Main Cast: Roger Daltrey, Sara Kestelman, Paul Nicholas, Fiona Lewis, Veronica Quilligan
Release Year: 1975
Country: UK
Run Time: 104 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This audacious, vulgar, freewheeling fantasia on the life of pianist Franz Liszt ranks among director Ken Russell's most outrageous efforts. Roger Daltrey, lead singer for The Who, is awkward yet likeable as the flamboyant piano performer with a bevy of fetching mistresses and groupies, while Paul Nicholas is completely outlandish as the scheming opera composer Richard Wagner. There's no nod to reality here: Liszt and Wagner were in fact friends, and Liszt, who became Wagner's father-in-law, actually assisted in the production of Wagner's opulent productions. Russell, on the other hand, presents Wagner as Liszt's jealous rival ready to wreak havoc on the world by unleashing a cryogenic Viking (Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman) and a horde of machine-gun wielding robot Nazis. In a finale out of Flash Gordon serials, Liszt saves the day after surviving a guillotine designed for phallic dismemberment. The film is fast and loud and wildly undisciplined, much like one of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies. Look fast and you'll see Ringo Starr as the pope. ~ Les Stone, All Movie Guide
Nell Campbell - Olga; Andrew Reilly - Hans von Bulow; Ringo Starr - Pope; John Justin - Count d'Agoult; Anulka Dziubinska - Lola Montez; Imogen Claire - George Sand; Peter Brayham - Bodyguard; David English - Captain; Kenneth Colley - Frederic Chopin; Felicity Devonshire - Governess; Otto Diamant - Felix Mendelsohn; Andrew Faulds - Strauss; Georgina Hale; Rikki Howard - Countess; Murray Melvin - Hector Berlioz; Aubrey Morris - Manager; Ken Parry - Rossini; Oliver Reed - Princess Carolyn's Servant; Rick Wakeman - Thor
Credit
Philip Harrison - Art Director, Shirley Russell - Costume Designer, Jonathan Benson - First Assistant Director, Ken Russell - Director, Stuart Baird - Editor, Rick Wakeman - Composer (Music Score), Rick Wakeman - Musical Direction/Supervision, Peter Suschitzky - Cinematographer, Sandy Lieberson - Producer, David Puttnam - Producer, Roy Baird - Producer, Ken Russell - Screenwriter, Franz Liszt - Featured Music, Richard Wagner - Featured Music
Depicting the flamboyant Liszt as the first classical pop star, Lisztomania features contemporary rock star Roger Daltrey (of The Who) as Franz Liszt. The film was released the same year as Tommy, which also starred Daltrey and was directed by Russell. The film is derived, in part, from an actual "kiss-and-tell" book, Nélida, by Marie d'Agoult, about the couple's affair.
The term "Lisztomania" was coined by the German romantic literary figure Heinrich Heine to describe the massive public response to Liszt's virtuosic piano performances. At these performances, there were allegedly screaming women, and the audience was sometimes limited to standing room only.
Rick Wakeman, from the progressive rock band Yes, composed the Lisztomania soundtrack, which included synthesizer arrangements of works by Liszt and Wagner. He also appears in the movie as the Nordic god of thunder, Thor. Daltrey and Russell wrote the lyrics for the soundtrack, and Daltrey provided vocals.
Of the other rock celebrities appearing in the movie, Ringo Starr, drummer of The Beatles, appears as the Pope.
This movie was first to use the relatively new Dolby Stereo noise reduction sound system.
Availability
Since the original video release of Lisztomania, available copies of the movie have declined. Available copies of the movie were bolstered by a 1990s release of the 2.35:1 letterbox format with Dolby Surround sound on Laserdisc. Warner UK has recently come to an agreement with former special interest label Digital Classics to release Lisztomania on DVD. Lisztomania will be available on May 4, 2009, on the Digital Classics label.[1]
A trailer for the film can be found on YouTube at Digital Classics' YouTube page.[2]
Elgar (1962, TV) ·French Dressing (1963) ·The Debussy Film (1965, TV) ·Always On Sunday (1965, TV) ·Isadora Duncan, The Biggest Dancer In The World (1966, TV) ·Dante's Inferno (1967, TV) ·Billion Dollar Brain (1967) ·Song of Summer (1968, TV) ·Women in Love (1969)
