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Ken Russell hot news
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Last update 12 February 2025
Tommy on Blu-ray and UHD
Shout Factory are releasing Tommy on Blu-ray and UHD.
The Shout Factory website is
here.
Ken Russell season in London The Prince Charles Cinema in London present a season of Ken Russell films:
The cinema website is here. For more on the films click here.
Crimes of Passion in Knoxville, USA
The Knoxville Horror Film Fest present Crimes of Passion on 15 February 2025. It is in a double bill with Gus Van Sant's To Die For in the Central Cinema. "CRIMES OF PASSION, a trashy romp featuring electric performances from Kathleen Turner and Anthony Perkins... In the early 1980s, British filmmaker Ken Russell (THE DEVILS, TOMMY) travelled to America and placed his unorthodox imprint on CRIMES OF PASSION—a crazed erotic thriller starring Kathleen Turner (SERIAL MOM) and Anthony Perkins (PSYCHO). Fashion designer Joanna Crane (Turner) leads a double life. At night, she is China Blue, a prostitute who has attracted the attention of a psychopathic priest (Perkins). With its outrageous script by gay screenwriter Barry Sandler and sparkling score from Rick Wakeman of the band Yes, CRIMES OF PASSION is a movie that could only have been realized by the gonzo creativity of Ken Russell". The cinema website is here. For more on Crimes of Passion click here.
Alice in Russialand on YouTube
Alice in Russialand is now on YouTube. Alice falls through a rabbit hole and floats down, with images of Russians floating by- leaders such as Khrushchev, Brezhnev, Gorbachov, Yeltsin along with cultural icons such as Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky and national hero Yuri Gagarin. Some of the imagery is reminiscent of early film-maker Mêliés. The online link is here. For more on Alice in Russialand click here.
Thanks to Alicia who found the online copy and posted details on the
forum.
New book: Ken Russell Interviews
"In Ken Russell: Interviews, the filmmaker discusses his colorful life
and career, from his youth fascinated by movies to his early work in
television through his feature films and his retreat to home movies".
The editor is Barry Keith Grant. More details soon.
The Death of Alexander Scriabin
Details of Ken Russell's radio play on a meeting between composer Alexander
Scriabin and notorious English mystic Aleister
Crowley. With Oliver Reed, James Wilby and Hetty
Baynes. You can also hear a short extract from the play- click
here
Folk Horror on Film
A new book Folk horror on film edited by Kevin J. Donnelly and Louis Bayman has been issued, and will include Ken Russell's The Lair of the White Worm". "What is folk horror and how culturally significant is it? This collection is the first study to address these questions while considering the special importance of British cinema to the genre's development. The book presents political and aesthetic analyses of folk horror's uncanny landscapes and frightful folk. It places canonical films like Witchfinder General (1968), The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971) and The Wicker Man (1973) in a new light and expands the canon to include films like the sci-fi horror Doomwatch (1970-72) and the horror documentary Requiem for a Village (1975) alongside filmmakers Ken Russell and Ben Wheatley". Sounds interesting. It is currently an expensive hardback (£90) but when in paperback I will post more.
For more on The Lair of the White Worm click
here .
YouTube tribute to Ken Russell
A tribute to the visual imagery of Ken Russell's films set to the Sparks song This Town Ain't Big Enough For the Both of Us.
The link is
here.
Ken Russell Book launch and Symposium
A new book Refocus: the Films of Ken Russell, part of ReFocus: The International Directors Series, edited by Matthew Melia. Shoddy Wikipedia article on The Music Lovers To give an example of biased criticism of Ken Russell see the Wikipedia entry. It quotes Time Out New York on The Music Lovers "vulgar, excessive, melodramatic and self-indulgent . . . " (Wikipedia, accessed 3 May 2023, click here).
The "..." cuts out some words. The original reads "vulgar, excessive, melodramatic and self-indulgent: Tchaikovsky's music is indeed all of these things, yet gloriously so, and the same goes for Ken Russell at his freewheeling best" (TJ, Time Out, 10 September 2012, click here). This is shoddy misrepresentation of the review by TJ, of Tchaikovsky and of Ken Russell.
Too late- you missed it The Lair of the White Worm in Seattle, USA
The Grand Illusion Cinema in Seattle present The Lair of the White Worm on 17 January 2025.
“Russell’s compositions are gorgeous to look at, though it’s the
deliciousness with which the story unravels that made Lair of the
White Worm Russell’s most enjoyable film since his masterpiece Crimes
of Passion.” Ed Gonzalez, Slant
The cinema website is
here.
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