When the newly restored version of this was screened – late night, natch – there was some overblown hoo-hah about the re-insertion *ahem* of the Christ statue-fondling scene, but never mind all that, as this mucky pantomime take on Aldous Huxley is as entertaining as Ken Russell ever got. Oliver “don’t look at me!” Reed does his career best turn as the head of a middle ages French religious community, persecuted by the Spanish Inquisition, with a freakish Vanessa Redgrave in tow. Brilliant Derek Jarman prod. design, the usual Russell excesses not outstaying their welcome for once, and it’s always great to see Dudley Sutton and, of course, Brian ‘George’ Murphy.
Devils, The
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Lee James Turnock
October 6, 2015 at 6:32 pm
I’m pretty sure the gag referred to in the synopsis was in the Goodies, not Monty Python.
BILL “He (Ken Russell) did do the Boy Friend, with Twiggy and the dancing, that was nice”
TIM “He also had Oliver Reed burned to DEATH!”
BILL “Yeah! So he can’t be all bad, can he?”