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Secret lives and more commissions More commissions by Melvyn Bragg, mainly on composers, and including some of his best later work.
1984 Vaughan Williams, A Symphonic Portrait Ken's leisurely filming of the life of composer Vaughan Williams. The script is by Ken and Ursula Vaughan Williams, the composer's wife. Camera by Mike Humphreys and Les Young. Xavier Russell is the film editor. Ken produced and directed and Melvyn Bragg edited and presented.
Ken tells his daughter of Vaughan Williams, and the films proceeds as documentary, reconstruction and film of the filming, with some recollections of The Debussy Film, though this has nowhere near the insight of the earlier film.
1990 The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner Ken Russell calls Anton Bruckner a simple man with complex music- his symphonies needed so many players they were rarely performed.
A good Russell film for three actors. Bruckner arrives at a rest home to be greeted by Hansel and Gretel, the two nurses. The scene is reminiscent of the arrival to the house in Hitchcock's Rebecca. Bruckner is obsessed by numbers throughout the film, counting the spokes on the carriage and the number of spoonfuls of food he is fed. He is also deeply religious "music is a true reflection of the almighty". Bruckner seems to be in a hospital but when he asks for a doctor he is always told the doctor will come later. Some Russell themes come back, in particular Bruckner being forced into the cold bath by the two nurses refers back to The Music Lovers. The nurse feeding Bruckner has parallels with Delius. A dream sequence to the music of Wagner, with fire, comes from Mahler and the cows from Women in Love.
And there is another sexual-chaste relationship (Savage Messiah, Clouds of Glory etc) as the nurse lies naked on Buckner's bed and he caresses her body, seeing only the glory of god in her body.
Subtle scenes include Hansel and Gretel following Bruckner, always together and always a short distance away, as Bruckner sits in the sand as the sand falls from his fingers like time slipping away. And in a confessional as a penance for his (chaste) sins Bruckner is told by the priest to play Bach. The organ playing scene edits from the fingers playing, to Bruckner and then back, making it obvious the actor is not really playing the organ. This demonstrates the power of Richard Chamberlain actually playing the piano in The Music Lovers.
At the end when Bruckner is discharged and drives away, clearly unchanged, it turns out the nurse is actually the doctor and the disguise was part of the therapy, but she decided to stop since if Bruckner is had been cured he "may never have written a note of music...he is a happy celibate". Television actor Peter Mackriel plays Bruckner with Carsten Norgaard and Catherine Nielson playing Hansel and Gretel. Both would also appear in Prisoners of Honor. The editor is Brian Tagg, director of photography is Robin Vidgeon with some camerawork by Ken under the name Alf Russell, Victoria Russell is responsible for costumes (as her mother did previously for Ken Russell) and the script is by Ken. It was filmed in Hampshire and Kent, and the initial sequences in The Rhinefield Hotel.
1992 The Secret Life of Sir Arnold Bax Having used Bax´s music in Clouds of Glory, Ken moved on to a biography of the composer himself. Most interesting is that Ken himself plays the role of Arnold Bax. . It is his only serious acting role in his own films, and he carries it off well, looking unexpectedly distinguished, hair combed down, like a later Graham Greene. The film has a good performance by Glenda Jackson, her last film before she gave up acting and devoted herself to politics as a member of the British parliament and government. She won an award for her acting. In a smoke filled club Bax (in the background) sees a dancer, Annie played by then wife Hetty Baynes. The film poster of Obsession reveals Bax's state of mind. Later Annie performs the same dance before the passion of the waves.
On the commentary to the Salome DVD, Russell says he was the same age as Bax in the film, so just decided to play the role himself. Part of the story deals with Bax as a major artist who has lost his public, which would appeal to Ken. The film is reasonably conventional, some episodes from the live of Bax, but misses the vivid imagery of Russell. A nice scene has Bax sneaking into a cinema to watch the end-credits of David Lean´s Oliver Twist to hear his own music. Other actors are Melissa Docker (who would work on Russell's next film Martinu) and Russell regular Kenneth Colley. As on the Bruckner film, the Director of photography is Robin Vidgeon (who also did Lady Chatterley), camera by John Vidgeon and costumes are by Victoria Russell. Xavier Russell edits, producer Maureen Murray makes a brief appearance (she would appear more in In Search of the English Folk Song) and regular Kenneth Colley also appears.
1993 The Mystery of Doctor Martinu Subtitled "A celebration by Ken Russell" this is Freud meets Bunuel´s Een Chien Andalou meets Hitchcock (Spellbound and Vertigo).
Martinu, played by Patrick Ryecart (also in Prisoners of Honor), wakes and his hand is covered with ants. He brushes them off and heads towards a (phallic) lighthouse. A nude girl is always before him as he climbs the steps. This image repeats itself in various forms. Other imagery includes Picasso images of dancing circus players and the menacing minotaur. When Martinu and wife exchange gifts he is given a tiny piano, and she is given a sewing machine which is of course a Singer make. Later he sits legs astride the tiny piano composing. And the actors filmed through the lighthouse lens.
Best scenes: an airplane lands, and it turns out to be a toy plane; the girl dressed in Czech colours on top of the steam train; the same girl with a Czech flag dancing nude; looking out the skyscraper at the traffic and people below- but they are toy cars and ants.
The children are similar to those dancing in Isadora Duncan, and of course there is a Nazi- but no nuns. There is much good Russell work in this film, and it improves with repeated viewing. Surprisingly however the music does not come out. Martinu is a superb composer, but in the film it could almost be film music: there is little of Russell's ability to match the music to the image. Producer is Maureen Murray (who appears in English Folk Song), editor is Xavier Russell, camera work is by Ken himself (credited as Alf), costumes are Victoria Russell and director of Photography is Robin Vidgeon. Russell's project Angels, which was never made, was based on Georges Neveus´s play Julierre which Martinu made into an opera.
1995 Classic Widows A documentary for Melvyn Bragg about four composers. Russell uses the widows of the composers to tell their tale, but the documentary ends up like the sort of film Russell tried to avoid in his early BBC days- shots of buildings, gravestones, very serious musicians and talking heads. You long for a hut to explode into fire, or for Oliver Reed to capture the essence of the person.
The composers are Walton, Bernard George Stevens, Benjamin Frankel and Humphrey Searle and their widows are Susana Walton, Fiona Searle, Xenia Frankel and Bertha Stevens. Walton is a respected classical composer who also composed film music. The rest are neglected known only for their lightweight film music with Frankel´s work including the music for The Curse of the Werewolf with Oliver Reed and Searle's music including The Abominable Snowman. The widows talk to the camera but are rarely natural, being unused to film. The talking heads alternate with performance shots of the works being performed. The highlight is Humphrey Searle's wife talking of how her husband's work has been neglected, then saying direct to Ken (behind the camera) in an unscripted moment "Ken, what the f*ck do we do about it". Ken reacts to the spontaneity and they go to the pub to discuss it more. In some countries, for example Australia, this scene was censored.
Russell interviewed 13 widows before choosing the final four. His interest was particularly to promote unknown composers. Disappointingly Bertha Stevens does not tell of the help by Grateful Dead to promote her husband's work. Russell says (in Neil Evans interview in Classic CD) "I used to get hold of records during the war to accompany silent films... I would play them in my father's garage. Bliss's march from Things to Come went wonderfully with Fritz Lang's Metropolis". Hetty Baynes, later Russell's wife, appears in a short dance routine.
Xavier Russell is editor, and Alf Russell (i.e. Ken) is one of the photographers. Director of Photography is Hong Manley. Russell also presents a CD of the compositions featured on the programme, which helps promote the musicians featured. Earlier in his career he helped with struggling composer Peter Maxwell Davies.
1997 In Search of the English Folk Song Ken Russell directs, writes and presents. A lightweight piece with Russell explaining to his dog Nipper then his producer Maureen Murray that he wants to find the true English folk song.
His journey is an excuse to meet people and hear them performing. These range from unknowns to the famous including Fairport Convention and Donovan. The first performers are a rock band with Russell filming them using a Camcorder. One of them has a father who writes folk songs and so the quest begins. Barry Lowe writes songs about Native Americans, and Russell would later use him as an actor on Lion's Mouth. Another folk singer seen through a window by Russell seems to be a witch. He is about to go when she evolves into a blonde girl. She sings naked behind a fence, or on top of a rocking horse (compare with A British Picture). This leads to Greenham Common with some of the Greenham Common women (who spent years outside a military base protesting against nuclear weapons). Finally Russell reaches Glastonbury folk festival and the performance of Edward II has Russell at his best, the performance cut with surreal shots of the carnival with human bananas and camels. And finally Russell is back home with Nipper, singing songs as the dog yawns. The performers are: |
