A profoundly bizarre movie. It's sort of a
tribute/
biography to the
composer Franz Liszt, but mostly it's just
insane. It was made in 1975 by
Ken Russell, and let me tell you, he passed up
no opportunity to include (
softcore)
sex and exaggerated
penile imagery! Liszt's life is portrayed as that of a
rock and roll god, complete with numerous
sexual conquests and crowds of screaming teenagers at his concerts. The film is also noteworthy for its brutal metaphorical portrayal of
Richard Wagner as the virulent
anti-Semite that he of course was. It stars
Roger Daltrey as Liszt, and features
Ringo Starr as the
pope!
I saw this film on late-night cable a while back. I particularly liked the dream sequence where Liszt dreams he has a colossal (around 10' long x 1' thick) erection with nude women dancing around it like a maypole. Once he is entwined in their ribbons, lust turns to horror as they drag him towards a guillotine, with gruesome intent. Unfortunately, I am about 1/2 generation too young to really appreciate a lot of the 1970's-era subtleties that apparently pop up in this film.