“Reality is a dirty word for me, I know it isn’t for most people, but I am not interested. There’s too much of it about”
I’ve just watched Alan Yentob’s BBC4 documentary on the career of the Britain’s notorious director Ken Russell who died just two months ago. It was a captivating portrait of maverick and eccentric man whose work I’ve been largely unfamiliar with. This is largely due to me watching his adaptation of The Who’s ‘Tommy’ at a young age on a grainy VHS. I remember it being brash, vulgar and gaudy with Tina Turner and Elton John contributing particularly awful performances. This was perhaps an unfortunate introduction since the Doc mainly focused on his earlier more measured but equally provocative work on the big and small screen. I urge you to check it out before it drops off iPlayer.
Click here to watch the documentary on iPlayer until the 1st of Feb
I shall have to invest in some of his work to see what I’ve been missing. Sadly ‘Tommy’ seems to be the only piece of his work given the Blu-Ray treatment as yet. Although I like the look of the ‘Ken Russell At The BBC’ DVD Boxset that is available from America.
If you’re quick, iPlayer has Russell’s early ‘Elgar’ Film for the next couple of days
Take Me To Your Cinema 
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