List should be on your List!
It's a Ken Russell film that never made it to dvd. Worth a look and just plain fun with Roger Daltrey in tow. Rent or purchase away!

Whacked-out trip!
I finally got to see this movie after seeing stills many years ago. WHAT A TRIP!!! I am not a Franz Liszt historian but it is quite clear, early on, this movie is full of . . . well, fancy. The viewer is shown exhibits of bare [...], a guillotined giant male organ, phallic columns, smoking rear ends and other amazingly bizarre visual nuggets. There is more eye-candy than one person probably should take in but it is quite fascinating as an artist's canvas.

The story is strange, and to say the very least, weak. Roger Daltrey pulls his stiff Tommy acting skills into his role of Liszt. He does manage an unexplainable presence that keeps one entertained. You don't watch this for the story, or the acting, but rather the pure extravagance of the visual presentation. The ending is just beyond belief!!! It's unintentional, but I was roaring with laughter at the finale of the movie. Even after seeing how far Ken Russell had gone throughout the picture, the ending left me giggling at the audacity of where he piloted his production. WARNING!!! If you're of the imbibing persuasion, see this thing straight or you'll surely think you're on a bad, if not demented trip.

Just for the visuals I have to give this movie 3 stars. It's pretty much a one-viewing experience unless you're interested in seeing the fantastic, although strange, art direction again. I doubt if it's possible, but I would rent it first to see if it's you're cup of tea. I have a feeling it won't be many folks thing but if your an artist, writer or lover of fantasy, this is the one for you!!!

FrankenWagnerHitler? What's not to love?!
Oh b'gosh 'n golly, this film is chock full of treats both visual and aural. Given what happens in Princess Carolyne's antechamber, I think we can safely add olfactory to the list as well.

Okay, let's try a little experiment: I want you to think of the most excessive movie you've ever seen. Now, what would it be like if it were twice as excessive? You're not there yet. Make it -more- over-the-top. Getting close.

Ken Russell's Lisztomania makes Ken Russell's Tommy look sedate. It makes any Derek Jarman film seem frightfully low-key. But it also makes you want to watch it again and again.

Who says there's so spectacle in showbiz any more? You've got Roger Daltry as Franz Liszt whooping it up in Princess Carolyne's abode to the male organ while his past lovers dance the Can-Can or something. And then they do this maypole dance with Liszt's own member which is so grotesquely enormous it should have windows and a door.

Rick Wakeman--RICK WAKEMAN--plays the comic book hero Thor! He is a truly revolting looking human being, and even more so when decked out in that Jill Masterson paint from Goldfinger. Liszt and Marie d'Agoult's husband have this bizarro swordfight set to a country and western version of Hungarian Rhapsody that ends with Franz and Marie stuck in a piano on a set of train tracks and something else happens and... who knows.

Who knows indeed!! Who knows what the heck this film is supposed to be about. Wagner is portrayed as Liszt's friend and mortal enemy. The secondary action (the main action is between Liszt and da ladeez) revolves around an epic battle between Wagner's secular humanist music setting a template for the rise of Nazism and Liszt's... uh. That's where I get confused. I think it's just Liszt's lovely music.

With Wagner we get hit over the head with Nietzchean themes of the Superman. With Liszt we get the idea he kinda likes to play piano and he really digs getting it on with da ladeez. Mighta wanted to be religious at one point.

Honestly? Wagner's the cooler character. I dig his Nietzche sailor's cap. Oh, and he gives the wildest parties! Dude's laying of the foundation stone at the Bayreuth Festival TOTALLY ROCKED! Admittedly, it seemed to actually happen in Wagner's Castle Grayskull/laboratory, but hey.

But hey, indeed. This film is an absolute mess of nonsense taken to epic proportions. The storyline is, unbelievably, more or less accurate-ish. At least, when you strip it down to the bare minimum. And yes, I do mean the finale--that really happened. It's why we live in a free country now.

Thank you, Liszt. Thiszt.

we need the dvd...we need the dvd
YES...I vote for the DVD....does one of you know how to set up the "voting" ballot type thing on amazon?.... the people demand the dvd. I only have a destroyed second generation vhs of Liszto......p

Suitable to warp young minds....
I rented this film in my youth, and after I had watched it, left it downstairs next to the VCR. My younger sister popped it in, and I heard a mouthful from my older brother about how she shouldn't have been watching it, and I shouldn't have been watching it. Well, it's too late, I already did watch it, and my mind is now officially warped, hehehehe...My brother would freak out at other early favorites of mine, like Joe's Garage and Trout Mask Replica, but he was OK. As for this film, I love Ken Russell's work. He was on fire in the 1970's, and it's a shame that he hasn't really made a great film since Altered States. This film really has nothing to do with Franz Liszt (or Richard Wagner), but it's still a marvel to look at and to listen to. Great stuff. Now, how about a DVD?