Lentorama 2014: We're Ready for Your Closeup, Your Holiness

Day 15: Lisztomania

As a performer in the early 1840s, Franz Liszt developed an intense following among his fans, who would rush him during performances and follow him outside of the concert hall, looking to get a keepsake or otherwise interact with him. In an age where such frenzy over a musician was unheard of, the term cropped up as a way to suggest some sort of medical cause to the madness. The madness would subside when Liszt retired from the stage to concentrate on composing, but his personal life continued to be interesting, from an abortive marriage to a Russian princess (when both were already married) to time spent in religious life.

Liszt would make an interesting subject for a movie. So why not make it more interesting by including phallic hallucinations and Richard Wagner as a vampire Hitler? That was apparently Ken Russell's thinking, as he wrote and directed this for release in the same year as Tommy (one suspects a visit or two to the Acid Queen). The proximity of the two films also explains how Roger Daltrey wound up playing Liszt. It does not explain how Ringo Starr wound up playing the pope who ultimately denied Liszt's marriage to the Russian princess. Though a visit or two to the Acid Queen might.