Devils, The

The Devils (Special Uncut Restored Edition 1971)	The Devils of Loudun 1643: In one of history’s most sensational cases of mass possession and sexual hysteria, Urbain Grandier, a handsome seducer of women, and priest of the parish of Loudon, was found guilty of being in league with the devil and burnt at the stake. Huxley gives a vivid account...	Music Lovers Furious, violently bombastic, terribly unsettling, Ken Russell's 1970 biography of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky (Richard Chamberlain) is a portrait of artistic brilliance beset by the Russian composer's mounting guilt over, well, everything: his homosexuality, his marriage to the incr...	Women in Love Before director Ken Russell's name became synonymous with cinematic extravagance and overkill, he actually directed what is one of the most passionate and involving adaptations of D.H. Lawrence in recent memory. Oliver Reed and Alan Bates star as friends who fall in love with a p...	Crimes of Passion The crazy man of British film, Ken Russell (Women in Love, Whore), hit the apex of guilty-pleasure absurdity with Crimes of Passion, a dark if pointed (and ultimately poignant) walk on the wild side. Although this schizophrenic, neon-blurred traipse through the red-light district...
Blow Up This 1966 masterpiece by Michelangelo Antonioni (The Passenger) is set in the heady atmosphere of Swinging London, and stars David Hemmings as an unsmiling fashion photographer hooked on ephemeral meaning attached to anything: art, sex, work, relationships, drugs, events. When a ...	Lisztomania Lisztomania, Ken Russell's follow-up to Tommy (both films were released in 1975) finds him even more in the mood for desultory spectacle than his garish pop artistry adapting the Who's rock opera. Seeking to tell the story of superstar composer Franz Liszt through a freewheeling...	The Elephant Man You could only see his eyes behind the layers of makeup, but those expressive orbs earned John Hurt a well-deserved Oscar nomination for his moving portrayal of John Merrick, the grotesquely deformed Victorian-era man better known as The Elephant Man. Inarticulate and abused, Mer...	Salome's Last Dance	Burnt Offerings Based on the Robert Marasco novel of the same name, Dan Curtis's eerie movie puts a spin on celluloid haunted-house sagas. The well-adjusted Rolf family (father Oliver Reed, mother Karen Black, aunt Bette Davis, and young son Lee H. Montgomery) rent a huge old summer house only ...

Thought provoking, dizzying, insane film, one of the most unique films by the still controversial Ken Russell...
I rented this film and Truffault's Day for Night one night, and showed them to a love interest of mine at the time. I showed her Day for Night, which she absolutely hated and despised (despite the fact it was a dubbed, pan and scan version, so she couldn't have used the "subtitled/letterbox" excuse many use). She stopped calling me after that. I wished I had shown her The Devils, as it would have warped her fragile, little mind and stayed in her subconscious for the rest of her life. It would have become a permanent parasite, popping up occasionally and messing with her brain when she least expected it. This is one of Ken Russell's most amazing, outrageous, and thought provoking/brain melting films. It is arguably his best work, where the frenzy and mania reach dizzying heights. It is not a work where there are a few amazing scenes interspersed with boring, perfunctory scenes. The whole film is perfect, and mind you, the version on the old VHS tape is not the full length version. That does exist, and some bootleg DVD's have been released with it, but no definitive version yet. The film is about the merging of church and state, not a particularly good thing. It is also about faith as well, and faith is a different concept than the church. I am one who think Russell was one of the greatest filmmakers of the 1970's. Some have called him a looney, others a genius. He had an amazing run in the 1970's, but after Altered States, he just lost it, and he's never really gotten it back. Gothic and Lair of the White Worm have their moments, but his other work has been abysmal (especially his film Whore). The last I heard of him was an appearance on the U.K. version of Big Brother. Maybe someday Russell can capture his artistry, I don't know. But this film needs to be released uncut on DVD.

Another cult movie of Ken Russell that urgently waits for its DVD release!!
"The Devils" still stands out as one of the most outrageous films ever made, keeping into account we are talking about Ken Russell. Based on the extraordinary essay of Aldus Huxley the picture depicts the lives, times and final tragedy of Urbain Grandier and his fervent and irresistible sexual attraction on a convent of nuns. Nowadays it was discovered this mental alienation was consequence of a sexual repression best known as uterine furor, but in those times he was accused and burnt as a devil' s emissary. This portrait was absolutely demonstrated and took place in Loudun' s province in 1638.

Historical Correction
Just to be accurate. The official Editorial Reviews on this page refer to the story as PRE-rennaisance. It is in fact POST-rennaisance and Pre-Enlightenment. Think: pilgrams and muskateers on psychedelics!

Glad I found the DVD
I was lucky enough to find this masterpiece on DVD uncut. I highly recommend the DVD.

The true Devils
I saw this masterpiece when it first came out, 1971. I have not stoped thinking and talking about it since. The devil you think of are not the devils you will see. It will leave a mark on you. This is not a light film. You won't forget it. Expect a wide range of emotional reponses, widest range of any film I have seen with the possible exception being the Kind Of Hearts with Allan Bates. This film is a realistic rendition of the harsh reality of life for the common people of early France. It is relevant and contemporary in its portrayal of the relationship of church and state then and now. Shocking, disturbing, sadistic, and a brutal harsh reality. If you can stomach history as it was, do yourself a favor and see The Devils, uncut of course. Super acting and great sets. You will think and feel as if you were there.