Nude Magazine: Ken Russell photos

Volume 7 2005 has an article on Ken's career as a photographer, before he went into films.   The photos dated from 1955.  The article includes 11 of the photos.

Camera: Ken Russell special issue

Two consecutive issues of Camera, No 1 Winter 2002 and No 2 Summer 2002 by Paul Sutton.   The first covers the DVD release of Delius Song of Summer, 2 pages.  The second is a special issue on Ken Russell with Glenda Jackson (2 pages), Melvyn Bragg (2 pages), a 14 page interview with Ken and a reprint of "A Case for Canonisation".  Melvyn Bragg says about Clouds of Glory: "I was very pleased to be asked to do it.  I don't think I did a very good job on that.  We had a very good cast but we didn't have a very good script and I'm prepared to take my fifty-percent of the blame.  Ken and I certainly didn't work on the scripts well enough together... The Coleridge film is the better of the two and Ken did more of the Coleridge script himself".  Recommended.

The Devils- A Case for Canonisation?

by Paul Sutton in Necromonicon Book 4, edited by Andy Black, 2001.  An analysis of The Devils, and its critical backlash on release.  "Film adaptations should stand, and be counted, independently from their printed source, but Ken Russell's The Devils is that eyebrow raising rarity, a film that grows in stature when viewed in context with its sources. Gone is the verbiage of Huxley and Whiting, Russell's adaptation is thrillingly lean".

The Lair of the White Haired Filmmaker

by Ken Hanke in Alternative Cinema no. 18 Spring 2001.  Some sharp insights into Russell's later films, mainly Gothic, Salome and Lair: "[in Gothic] Mary, symbolically depicted as a fish out of water throughout the film, is the only character who is not stoned out of her mind on laudanum during the wild events of the night".

Vladek Sheybal

by David Del Valle in Psychotronic, number 31 1999.  A full overview of the career of Vladek Sheybal, whose work includes The Debussy Film, Billion Dollar Brain, Women in Love, The Music Lovers, Dance of the Seven Veils, The Boyfriend.  About The Boyfriend: "I was supposed to be Cecil B. DeMille I was wearing DeMille’s actual britches".  You can read it online click here

Vampire Lovers

The Ingrid Pitt Bedside Companion for Vampire Lovers by Ingrid Pitt, 1998.  Russell provides a short foreword " Dear Ingrid, Sorry I have been so late in getting back to you regarding your book. What I read of it was erudite, witty and the very last word on the subject that it is possible to write. But I am afraid it just became too horrifying for me to read on. I got as far as Vlad and then I simply had to STOP. Maybe my imagination is too vivid or perhaps I'm too squeamish, but I just couldn't handle the images- which probably augers well for its success. So sorry to be a wimp..., but there it is! But that doesn't stop me for hoping that you will have an enormous hit on you hands".

An enjoyable book by Pitt who started as an extra in films with Dr Zhivago and Orson Welles Chimes at Midnight. She became famous for her Hammer vampire films. She was also the librarian in Wicker Man.  Russell's Gothic is discussed briefly "...the camera work, the lighting, the sense of disorientation that Ken Russell brings to [the film]... I'm a fan and this picture does it for me! Byron the mental vampire".  The novel of Lair is covered, but not the film.

A Touch of Genius

by Ingrid Pitt, 1998.  Shivers issues 52 and 53.  An interview of Ken Russell by vampire actress Ingrid Pitt.  "A film I think is stupendous is The Hitcher.  You just don't know what will happen next... The best vampire film I've seen is Near Dark".  "Ken painted The Devils in different shades of white.  The white of the convent, the white of the city, the white of the city walls, and then the whole thing bleeding into black at the end".  Spread over two issues.  Good photos.  Recommended.

Video Watchdog

Three articles.  No. 35 1996.  Cutting the Hell out of The Devils by Tim Lucas (16 pages) looks at the censorship of The Devils.  The Devil Himself is an interview of Ken by Mark Kermode (5 pages).  There is also a one page feature on French Dressing.

Reel Conversations

by George Hickenlooper, 1991.  Interviews with 25 film directors.  From the interview with Ken Russell "I think [films about musicians and artists] deal in mysteries just the way I think life is a mystery. Artists somehow make mysteries concrete, make them more tangible. They interpret the ineffable for the rest of us".

That Old Devil Called Ken

by Simon Banner, in Q Feb 1987.  An interview and overview at the time of Gothic.  Some very good photos and some nice insights:

- How does he work?
- "I just say Action! then Cut!"
- Having cunningly established who's in charge- in time honoured Russell tradition- Ken then completely takes over the proceedings, reeling off the anecdotes..."

Double Exposure: Fiction into Film

by Joy Gould Boyum, 1985.  An analysis of 18 film adaptations, including 8 pages on Women in Love.  "The scenes between Rupert and Ursula tend to be brightly lit, situated in daytime and frequently outdoors. The scenes between Gerard and Gudrun, in contrast, tend to be set in interiors and most often at night- with the pervading darkness serving ...to comment on the texture of their relationship".  Other films covered include Apocalypse Now, A Clockwork Orange and Death in Venice.

The Nureyev Valentino

by Alexander Bland, 1977.  About the film but made without access to Russell or Nureyev. The books covers the career of Valentino, then the film itself with a short section on Russell's style and a detailed synopsis of the film. Lots of colour and black & white pictures.

Shirley Russell's costume designs, and Ken on site

The Story of Tommy

by Richard Barnes and Pete Townsend, 1977.  The story of the rock opera from LP to stage show to Ken Russell's film, but mainly concentrating on the film. Lots of pictures and an interview with Ken.

Journal of Popular Film

Issue 5/3&4 which includes "Fact, Fantasy, and the Films of Ken Russell: an Interview" by Gene D. Phillips. 1976.  Recommended.

"With the possible exception of The Boyfriend all of my films have been Catholic in outlook: films about love, faith, sin, guilt, forgiveness, redemption. Films that could only have been made by a Catholic".

"Is Henri Gaudier still your guiding light as you pursue your career? Yes indeed, I am still firm in the conviction that I learned from his short life... It is a pity when one, either through force of circumstances or because one is afraid of being ridiculed by others, won't produce or expose to everyone that little spark of something special which is unique to him alone. That is what I am still trying to do in my work...".

Films and filming: Ann-Margret and Lisztomania

January 1976.  The Films and Filming honours for 1975:
- Beast female performance, Ann-Margret in Tommy
- Best British Film, Tommy
- Best supporting male performance, Paul Nicholas in Lisztomania
- Most imaginative work of the year, Ken Russell for Tommy and Lisztomania.

There is also an interview with Ann-Margret (5 pages) "... I realised when I read the script that this [the beans etc scene] was the scene that would really have to be dealt with.  Obviously Ken thought so too, because he saved it until the very end of my shooting schedule".

And a review of Lisztomania "this time there is  no underlying affection for the artist in question, merely a desire to use his name" and "... a grotesque castration fantasy [scene] which shows Russell re-filming much of the material that was deleted from The Devils".

Films and filming: Lisztomania

November 1975.  A photo spread on Lisztomania, (6 pages).

Savage Messiah

The MGM Press book for the film, 1972.  "Its been a detective story as much as anything- for me, anyway. I find that putting characters in situations which one knows actually existed leads naturally to certain things coming out- things which one hadn't or couldn't perceive just by reading the facts".

Film Quarterly: The World of Ken Russell

by Michael Dempsey, Spring 1972.  13 pages concentrating on The Music Lovers and The Devils.  "Russell's people seek to change, deny, or flee their identities.  Those who fascinate him most are romantic idealists struggling against their own personalities in order to achieve a level of existence they regard as higher, more noble".  Recommended.

The Boyfriend

A movie tie-in booklet, 1971.  Good pictures in colour and black and white. The information is very general.

Films and filming: Mahler

April 1974.  A photo spread on Mahler, (4 pages).  Russell is quoted "My film is simply about some of the things I feel when I think of Mahler's life and listen to his music.  It is by no means a definitive view, there are as many facets to the mystery of Mahler's music as there are lovers of it".  There is also a poor review (not by Ken) of Robin Hardy´s The Wicker Man "The burning sequence... end up as a poorly executed parody of Russell's The Devils".

Films and filming: Shock Treatment

by Gordon Gow, July 1970.  An interview and overview at the time of the filming of The Music Lovers (5 pages) plus photos (4 pages), still using the original title The Lonely Heart.  "What interests me is the position of the artist in society- his responsibility towards it- his neglect of it.  If you use his music to tell things about his life, you're doing two things at the same time.  You're letting his own art have its say, and you're recognising that the music is an integral part of some psychological aspect of his life".