Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Music Lovers, The

Collapse
X
Collapse
  •  
    Ian Jane
    Administrator

  • Music Lovers, The



    Released by: MGM Limited Edition Collection

    Released on: October 12, 2011.

    Director: Ken Russell

    Cast: Richard Chamberlain, Glenda Jackson, Christopher Gable

    Year: 1970

    Purchase from Amazon


    The Movie:


    Ken Russell's fever dream take on the life and times of the late, great Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky stars Richard Chamberlain (in a part originally offered by Russell to Alan Bates) in the lead of the brilliant but trouble composer and Glenda Jackson as his sex crazed lover, Nina (known to the world under her more formal name, Antonina Miliukova). When the film begins, Tchaikovsky is starting to come to quite a bit of local acclaim for his work but still working as a piano teacher. As his star rises he marries her, but as it turns out he's struggling with his own repressed homosexuality and unfortunately can't satisfy her, she being in Russell's own words, a nymphomaniac and we also learn of his obsession with an acquaintance of his,
    Madame Nadedja von Meck (Izabella Telezynska). All of this drama and turmoil affects the composer and his work, and it all leads up to his final symphony, The Pathétique.

    Russell's extravagant retelling of Tchaikovsky's life may be more of an interpretation than a literal biography but that doesn't diminish its value one iota. The facts as they are presented here seem, by all accounts, to be pretty accurate as far as how the man lived and how he lead his personal life, and of course as all of this took place in the mid 1800s the story is going to have to fill in certain blanks. It does that way, doing a great job of setting up the central characters of Tchaikovsky and Nina and allowing the two perfectly cast leads to make the most of their respective roles and really deliver some impressive and dedicated performances. Jackson in particular really steals the show, her character going through a remarkable evolution as the movie plays out, contrasting interestingly with Chamberlain's stuffed shirt portrayal.


    The film moves at an interesting pace, using periodic dream sequences and point of view shots to pull us into Tchaikovsky's world and let us get a feel for what he's experiencing. He's obviously troubled by his feelings for another man as he knows he'll basically be ostracized from the society now accepting him for admitting to such feelings. Putting just as much pressure on him is his wife, a beautiful and insatiable woman that, on the outside at least, would seem to be quite a catch. Russell uses some interesting surrealist touches throughout the movie and shows that sometimes over the top artistic flair that he's become known for and which make his films as unusually compelling as they tend to be.


    Also noteworthy are the ways in which Russell blends sound and vision in this film. The opening sequence in which we see members of an audience literally getting lost in the man's compositions do a great job of capturing the intense romanticism that the best classical music can inspire, while setting the stage for things to come later in the film and offering the director a chance to delve into less conventional territory. This use of music and carefully put together visual compositions continues to build throughout the movie, taking us all the way through his eventual slip from sanity and self control. Without wanting to spoil it, the most obvious example, however, is the grand finale in which the 1812 Overture is used overtop of some ridiculous visuals that are somehow completely appropriate and horribly inappropriate at the same time and pretty much instantly identifiable as Russell's handiwork.


    Video/Audio/Extras:


    The Music Lovers looks pretty good in this 2.35.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation. There's some minor print damage here and there in the form of the occasional speck but nothing too serious. Grain is present, as it should be, but never distractingly so and colors look nice and natural. Detail isn't bad at all and skin tones look good. Some scenes are a little soft and there are a couple of minor compression artifacts noticeable in some of the darker scenes but otherwise the movie looks very good here.


    The Dolby Digital 2.0 mix on the DVD-R is fine, if not as full as you might hope for given the amount of music used in the movie. Overall though it sounds good, there are no problems with hiss or distortion and the levels are well balanced. Dialogue is clear and easy to follow and this is problem free, even if it would have been nice had the music had just a bit more punch behind it.


    Extras are limited to the standard MGM Limited Edition menu and chapter stops and the film's original theatrical trailer.


    The Final Word:


    Russell fans are no doubt going to be irked that this didn't get any attention in the extras department, and there's no question that the movie deserved more than just a trailer. With that said, MOD or not, MGM's transfer for The Music Lovers is a good one and it's great to have Russell's ode to Tchaikovsky available in this nice looking edition. The movie itself is great, it's romantic and feverish and horrifying and wonderful all at the same time and is absolutely worth seeing.



























      Posting comments is disabled.

    Latest Articles

    Collapse

    • Hot Spur (Severin Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Severin Films
      Released on: April 30th, 2024.
      Director: Lee Frost
      Cast: Joseph Mascolo, Virginia Goodman, John Alderman
      Year: 1969
      Purchase From Amazon

      Hot Spur – Movie Review:

      Director Lee Frost and Producer Bob Cresse's film, Hot Spur, opens in Texas in 1869 with a scene where a pair of cowboys wanders into a bar where they call over a pretty Mexican waitress and coerce her into dancing for them. She obliges, but
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:53 AM
    • Death Squad (Mondo Macabro) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Mondo Macabro
      Released on: April 9th, 2024.
      Director: Max Pecas
      Cast: Thierry de Carbonnières, Jean-Marc Maurel, Denis Karvil, Lillemour Jonsson
      Year: 1985
      Purchase From Amazon

      Death Squad – Movie Review:

      Also known as Brigade Of Death, French sleaze auteur Max Pecas’ 1985 film, Death Squad, opens with a night time scene outside of Paris in the Bois de Boulogne Forest where cars pass by a small gang of transsexual
      ...
      03-22-2024, 11:46 AM
    • Roommates (Quality X) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Quality X
      Released on: February 28th, 2024.
      Director: Chuck Vincent
      Cast: Samantha Fox, Vernoica Hart, Kelly Nichols, Jerry Butler, Jamie Gillis
      Year: 1982
      Purchase From Amazon

      Roommates – Movie Review:

      Directed by Chuck Vincent and released in 1982, Roommates opens with a scene where a young woman named Joan Harmon (Veronica Hart) gets a hotel room with an older man named Ken (Don Peterson, credited as Phil Smith),
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:10 PM
    • Night Of The Blood Monster (Blue Underground) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Blue Underground
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Jess Franco
      Cast: Christopher Lee, Maria Rohm, Dennis Price
      Year: 1970
      Purchase From Amazon

      Night Of The Blood Monster – Movie Review:

      Directed by Jess Franco, The Bloody Judge (or, Night Of The Blood Monster, as it is going by on this new release from Blue Underground) isn't quite the salacious exercise in Eurotrash you might expect it to be, and while it
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:07 PM
    • Phase IV (Vinegar Syndrome) UHD/Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Vinegar Syndrome
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Saul Bass
      Cast: Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton
      Year: 1974
      Purchase From Amazon

      Phase IV – Movie Review:

      Saul Bass’ 1974 sci-fi/thriller Phase IV is an interesting blend of nature run amuck stereotypes and Natural Geographic style nature footage mixed into one delicious cocktail of suspense and
      ...
      03-15-2024, 01:02 PM
    • The Bounty Hunter Trilogy (Radiance Films) Blu-ray Review
      Ian Jane
      Administrator
      by Ian Jane


      Released by: Radiance Films
      Released on: March 26th, 2024.
      Director: Shigehiro Ozawa, Eiichi Kudo
      Cast: Tomisaburo Wakayama, Minoru Ôki, Arashi Kanjuro, Bin Amatsu, Chiezo Kataoka
      Year: 1969-1972
      Purchase From Amazon

      The Bounty Hunter Trilogy – Movie Review:

      Radiance Films gathers together the three films in Toie Studios’ Bounty Hunter Trilogy, starring the inimitable Tomisaburo Wakayama. Here’s how the three movies in this
      ...
      03-13-2024, 11:30 AM
    Working...
    X