Somehow Sarah and I have reviewed a bunch of the major frock flicks made by director Ken Russell (1927-2011), and we usually find something weird about them. Kendra hasn’t joined us in this strange part of the hobby, but she was asking me one time what the heck’s up with this guy’s movies? That got me thinking, and while doing this deep dive hasn’t made anything clearer, I do think I can sum up what tends to make a Ken Russell historical movie kind of funky.
In fact, I’ve settled on a rating system based on the most common elements in his movies that really scream “KEN RUSSELL WAS HERE.” The film may have a:
OTT Set Piece: At least one scene that just looks wildly super over-the-top. Could be a dream or fantasy sequence or not. Often it’s a scene that serves no other purpose than to show of some big, flashy production design.
Sex / Nude Scene: Bare boobs and/or butts are flashed for titillation or humiliation or both or for no apparent reason.
Cringe Factor: Subjective, yes, but something about Ken Russell flicks just might make you feel uncomfortable, and not in an intellectual fashion. It’s usually from a weird combo of sex, religion, hallucinations, etc.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Does what it says on the label. Russell must have been working out some issues onscreen!
This guy had an imagination on overdrive, often obsessed with the sex lives of classical musicians and romantic poets. Maybe it was all a reaction to his conventional childhood in south England? Who knows! His early historical work was mostly for TV, which tried to reign him in, and those flicks hint at how odd Russell’s movies would become. So buckle up and let’s just run through his catalog to see what we’ll find!
The Debussy Film (1965)
OTT Set Piece: Not sure.
Sex / Nude Scene: Implied, at least.
Cringe Factor: Maybe?
Bonus Religious Obsession: Don’t think so.
Sort of a TV docu-drama aired as part of the BBC arts series Monitor, which Russell directed a bunch of episodes for. This one’s about French composer Claude Debussy, played by Oliver Reed, who would work with Russell a lot. Per Wikipedia, “Debussy’s estate disliked the film and prevented repeat screenings.” That’s an auspicious start…
Isadora (1966)
OTT Set Piece: Yes.
Sex / Nude Scene: Close but no, because of the BBC.
Cringe Factor: Maybe?
Bonus Religious Obsession: Don’t think so.
A well-reviewed BBC TV movie about American dancer Isadora Duncan (played by Vivian Pickles). Apparently this flick includes “a jazz band playing on the roof of a hearse, a giant box breaking open to reveal half a dozen harpists, and the screen filling with hundreds of dancing children,” along with dance performances by Pickles.
Dante’s Inferno (1967)
OTT Set Piece: Maybe?.
Sex / Nude Scene: Not allowed by the Beeb, I’m sure.
Cringe Factor: Maybe?
Bonus Religious Obsession: Don’t think so.
Another BBC TV movie, this time about Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Oliver Reed again) and the Pre-Raphelites. It aired as part of the BBC arts series Omnibus, which Russell directed a bunch of episodes for. One review said it was full of: “artistic excess, madness, hallucinations, desire/eroticism, and performances which are occasionally (but deliberately) camp, over-the-top or amateurish.” Whelp, that’s Ken Russell, all right!
Song of Summer (1968)
OTT Set Piece: Not sure.
Sex / Nude Scene: Don’t think so.
Cringe Factor: Maybe not?
Bonus Religious Obsession: Can’t tell.
Yet another BBC TV movie for Omnibus, here about English composer Frederick Delius (who died in 1934) and his admirer/scribe, Eric Fenby. Ken Russell said that this was the best film he ever made, and he would not edit a single shot.
Women in Love (1969)
OTT Set Piece: Kind of.
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Don’t think so.
The first of Russell’s adaptions of a D. H. Lawrence novel, this one is set in the 1910s and featuring not just Oliver Reed again, but Glenda Jackson, who won a Best Actress Oscar for this role and would also work with Russell in many films. While titled “Women in Love,” it’s the men who get their kit off for a nude wrestling scene (that’s not the only nudity, but it’s the most famous). But this is a highly praised version of Lawrence that deserves a full review by Frock Flicks (as soon as I can get a better streaming version ;)
Dance of the Seven Veils (1970)
OTT Set Piece: Yes.
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Kind of.
A final BBC movie for Omnibus, this one about German composer Richard Strauss, and much like Russell’s first, the Strauss estate hated it. After the one airing, they took out an injunction to ban using Strauss’ music on the soundtrack, so the film wasn’t shown again. There was apparently a motion in the U.K. Parliament to condemn the BBC for airing this movie!
The Music Lovers (1971)
OTT Set Piece: Yes.
Sex / Nude Scene: Don’t think so.
Cringe Factor: Yeah.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Don’t think so.
In this big-screen flick, Russian composer Pyotr Illych Tchaikovsky (played by Richard Chamberlain) is gay but marries a nymphomaniac (played by Glenda Jackson), and to quote Sarah’s review:
“I suppose I should have realized that the very fact that this film was directed by Ken Russell means it probably wouldn’t be some wacky 1970s biopic filled with kitschy scenery chewing and bad 1970s hairdos unless it also featured a lot of disturbing imagery and depressing character relationships.”
The Devils (1971)
OTT Set Piece: Yes!
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Yes!
Bonus Religious Obsession: YES!
Oof, this one has it all, though I guess Vanessa Redgrave subbed for Glenda Jackson here. Actor Oliver Reed stated: “We never set out to make a pretty Christian film. Charlton Heston made enough of those … The film is about twisted people.” It’s super controversial, it’s been banned, versions have been cut and censored on different media, and the full “director’s cut” is hard to find (I have yet to succeed!). Quite possibly the most Ken Russell film of all Ken Russell films!
The Boy Friend (1971)
OTT Set Piece: Yes!
Sex / Nude Scene: Don’t think so.
Cringe Factor: Maybe not?
Bonus Religious Obsession: Don’t think so.
Following up The Devils with a 1920s musical romp starring Twiggy and Tommy Tune could give you whiplash. This one has the surreal set pieces, but otherwise, it’s a frothy period romance. Whew.
Savage Messiah (1972)
OTT Set Piece: Kind of.
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Not sure.
Back to the big-screen biopics, this one of French painter and sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and set in the 1910s. In the New York Times, Russell said this movie “was austere and simple … my least glamorous film. I was satiated with flamboyance.” I guess it’s more simple than Russell’s previous work because much of this movie is just conversations between the artist and his partner, Sophie Brzeska. But there’s a fairly flamboyant scene where an artist’s model (Helen Mirren) strolls nude through an elegant room, and of course, Russell has more flamboyant flicks coming later.
Mahler (1974)
OTT Set Piece: Yes!
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Yes!
A sort of biopic of Austro-Bohemian composer Gustav Mahler, set entirely on a train ride with his wife, set in the 1910s towards the end of Mahler’s life. What little story contained in this film is told through dreams, metaphors, flashbacks, and other artsy-fartsy set pieces accompanied by Mahler’s music. Ken Russell disliked how Mahler was used in the soundtrack of Death in Venice (1971) and includes a scene mocking that movie — I guess he could be a petty bitch.
Tommy (1975)
OTT Set Piece: Yes!
Sex / Nude Scene: Don’t think so.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Don’t think so.
This might be Ken Russell’s most famous movie, if only because it’s based on an album by The Who. While most of the story is nominally set in the modern day, it does start in Tommy’s childhood with “Prologue – 1945” so I’m including just that scene here.
Lisztomania (1975)
OTT Set Piece: Yes!
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes!
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Yes.
Depicting the Hungarian composer Franz Liszt as the first classical pop star starring Roger Daltrey. The very first scene is him having sex and that leads to a duel with Daltrey swinging from a chandelier. There’s also a sequence where he rides a giant penis that gets chopped off by a guillotine. Oh and Ringo Starr plays the Pope. This flick has a ton of historical characters but not enough historical costumes for me to give it a full review. Besides, it’s batshit insane and a little boring!
Valentino (1977)
OTT Set Piece: Yes.
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Nope.
Biopic of silent film actor Rudolph Valentino, and as I said in my full review, this is a prototypical Ken Russell flick, full of bombast, sex, death, and at least one excruciatingly uncomfortable-to-watch scene. It’s a classic. I was surprised to read that Russell felt that the film was “the biggest mistake of his career” when it’s so very much like all his other movies in style, subject matter, and pacing.
“William and Dorothy,” Clouds of Glory (1978)
OTT Set Piece: No.
Sex / Nude Scene: No.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Not really.
Clouds of Glory was a miniseries by Granada TV about English Romantic-Era poets. The first one showed William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy having a practically incestuous relationship. While the two were close and Dorothy was often the first reader/editor of William’s poetry, Ken Russell just makes it weird, as he’s prone to do. Watch for yourself on YouTube.
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” Clouds of Glory (1978)
OTT Set Piece: Yes.
Sex / Nude Scene: No.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Kinda sorta.
The second episode of Clouds of Glory takes on Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who had a far more turbulent life than the Wordsworths so Russell doesn’t have to invent shit for this to go weird. As a young man, Coleridge dreamed of living in a utopian commune, then he married a woman he soon disliked, and he became addicted to opium. The drugs give Russell fodder for a bunch of hallucination scenes, and you can experience it on YouTube.
Gothic (1986)
OTT Set Piece: Yes.
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Kinda sorta.
I have to admit, I have a soft spot for this one, and if it’s possible to have a favorite Ken Russell movie, this is mine. This is his lurid take on the fateful events of 1816 when Mary Godwin Shelley and Percy Bysshe Shelley crashed at Lord Byron’s Villa Diodati at Lake Geneva, Switzerland, and Mary wrote Frankenstein. The combo of Romantic poets, sex, drugs, hallucinations, and horror is custom-made for us ’80s goth kids.
Salome’s Last Dance (1988)
OTT Set Piece: Yes.
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Kinda sorta.
Oscar Wilde visits a whorehouse, where the proprietor puts on a production of Wilde’s banned play Salome, with the prostitutes as the actors. I give this one points for literary authenticity since the play-within-the-movie does use a great deal of Wilde’s actual text from Salome. But all the free-swinging boobs, glitter, and lurex are pure modern Ken Russell excess.
The Rainbow (1989)
OTT Set Piece: Kind of.
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: A little.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Only hinted at.
Another adaption of a D. H. Lawrence novel, this one is the prequel to Women in Love. While the topic of sexual freedom is hinted at, it’s hinted, which is shockingly rare for Russell. There’s one explicit scene between two women, but more of the film is spent in the main character’s pursuit of a career than sex.
The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner (1990)
OTT Set Piece: Kind of.
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Yes.
Bonus Religious Obsession: No.
And we’re back to TV! This one’s about Austrian composer Anton Bruckner, and his “strange affliction” is an obsession with numbers. He counts everything around him ceaselessly and has been packed off to a late 19th-century sanatorium for a treatment of cold baths and an occasionally naked nurse. See for yourself on YouTube
“Dusk Before the Fireworks,” Women and Men, Stories of Seduction (1990)
OTT Set Piece: Kinda sorta.
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Kinda sorta?
Bonus Religious Obsession: No.
This is an HBO compilation film of three short stories by different directors. Molly Ringwald plays a flapper in this 1920s piece based on a Dorothy Parker story. Ken Russell didn’t like the way it was re-cut and scored after he made it and refused to watch the released film.
Prisoner of Honor (1991)
OTT Set Piece: Not sure.
Sex / Nude Scene: Don’t think so.
Cringe Factor: Maybe not?
Bonus Religious Obsession: Don’t think so.
An HBO TV movie about the 1890s Dreyfus affair where a French Army Captain was convicted of treason and that somehow lead to World War I. Meh. I swear I did try to watch this and could not get more than 20 minutes into it. Boys in uniform, too boring! At least when Ken Russell is weird, there’s something to look at.
The Secret Life of Arnold Bax (1992)
OTT Set Piece: No.
Sex / Nude Scene: A little bit.
Cringe Factor: Kinda sorta.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Don’t think so.
Back to British TV with a biopic of English composer Arnold Bax (played by Ken Russell himself!), set in 1948 and focusing on his relationship with pianist Harriet Cohen (Glenda Jackson again) and an affair with a stripper (played by Hetty Baynes, Russell’s wife at the time). If that doesn’t sound too complicated for you, go ahead and watch it all on YouTube.
Lady Chatterley (1993)
OTT Set Piece: No.
Sex / Nude Scene: Yes.
Cringe Factor: Not really.
Bonus Religious Obsession: Don’t think so.
A four-part BBC TV miniseries adaption of D.H. Lawrence’s famous novel, starring Sean Bean as the hunky gamekeeper, Joely Richardson as the woman looking to get laid, and James Wilby as her cast-off crippled husband. The 1920s costumes are lovely and accurate, and it’s even better when they strip ’em off!
Have you watched any Ken Russell frock flicks?
THANK YOU for this! I’ve seen only a few of these, seen references to a few more, but didn’t realize they were all by the same director, and now they make SO MUCH MORE sense!
I aim to please :D
Oh my goodness – I see the ’93 Lady Chatterley mentioned, and all I can conjure up is a fab take from the Toast (RIP)
https://the-toast.net/2015/10/14/great-house-therapy-connie-and-cliffords-war-ravaged-family-seat/
& as always – thorough & fun post ladies, thanks!
I remember watching the Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Delius films when I was a teenager – they showed them on PBS as part of a Biography series. Amazingly having seen them only once, I still remember some of the scenes – almost as if in a dream. I guess that’s a tribute to Russell!
Wait, Russell made the 1993 “Lady Chatterley”?! My god, if memory serves, it’s almost…tasteful. I think he’s overrated, and I especially dislike his eagerness to trash artists who were far more gifted. Nice outfits in “Women in Love,” though.
Not a Frock Flick, but I once watched Lair of the White Worm with Hugh Grant and Amanda Donahoe. That was, umm, interesting. :)
It’s a good example of his “not a really good film, but you should see this crazy stuff!”
That one was popular among my friends in college, along with Gothic! But alas not a frock flick.
True, but the outfits Amanda wears are not to be missed! We should all dress like she does when playing board games!
One should go see just about any Russell film… even if it’s bad there’s usually something to see. Literally! The art direction is usually amazing even if whack.
I see zero cringe in “Women in Love” which is my fave of his. Why the cringe?
And did you miss the sex/nude scene in “The Music Lovers” of the disastrous wedding night on the train? This is only slightly cringe.
“The Devils” is indeed the quintessential Russell film. Just nuts and frightening and funny and cringe all at the same time. I think it’s great… just throwing the hypocrisy and insanity of religion out there. No wonder you can’t find it. I bet it really pissed the Catholic Church off. Another reason to love it.
“Tommy” is completely nuts but… bonus religion obsession is a maybe? It’s about a kid who starts a religion! It’s funny, the only version of “Tommy” I like… and I like it a lot… it the initial Who album.🤷♂️
I enjoyed “Valentino” mainly for the period art direction but don’t remember it as being weird. And the Salome flick I enjoyed too with the performance of the play-with-the-film where it deliberately gets freaky.
I need to check out the ones I haven’t seen. Like I said, even the bad films are full of “you gotta see this insanity!”
“you gotta see this insanity!” — that’s a classic the one-line review of any Ken Russell film, for sure ;)
Hot takes from this guide to Mr Russell’s oeuvre:-
In the context of Ken Russell films, the line “Vanessa Redgrave subbed for Glenda Jackson” took on some deeply inappropriate associations (Reader, I panicked: Ken Russell absolutely would, if he could have got away with it)
I am slightly startled by just how many artistic biographies Mr Russell filmed
It’s deeply, deeply sad that Mr David Warner & Ms. Cheri Lunghi were actually playing a deeply inappropriate sibling relationship, because they clearly make an adorable on-screen couple
It’s fascinating to see how far back the director’s association with Mr Oliver Reed went (and how long it lasted)
I had to look this up, but am absolutely delighted to discover that Mr Robert Powell got up on a cross for Mr Ken Russell before he got up on The Cross as JESUS OF NAZARETH (Which I think we can agree is Hilarious: did Mr Zeffirelli actually watch a Ken Russell film?)
It’s more than a little charming to see Dame Glenda so consistently associated with Mr Russell that they actually co-starred as man & wife: unfortunately I now have mental images of Ken Russell’s ELIZABETH R boiling through my brain like a fever dream
Goodness me, Dame Helen Mirren is Very Naked
I wonder if Ms. Jolie Richardson and Mr Sean Bean will ever work together on another project or if they’re still worried that they’ll be acting their hearts out and all anyone will see is ‘Lord John and Lady Jane’?
P.S. Of all the unexpected Actor/Director collaborations, Ms. Molly Ringwald + Mr Ken Russell might even be the most surprising (On the other hand, if you want a break from John Hughes you can’t get much more different than Ken Russell!).
you can find easily the complete uncensored version of the devils in P2P.
Warner don’t want to release it in blu ray. The BFI dvd vas a censored version of the movie.
There was definitely sex and serious kinks in The Music Lovers – Glenda Jackson in a lunatic asylum sitting on a grating through which hands of inmates came to grope her genitals and bring her to orgasm. I was quite young at the time, but there is not enough brain bleach in the world to clear that memory.
I didn’t realize there were so many Ken Russell films! (I think you may have saved me from having to watch them all.)
I loved Women in Love, especially Ursula and Gudrun’s brightly colored stockings. If you can get a DVD copy (library?), there’s a lovely bonus about the costumes, some of which came from Ken Russell’s wife’s personal collection of period garments and at least one of which underwent a certain amount of peril during the filming.
I loved Aldous Huxley’s book, The Devils of Loudun, but can’t say the film did a lot for me.