With The Devils (1971) and Tommy (1975), Ken Russell created a very powerful style that intimidated producers and divided the critics. However, he came a cropper with this ugly, migraine-inducing and mind-numbing bore.
Franz Liszt is here portrayed as a rock star, 1840-style, by Roger Daltrey of The Who. The shaggy-maned idol rips into his songs and the audience screams with excitement. Some ecstatic fans storm the stage, wanting simply to touch him. Some want to bear his child. One adoring woman announces she already has.
Paul Nicholas plays Richard Wagner (pictured above), while Ringo Starr is a natural as the Pope.
The result is a wild, kaleidoscopic romp, full of sexual symbolism, Carry On humour and Hammer horror send-ups – an epic of self-loathing, self-parody and self-destruction.
Franz Liszt
Roger Daltrey
Princess Carolyn
Sara Kestelman
Richard Wagner
Paul Nicholas
Countess Marie d’Agoult
Fiona Lewis
Cosima
Veronica Quilligan
Olga Janina
Nell Campbell
Hans Von Bulow
Andrew Reilly
The Pope
Ringo Starr
Count d’Agoult
John Justin
Lola Montez
Anulka Dziubinska
George Sand
Imogen Claire
Thor
Rick Wakeman
Captain
David English
Daniel
David Corti
Blondine
Lucy Willers
Governess
Felicity Devonshire
Hector Berlioz
Murray Melvin
Strauss
Andrew Faulds
Rossini
Ken Parry
Frederic Chopin
Ken Colley
Felix Mendelsohn
Otto Diamant
Director
Ken Russell
