Where's "Dance of the Seven Veils"?

[Pedro2]

only ten more years to wait then, an suggestions of a good venue for the first screening of Dance?

[Iain Fisher]

Doing some google research:

In the United States "The term of copyright protection for works published prior to 1978 is 95 years from the date of publication. For works published after 1977 the term is equal to the length of the life of the author/creator plus 70 years. By law, the copyright owner is the only one who has the right to reproduce their work. If any other party wants to reproduce the material in any manner, permission must be obtained from the copyright owner."
The info comes from here: http://mpa.org/copyright_resource_center/church_musician

In the UK "copyright generally lasts for a period of 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies"
The info comes from here: http://www.mcps-prs-alliance.co.uk/about_us/aboutcopyright/Pages/aboutmusiccopyright.aspx

Richard Strauss died in 1949 so in the UK we can see the film with music in 2019.  In the US early Strauss works date from 1879 so are in public domain, later ones from 1948 are copyright to 2043.  Does this seem correct?  Is there a country with poor copyright laws so we can all go to see the film.  Or do we book 2019 for a Ken party?

Ken did a film "a British Picture" where he shows lots of his old films.  His piece from Dance included music by Strauss, but Johan Strauss not Richard Strauss- a neat way of getting round the problem.

Iain

[Iain Fisher]

Hi Anthony,

You are correct.   I had tickets for Mahler and Dance in Rotterdam, and when Dance was withdrawn this was the reason given.

How did you get into Ken's work?

Iain

[Anthony Ody]

According to the Wikipedia article on Russell: "The Strauss family was so outraged [by Russell's film] they withdrew all music rights and imposed a worldwide ban on the film that continues to this day".   I cannot verify this information independently.  A. Ody.

[Nick Jones]

I rented Disk 3 of Ken Russell at the BBC, and, sure enough, no Dance, even though it's listed on Netflix' website, and on the sleeve it came in. But what is almost as disappointing is the absense of Ken's commentary that was available with the Monitor DVD of Song of Summer. Boy, I'm glad I didn't preorder this.

[Iain Fisher]

I seem to have been the last person to get my copy, and I also had to pay customs charges- I think I did something wrong.

No Strauss of course, but it is a good box set, one of the few DVDs to do Ken justice- the others include the BFI Elgar and Song of Summer, both also in this set.  It shows his immense talent and his development to Song of Summer which must be a perfect film in terms of dramtic construction.

I don't think there are significant films being made like these today on television (but don't people always say this?).  Melvyn Bragg used to commission some good films for his LWT shows (some by Ken, and also by others on Peter Mawell Davies and Dennis Potter)  but not recently.  Does anyone commission arts films anymore?  Or do people go to other media?  Youtube is fine and useful but not exceptional.

[regal26]

While the inclusion of 'Elgar' is welcome for most American viewers, it is a shame that the
print of 'Elgar' in the BBC collection is vastly inferior to the BFI release (which of course, had Russell's commentary and several intersting extras).

[donaldintn]

I just got my copy in the mail from Amazon today. Like everyone else has said, there's no "Dance of the Seven Veils" as promised. Instead we get "Elgar" (which was NOT advertised) plus the two bonus features on Ken. This still is still a must and well worth having, but it's obviously frustrating that the elusive "Seven Veils" will remain - for now - unseen.

[John Gargo]

I sometimes wonder if I'll ever to get to see this one.  The film is seemingly impossible to find, even online.

[David Johansson]

Just got mine in the US from Amazon, and alas, despite the editorial saying it was included, no Seven Veils.  No real extras other than Ken Russell In Conversation and Late Night Line Up: Russell At Work

[Mark GW]

Unfortunately, it's true.  No Dance of The Seven Veils.  Got mine from AxelMusic on Sat morning.  Also, the copies on sale in the Cinema Store in London were no different.  Looks like it got pulled at the last minute.

[Iain Fisher]

Bad news, but not unexpected.  I'll let you know when I get mine.

What is on the DVD, and are there any extras?

Iain

[Corky Porkums]

I received "Ken Russell at the BBC" today.  NO "Dance of the Seven Veils."  Is this true for everyone?  If so, what happened?