SCFZ

Polling the films of director Ken Russell

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half of the Russell films you've seen, up to a maximum of 5. So if you've seen seven of his films, for example, you can list only a top 3. It's only if you've seen ten or more of his films than you can list the maximum of five.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

- if anyone is watching films for these polls, then i'll extend the deadline three days, if someone requests an extension

- next poll: whoever posts the first ballot in this thread is free to nominate the director we poll next, unless you've nominated in this round already (everyone should get a chance). Already nominated this round: brian d, greennui

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

one rule for nominees: at least 3 scfzers need to have seen 10+ of a nominee's films, or at least 4 scfzers need to have seen at least 8 of the nom's films, so if it isn't clear if that will be the case, we'll confirm that's true before moving forward

if 24 hours pass after a poll opens, and no one eligible to nominate has posted a ballot, then i'll nominate someone, and then we'll start over, and everyone will be able to nominate again

seen five:

The Devils
Salome's Last Dance


whoever posts first, please feel free to go ahead and nominate our next director!

seen 3

1. The Devils

nominate : Philippe Garrel

Seen 6. I'll just vote for:

Aria

Mahler
The Lair of the White Worm
Crimes of Passion
Salome’s Last Dance
The Music Lovers

Seen 14.

Savage messiah!
The boyfriend
Music lovers
Women in love

Lol@that photo

Only seen 3, I'll vote for

1. Women in Love

seen 10

mahler
the devils
savage messiah
women in love
elgar

seen 3. this guy sucks!

The Debussy FIlm
The Boyfriend
Women in Love
Salome's Last Dance
Amelia and the Angel (Just watched it, a two-fer!, '58 and Russell, light and charming, just what I wanted today.)

Seen 30. Loved his early BBC films, could have done the list with just them. No one quite like Russell with his fondness for esoteric excess but more interestingly when he plays with similar concepts in a more subdued fashion he can make them seem entirely serious even sober. The underlying perspective differs less than the tone from the more outrageous films. Still, too much can be too much and some of his movies can be grating for their flaunting their points so obnoxiously, at least in certain moods, while other times they hit the spot for being so direct in their mockery. My favorites though tend to at least keep an eye on the conventional even as they don't really take it to heart and give it a good twist or two just to make that absolutely clear.

Actually, on reflection, maybe Peter Greenaway isn't too awfully far from Russell at that, with maybe a hint of Guy Maddin to add what's missing

His mad early 70's run beginning with Music Lovers and ending with Mahler was his finest period imo (I thought the Roger Daltrey films were terrible), though his high camp 80's period was fun as well. Still need to watch his early BBC films!

i know there are at least a few garrel admirers around here, but i don't know if that means people have seen six garrel films or twelve, so i think we should at least confirm we have enough garrel viewers for a good poll. so if anyone has seen 8+ garrel, please post!

I've seen 9 Garrel

I've seen 10+ from Garrel

Love Garrel but seen too few.

Don't know what Russell to vote for! Seen very few, but all were briliant, brilliant, brilliant!


01. The Rainbow (1989)
02. Lair of the White Worm (1988)
03. The Devils (1971)

Russel seen: 6

I think I'll just put on my LP of Carl Davis' wonderful score for The Rainbow.

Seen 17. I also liked his earlier films-both in tv and in cinema. When i discovered his "biopics" about famous people-it was nice new experience. I try to forget Ken Russell disliked my favorite "Death in Venice":) and showed this in his Mahler:)
1. Women in Love (1969)
2. Tommy (1975)
3. The Music Lovers (1971)
4. Mahler (1974)
5. Valentino (1977)-i know this film is not perfect, but i like it shows Valentino and Rudolf Nureyev isn`t bad and good he played this role.
-------------------

10 garrel

Seen a bunch

1. The Devils
2. Savage Messiah
3. The Music Lovers
4. Women in Love
5. The Boy Friend

seen 13 Garrel

Seen 4.

1. Women in Love
2. Tommy

Seen three, with multiple bits-n-pieces watches like Altered States and The Devils. His Il Mefistofele looked nicely tweaked for the '89 poll, but I couldn't hack watching it without a libretto.

I've seen four.

1. The Devils
2. The Music Lovers

seen 19

Mahler
The Boy Friend
Altered States
Crimes of Passion
Whore

10 Garrel

Seen 15:

1. The Devils (1971)
2. Mahler (1974)
3. The Boy Friend (1971)
4. Savage Messiah (1972)
5. Salome's Last Dance (1988)

I have actually not seen The Music Lovers, will try to watch it before the deadline.

perhaps a surprise at #1? i don't know russell too well, but i was expecting the devils to win. interestingly, the six feature films russell made between 1969 and 1974 are the top six finishers in our poll, so yet again we have a prolific director whose 'best' (by scfz votes) films all come from a short period in their career:

results

1. Mahler (1974) -- 21 pts
2. The Devils (1971) -- 20 pts
3. Women in Love (1969) -- 16 pts
4. The Boy Friend (1971) -- 15 pts
5. Savage Messiah (1972) -- 13 pts
6. The Music Lovers (1970) -- 10 pts
7. Salome's Last Dance (1988) -- 6 pts
7. Lair of the White Worm (1988) -- 6 pts
9. The Debussy Film (1965) -- 5 pts
9. Crimes of Passion (1984) -- 5 pts
9. Tommy (1975) -- 5 pts
12. The Rainbow (1989) -- 3 pts
12. Altered States (1980) -- 3 pts
14. Amelia and the Angel (1959) -- 1 pt
14. Whore (1991) -- 1 pt
14. Valentino (1977) -- 1 pt
14. Elgar (2002) -- 1 pt
14. Aria: "Nessun Dorma" (1987) -- 1 pt

Yeah, Mahler is definitely a surprise. If one considers it being from his strongest period, the one where he had most success and control and was still delineating his style and interests, it's at the end of that period, just before Russell pushed it to the extremes of Lisztomania, Tommy, and then Valentino which effectively short circuited his career for a while for being unpopular for their excess. He came back with Altered States, but then sorta stayed on the fringes as a cult director in the eighties who kept something of the exaggerated style but fit to an eighties sensibility which softened the impact some as the excesses of the time tamed the effect of the style for having caught up to it. He ended up going back to more conventional story-telling, director for hire work, and some smaller budget mostly ignored odd films after that as his cultural cachet had been used up.

Mahler doesn't get noted much for being neither fish nor fowl in a way, not as extreme or daring as some of his movies that mostly came after, but not as integrated a mix of convention and vision as in his most popular films that mostly came before. Maybe that makes it a good point of balance for Russell, but I haven't seen it championed like that elsewhere. Interesting that it came out on top here.

up at letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-118/