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Lisztomania 
Actors : Roger Daltrey, Sara Kestelman, Paul Nicholas, Ringo Starr, Rick Wakeman
Director : Ken Russell
Studio : Warner Home Video
by Warner Home Video
Release Date : 1992-04-15
Publisher : Warner Home Video
Availability : Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Number of Items : 1
EAN : 9786300268982
UPC : 085391111733
Avg. Customer Rating: (based on 17 reviews)
List Price : $14.98
Our Price : $7.90
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Marketadvisory.com |
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Lisztomania, Ken Russell's follow-up to Tommy (both films were released in 1975) finds him even more in the mood for desultory spectacle than his garish pop artistry adapting the Who's rock opera. Seeking to tell the story of superstar composer Franz Liszt through a freewheeling series of pop allegories, kitsch, quotes, and pastiches, Russell hopes to reflect in contemporary terms the runaway train of Liszt's celebrity, love life, and alleged rivalry with Richard Wagner. Roger Daltrey, the Who vocalist and star of Tommy, returns to Russell's circus as Liszt, a great pianist nevertheless seduced by the ease with which he can make women squeal by playing flamboyant renditions of "Chopsticks." Floating on a sea of groupies, Liszt struggles with the possibilities of real love while also encountering the vampiric Wagner's exotic plans for world domination. Intuitive impressions, not history, are what this film experience is for, and toward that end Russell pulls out all the stops, planting Liszt into a heartbreakingly Chaplinesque short film, casting Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman as a cryogenic viking, and placing the hero in phallic jeopardy when his genitals are subjected to a guillotine. Some of this striking stuff works, some of it doesn't, but all of it is determinedly undisciplined. With Paul Nicholas as Wagner, and Ringo Starr as the Pope (!). --Tom Keogh |
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The Least Subtle Film In History |
I had wanted to see "Lisztomania" since first reading about it in the brilliant "Golden Turkey Awards" in 1980. True to its reputation, Roger Daltrey plays Franz Liszt in a highly stylized (major understatement) manner as an oversexed rock star, singing his way from one predicament to another and making an arch enemy of Richard Wagner, who exists solely to subjugate the world to Nazi Germany, and who is a vampire on the side. I appreciated that Wagner's hat said "Nietzsche," which made his philosophy somewhat evident early on. Nice touch, Ken.
In the midst of this bedlam Pope Ringo (I'm not kidding: Ringo Starr is the Pope, complete with eye patch and cowboy boots) makes Liszt attempt to convert Wagner to Catholicism in exchange for his (the Pope's) permission for Liszt to marry. Confused? Don't be. Director Ken Russell explained in an interview at the time of release that "the past attracts me because when dealing with it you don't have to be historically accurate", then helpfully adds that "Lisztomania" is "pure fantasy based on fact rather than straight factual biography." I'll say.
What this liberty with the truth gives Russell license to do here is stultifying: I am still most amazed by the scene in which Liszt is tormented by noxious flatus from rectum-shaped wall fixtures, then performs a musical number featuring his ten foot long phallus, which meets a guillotine before it's all over. Understated, you say? Well perhaps you will enjoy the death harpsichord, the pipe organ spaceship, and a prolonged familial scene done as Charlie Chaplin. Yes, that's right: Roger Daltrey playing Franz Liszt playing Charlie Chaplin. I would say that this isn't "straight factual biography," although I don't actually know what it is.
"Lisztomania" is absolutely impossible to rate: there are some entertaining moments, and some surrealistic moments of brilliance, but there are also loads of miscues and plain bad acting in abundance. This film is unquestionably for adults only, and I'm giving it three stars as my best guess. Your own appraisal will depend entirely on your viewpoint: there are people who think it's utterly brilliant, while others (probably many more others) find it pretentious and over the top. I think it has value as a touchstone of 1970's overexuberance (and drugs, no doubt.) The one thing I can say without question about "Lisztomania" is that it's never predictable and never boring. |
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List should be on your List! |
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It's a Ken Russell film that never made it to dvd. Worth a look and just plain fun with Roger Daltrey in tow. Rent or purchase away! |
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Whacked-out trip! |
I finally got to see this movie after seeing stills many years ago. WHAT A TRIP!!! I am not a Franz Liszt historian but it is quite clear, early on, this movie is full of . . . well, fancy. The viewer is shown exhibits of bare [...], a guillotined giant male organ, phallic columns, smoking rear ends and other amazingly bizarre visual nuggets. There is more eye-candy than one person probably should take in but it is quite fascinating as an artist's canvas.
The story is strange, and to say the very least, weak. Roger Daltrey pulls his stiff Tommy acting skills into his role of Liszt. He does manage an unexplainable presence that keeps one entertained. You don't watch this for the story, or the acting, but rather the pure extravagance of the visual presentation. The ending is just beyond belief!!! It's unintentional, but I was roaring with laughter at the finale of the movie. Even after seeing how far Ken Russell had gone throughout the picture, the ending left me giggling at the audacity of where he piloted his production. WARNING!!! If you're of the imbibing persuasion, see this thing straight or you'll surely think you're on a bad, if not demented trip.
Just for the visuals I have to give this movie 3 stars. It's pretty much a one-viewing experience unless you're interested in seeing the fantastic, although strange, art direction again. I doubt if it's possible, but I would rent it first to see if it's you're cup of tea. I have a feeling it won't be many folks thing but if your an artist, writer or lover of fantasy, this is the one for you!!! |
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FrankenWagnerHitler? What's not to love?! |
Oh b'gosh 'n golly, this film is chock full of treats both visual and aural. Given what happens in Princess Carolyne's antechamber, I think we can safely add olfactory to the list as well.
Okay, let's try a little experiment: I want you to think of the most excessive movie you've ever seen. Now, what would it be like if it were twice as excessive? You're not there yet. Make it -more- over-the-top. Getting close.
Ken Russell's Lisztomania makes Ken Russell's Tommy look sedate. It makes any Derek Jarman film seem frightfully low-key. But it also makes you want to watch it again and again.
Who says there's so spectacle in showbiz any more? You've got Roger Daltry as Franz Liszt whooping it up in Princess Carolyne's abode to the male organ while his past lovers dance the Can-Can or something. And then they do this maypole dance with Liszt's own member which is so grotesquely enormous it should have windows and a door.
Rick Wakeman--RICK WAKEMAN--plays the comic book hero Thor! He is a truly revolting looking human being, and even more so when decked out in that Jill Masterson paint from Goldfinger. Liszt and Marie d'Agoult's husband have this bizarro swordfight set to a country and western version of Hungarian Rhapsody that ends with Franz and Marie stuck in a piano on a set of train tracks and something else happens and... who knows.
Who knows indeed!! Who knows what the heck this film is supposed to be about. Wagner is portrayed as Liszt's friend and mortal enemy. The secondary action (the main action is between Liszt and da ladeez) revolves around an epic battle between Wagner's secular humanist music setting a template for the rise of Nazism and Liszt's... uh. That's where I get confused. I think it's just Liszt's lovely music.
With Wagner we get hit over the head with Nietzchean themes of the Superman. With Liszt we get the idea he kinda likes to play piano and he really digs getting it on with da ladeez. Mighta wanted to be religious at one point.
Honestly? Wagner's the cooler character. I dig his Nietzche sailor's cap. Oh, and he gives the wildest parties! Dude's laying of the foundation stone at the Bayreuth Festival TOTALLY ROCKED! Admittedly, it seemed to actually happen in Wagner's Castle Grayskull/laboratory, but hey.
But hey, indeed. This film is an absolute mess of nonsense taken to epic proportions. The storyline is, unbelievably, more or less accurate-ish. At least, when you strip it down to the bare minimum. And yes, I do mean the finale--that really happened. It's why we live in a free country now.
Thank you, Liszt. Thiszt.
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we need the dvd...we need the dvd |
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YES...I vote for the DVD....does one of you know how to set up the "voting" ballot type thing on amazon?.... the people demand the dvd. I only have a destroyed second generation vhs of Liszto......p |
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