Lisztomania (1975)

User Rating:

5.9/10   

Director:

Ken Russell

Writer:

Ken Russell (writer)

Release Date:

29 January 1976 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Biography | Comedy | Fantasy | Musical

Tagline:

The erotic, exotic electrifying rock fantasy... It out-Tommy's TOMMY.

Plot:

A send-up of the bawdy life of Romantic composer/piano virtuoso Franz Liszt, with ubiquitous phallic...

Plot Keywords:

Liszt | Piano | Pope | Composer | Richard Wagner

Cast

Roger Daltrey	...	Franz Liszt
Sara Kestelman	...	Princess Carolyn
Paul Nicholas	...	Richard Wagner
Ringo Starr	...	The Pope
Rick Wakeman	...	Thor
John Justin	...	Count d'Agoult
Fiona Lewis	...	Marie d'Agoult
Veronica Quilligan	...	Cosima
Nell Campbell	...	Olga Janina
Andrew Reilly	...	Hans Von Buelow
David English	...	Captain
Imogen Claire	...	George Sand
Rikki Howard	...	Countess
David Corti	...	Daniel
Anulka Dziubinska	...	Lola Montez

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby (3 channels)

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:18A | Australia:M | Finland:K-18 | Sweden:15 | USA:R | UK:X (original rating) | UK:18 (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Bluebell Railway, East Sussex, England, UK

Company:

Goodtimes Enterprises

Trivia:

The "Millionairess" and "Most Promising Actress" as addressed in the concert scene are none other than Madame von Meck and Alma Mahler from Ken Russell's previous films The Music Lovers (1970) and Mahler (1974).

Quotes:

Liszt: I know it sounds improbable, Your Holiness, but I...
The Pope: But truth is stranger than fiction? We've kept going for two thousand years on that one.

Movie Connections:

References The Music Lovers (1970)

Soundtrack:

Rape, Pillage & Clap

Classic Ken Russell

This film is brilliant! Casting Roger Daltry (a rock star of his day) as Franz Liszt (a rock star of HIS day) was a master stroke (though Russell seemed to always like working with the same people again and again and he had done Tommy with Daltry). Ringo star in a cameo as the Pope was a crack-up and Wagner as a vampire stealing themes from Liszt was a trip as well. There is a wonderful "silent movie" section with Daltry doing a Chaplinesque sequence which covers several years in Switzerland and incredible sequences of him as a performer dazzling teeny-bopper girls in crinolines and bonnets--all screaming and swooning to whatever he plays. The piece-de-resistance is the sequence at the end with Liszt in a rocket ship "powered" by several former loves swooping down to destroy a Naziesque Wagnerian Frankenstein Monster who is laying waste to the world with an electric guitar/tommy-gun. This film is so over-the-top I had to have a copy for my collection!