing the composer Debussy playing the Poe character Usher.
b. What Ken could have done with Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher" with Oliver Reed as Roderick Usher.
c. And the ending circles back to the beginning.

Next time: something a little different. Ken and his children.

[BoyScoutKevin]

Part V

14. Themes
a. anti-Semitism
b. beds
c. the false standing in for the real
d. films within a film
e. mental illness
f. the mingling of the past and the present
g. not being subtle
h. a parent's love for their child
i. sexual triangles
j. war

15. Thoughts
a. An actor playing an actor playing a composer. That's our Ken.
b. I should have recognized that it was a set on a stage.
c. Again, while prostitution is talked about, it is not seen. It is only later that Ken would show prostitution on the screen.
d. What would Ken have done with Edgar Allen Poe? They seem to have been made for each other. Though, they were separated by a century.

Next time: continuing and concluding with Part VI

[BoyScoutKevin]

Part IV

12. Themes
a. artistic temperament
b. food
c. women's undergarments
d. works of art

13. Thoughts
a. Full frontal female nudity. That'd have to wait till later. Of course, there's a world of difference between what can be shown on TV and what can be shown in a film.
b. I was surprised, though, by the amount of profanity that was allowed to be heard.
c. Unhappiness. Maybe unhappy people make for a better show, then happy people, but . . .?! Has Ken ever made anything, where everyone is happy from the beginning to the end?

Next time: Part V

[BoyScoutKevin]

Part III.

10. Themes
a. Bright lights
b. Drinking
c. Light and shadow
d. the Seashore

11. Thoughts
a. We note Oliver Reed's fine performance in the film, but . . .?! Also note Vladek Sheybal's fine performance.
b. This would Vladek's 1st time that he worked with Ken.
c. Vladek would work 3 more times with Ken : "Billion Dollar Brain," "Women in Love," and "Dance of the Seven Veils."
d. "Beauty is in the mind of the beholder," but . . .?! Here as in most of his films, Ken seems to prefer the plainest actresses he can find.
e. The way the film is shot and intercut, it is sometimes hard to tell the past from the present.
f. Watch the party guests in that one scene. It is one of the few times in one of Ken's films, that you'll spot a racial minority.
g. Ken's films are a time capsule, a time machine to the past. If his earlier films are a reflection of London in the 1950's, then this film, the scenes set in the present day, are a reflection of London in the 1960's.
h. Maybe because we expect it from Ken, he can get away with some of the weirdest stuff. Stuff most other directors could not get away with it.

Next time: Part IV

[BoyScoutKevin]

Part II

08. Themes (Distinctive touches)
a. feet
b. fire
c. garter belt
d. nuns
e. smoking
f. topless woman
g. water
h. and more nuns.

09. Thoughts
a. How like Ken. The director playing one of the film's characters in his own film.
b. More filming of the film.
c. One wonders how this went down among critics and the audience, when it was 1st shown in 1965 on BBC's "Monitor."
d. And how it would go down today among critics and the audience, if it was 1st seen in 2015.
e. Really! A lost is a lost, but . . .?! When Ken died, we really lost an unique vision in film.
f. What is seen on-screen is also seen off-screen, when the daily rushes are viewed.

Next time: Part III

[BoyScoutKevin]

. . . in VI parts
Part I

1. Well, at least, the sound is better this time, so you can now actually understand what people are saying.

2. The film begins not with the film, but with the making of the film.

3. Director Ken Russell played by Vladek Sheybal.

4. Russell may have been played by someone else, but the film was directed by Ken, as it has many of his distinctive touches.

5. Distinctive touches
a. The boy in the sailor suit.
b. The Christ-like figure crucified.
c. The close ups.
d. Female nudity that is actually a state of a nude woman.
e. The religious procession.
f. More as I come across them.
etc.

6. One wonders how much of Debussy's life reflects that of Ken's life.

7. Oliver Reed. This is not his 1st time with Ken. His 1st time acting in one of Ken's films, but not his 1st time with Ken. Earlier he was the narrator for Ken's "Always on Sunday."

Next time: Part II