Ken Russell’s Lisztomania (1975/Warner Archive DVD)/Peter Gabriel: Secret World Live (1993/Eagle Blu-ray)
Picture:
C+/B- Sound: C+/B Extras: D/C+ Film: B
Concert: B-*
PLEASE NOTE: Lisztomania is only available from Warner Bros. in their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
The Music
Video was once seen as a potential artform, but it has declined as such since
the late 1980s with MTV eventually no longer showing them and most simply being
lazy, formulaic or outright unmemorable.
However, the more talented artists know how to bring music and image
together. Ken Russell was a visual film
director who showed his ability for memorable images as far back as Billion Dollar Brain, his 1969 feature
film debut concluding the Harry Palmer/Michael Caine spy trilogy.
His work
only became more interesting and challenging, with music becoming more
prominent. In 1975, he made two Rock
Opera motion pictures. First was the big
hit all-star version of The Who’s classic Tommy. Even if the score was not as good as the
original 1968 double album (also reviewed on this site in a Deluxe Edition SA-CD/CD set), it was a
watershed film and a precursor to the fast editing that would characterize
Music Videos. We have covered two Blu-ray
editions as these links will show:
U.S.
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10424/Tommy+(1975/Sony+Blu-ray)
Australian
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10866/TRON:+Legacy+(2010/Disney+Blu-ra
But even
more challenging and the peak of all Rock Opera cinema that includes the likes
of De Palma’s Phantom Of The Paradise,
the ill-advised Bee Gees/Peter Frampton Sgt.
Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and even The Rocky Horror Picture Show is Ken Russell’s Lisztomania (1975), with Roger Daltrey playing Franz
Liszt in a surreal Tommy-like film
(they even share some set design) that goes all the way in dealing with the
first real life music mania (people were said to get deliriously excited by
Liszt’s music at the time like no other music made before) and Russell
immediately makes the Beatles/Who connection early on as Liszt gives a concert
to screaming female fans (though this is also meant to recall initial reactions
to male performers like Elvis Presley, Rudy Valley, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby,
Johnny Ray, Paul Anka and all who followed) to make what will turn out to be
its deepest points.
Warner
Archive is issuing this on DVD as Criterion prepares to issue Quadrophenia on Blu-ray and with Tommy so stunning on Blu-ray, this was
the right time. The film opens with one
of Liszt’s many female sexual romps immediately showing his roguish appeal and
general carefree sense of womanizing, but he is also friends with Richard
Wagner (a highly underrated Paul Nicholas performance) who have similar music
paths at first and (at least implied here) were involved sexually.
However,
the film is brutally honest about music, sex, sexuality, power and al the high
and low points of their intersections, making this as bold as any Russell film
including the still-unavailable in the U.S. The Witches (1971) which Warner also owns and has allowed to be issued
overseas and as lavishly decorated and costumed as any of this films in
general. From here, we get a deep sexual
exploration of the sexes, Liszt’s friendship with Wagner, his many female
relationships and how his popularity hits reality in dealing with an unhappy
Church (Ringo Starr plays The Pope!) and some who do not like his music or its
affects.
This
carries over into a split between Liszt and Wagner as Wagner (suggested in part
from his sexual love of men) starts to look for a ‘superman’ that can make the
future better, complete with literal references to Superhero genre characters
(including Superman, many of the female fans looking like a Wonder Woman
knock-off and when Wagner goes Victor Frankenstein, bring a variant of Marvel
Comics’ Thor to life, as played appropriately by keyboardist extraordinaire,
classic Yes member and composer for incidental music in this film, Rick
Wakeman), while Liszt represents the open male from his sexuality and sexual
activities to his music.
Russell
rightly suggest how vital their music would be to the 20th Century
and how underrated their influence was, including how Wagner would sadly
inspire Nazi Fascism as the film gets darker and Wagner replaces his Thor with
“a new superman”. Russell and the cast
pull no punches throughout, going all the way in the sense of the fantastic and
at the same time, the most brutally honest and mortal. This is rated R, but the sexual content alone
would likely get this an NC-17 today, but it is a gem all around and though
some things do not work, most of this does with Russell making his grand
statement by the end of this remarkable film.
Sara Kestelman
shows up as Princess Carolyn with sly references to her work in John Boorman’s
underrated Zardoz (1973, reviewed
elsewhere on this site) throughout her scenes and also good as Fiona Lewis,
Neil Campbell, Andrew Reilly, John Justin and an uncredited Oliver Reed.
This is a
very welcome, overdue release from Warner Archive that deserves to be
rediscovered by a wide-ranging new audience that would likely really enjoy
it. There are sadly no extras (not even
a trailer), but we did notice a recent Blu-ray we reviewed that has exceptional
sonics and a fine set of music performances by Daniel Barenboim and Pierre Boulez
(two of the best in the business) that features the music of both Liszt and
Wagner. You can read more about it at
this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11530/Carmen+in+3D+(Opus+Arte+Blu-ray
Some
music geniuses with us to day like Peter Gabriel have not only made some of the
best and most challenging music of our time, but also proved to be masters of
the visual arts. From his stage work
with Genesis that inspired great bands like Split Enz to his amazing solo
career, Peter Gabriel: Secret World Live
(1993) is a fine stage concert from the time he was having his early commercial
peak as a solo artist. Featuring 15
songs, plus a bonus performance of Red
Rain, the show is a fan favorite and shows Gabriel in action in a way that
continues to impress.
The
classics performed include Come Talk To
Me, Steam, Across The River, Slow
Marimbas, Shaking The Trees, Blood Of Eden, San Jacinto, Kiss That Frog, Washing Of The Water, Solsbury
Hill, Digging In The Dirt, Sledgehammer, Secret World, Don’t Give Up
and In Your Eyes. Don’t
Give Up of course is his duet with Kate Bush, but substituting for her
effectively as well as singing on many of the other songs here is a
then-unknown Paula Cole. This is a solid
show and worth revisiting, plus a nicely illustrated booklet with some tech
information is also included as the only other extra in the Blu-ray case.
For more
of Gabriel, try this release of his recent concert New Blood, which was issued on Blu-ray, as well as Blu-ray 3D:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11317/Peter+Gabriel:+New+Blood+%E2%80
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image was shot on 35mm film in true anamorphic
Panavision by Director of Photography Peter Suschitzky, now known for his many
memorable films with David Lynch, he previously lensed The Rocky Horror Picture Show and worked again with Russell on his
1977 biopic Valentino, but his most
important work in all of this is lensing Peter Watkins’ 1967 masterwork Privilege (one of several landmark
works with Watkins) featuring Manfred Mann lead singer Paul Jones as insanely
ultra-popular singer Steven Shorter who has taken England by storm so much, he
is now a toy for dangerous political interests.
Suschitzky continues some of the visual approaches here in Lisztomania, yet it melds with
Russell’s distinctive style perfectly.
For more on Privilege, see
our coverage of the restored film at these links:
Region
Free Blu-ray
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10015/Peter+Watkins%E2%80%99+Privilege
U.S. DVD
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/7390/Peter+Watkins%E2%80%99+Privilege
Processed
in Rank Color, U.S prints were simpler EastmanColor-like print releases, but it
is possible that Technicolor U.K. might have issued dye-transfer, three-strip
Technicolor prints there. Either way,
the print used here has some soft shots, some print damage at times and some
aged footage, but there are more than enough moments of definition, detail and
color range to show what the filmmakers intended. I hope this is further restored for a future
Blu-ray of some kind because Russell and Suschitzky use the widescreen scope
frame to its fullest extent. This is
solid filmmaking all the way.
*The
1080i 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image on World originated on regular 16mm film shot in a 1.33 X 1
frame. Restored for this release, the
concert has been reframed to be widescreen, which will make some purists
unhappy, but Gabriel owns the film, now and approved of this. I still think it should have been available
via seamless branching in both the original and widescreen frames, especially
since it looks like we are missing a little bit of action at times. The resulting transfer looks good, but why is
it not 1080p? That holds back the
performance a bit too, unfortunately, reinforcing stereotypes about 16mm not
looking good on Blu-ray. Otherwise,
color and many shots look good, though you could argue you are still missing
something from the concert.
The lossy
Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound on Lisztomania
can be a little soft, but this was one of the first-ever films issued in old
Dolby System, which means the old A-type analog noise reduction system. Apparently, it was for front channels, but
when you apply Pro Logic, this does help the sound. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix
on World fares better by being a more recent recording, and though it can show
it’s age a bit, is very well recorded and offers a consistent soundfield with
nice dynamic range throughout. Any of
the sound issues that plagued the earlier DVD release are gone here.
To order Lisztomania, go to this link:
http://www.wbshop.com/product/lisztomania+1000336824.do?sortby=ourPicks&from=Search
or
http://www.wbshop.com
and
search for the title by name.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
