What can be said about this bizarre film? Anyone expecting anything relating to Liszt or his music will be sadly disappointed. The structure is that of a bad dream or a stream of consciousness poem, yet I remain unconvinced that anything in it is truly poetic.
Being by Russell, it is a series of images, some of them striking, others hyper sexualised, grotesque or merely baffling. I must admit it held my attention, even if the proliferation of bare breasts and phallic imagery is a bit much at times.
The story, such as it is, revolves as much around Liszt's son-in-law Wagner as the man himself. Taking their cue from his alleged proto-Nazi sympathies, Wagner is depicted first as a costumed superman then as a machine-gun-toting Hitler.
There are a few good in-jokes here and there. An early one is when Brahms is told by Liszt "you're p*ssed" (it helps to be British to get that one) and later when Rick Wakeman turns up dressed as Marvel comics' Thor "You look like you came out of a comic book".
Oddly enough I felt the most dated part of this was exactly what was meant to make it seem the most contemporary in the mid 70s, namely the music. Horribly synth arrangements of the works of Liszt and Wagner, and worse still songs based, for instance, on Lieberstraum, with terrible lyrics even by the standards of the time. Badly sung, too, surprisingly by Daltry who struggled to stay in tune.
Being by Russell, it is a series of images, some of them striking, others hyper sexualised, grotesque or merely baffling. I must admit it held my attention, even if the proliferation of bare breasts and phallic imagery is a bit much at times.
The story, such as it is, revolves as much around Liszt's son-in-law Wagner as the man himself. Taking their cue from his alleged proto-Nazi sympathies, Wagner is depicted first as a costumed superman then as a machine-gun-toting Hitler.
There are a few good in-jokes here and there. An early one is when Brahms is told by Liszt "you're p*ssed" (it helps to be British to get that one) and later when Rick Wakeman turns up dressed as Marvel comics' Thor "You look like you came out of a comic book".
Oddly enough I felt the most dated part of this was exactly what was meant to make it seem the most contemporary in the mid 70s, namely the music. Horribly synth arrangements of the works of Liszt and Wagner, and worse still songs based, for instance, on Lieberstraum, with terrible lyrics even by the standards of the time. Badly sung, too, surprisingly by Daltry who struggled to stay in tune.