The Lair of the White Worm

On a farm owned by Eve Trent and her sister Mary, young archaeologist Angus Flint discovers a large and inexplicable skull, which he soon deduces belonged to the D'Ampton Worm, a mythical beast supposedly slain generations ago by the ancestor of the current Lord D'Ampton. The predatory Lady Sylvia Marsh soon takes an interest in both Flint and the virginal Eve, hinting that the vicious D'Ampton Worm may still live.

Prisoner of Honor

France, 1897. Colonel Georges Picquart challenges the French government when he discovers the obscure political maneuvers that led to the imprisonment of the Jewish Captain Alfred Dreyfus after being convicted of espionage in 1894.

Women in Love

Growing up in the sheltered confines of a 1920s English coal-mining community, free-spirited sisters Gudrun and Ursula explore erotic love with a wealthy playboy and a philosophical educator, with cataclysmic results for all four.

Bartók

A portrait of the life and work of the great Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, exploring both his music and his passionate interest in his country's folklore.

Savage Messiah

In the Paris of the 1910s, brash young sculptor Henri Gaudier begins a creative partnership with an older writer, Sophie Brzeska. Though the couple is 20 years apart in age, Gaudier finds that his untamed work is complemented by the older woman's cultural refinement. He then moves to London with Brzeska, where he falls in with a group of avant-garde artists. There, Gaudier encounters yet another artistic muse in passionate suffragette Gosh Boyle.

Pop Goes the Easel

Pop Goes the Easel was Ken Russell’s first full-length documentary for the BBC’s arts series Monitor. It focused on 4 British Pop Artists - Peter Blake, Peter Philips, Pauline Boty and Derek Boshier.

John Betjeman: A Poet in London

Poet John Betjeman is shown visiting locations including Vauxhall Park, Aldersgate Street station, Camden Town and Hatfield, where he recites a handful of his poems.

Mahler

Famed composer Gustav Mahler reflects on the tragedies of his life and failing marriage while traveling by train.

Treasure Island

Enchanted by the idea of locating treasure buried by Captain Flint, Squire Trelawney, Dr. Livesey and Jim Hawkins charter a sailing voyage to a Caribbean island. Unfortunately, a large number of Flint's old pirate crew are aboard the ship, including Long Jane Silver.

Billion Dollar Brain

A former British spy stumbles into in a plot to overthrow Communism with the help of a supercomputer. But who is working for whom?

The Insatiable Mrs. Kirsch

A writer taking a rest in a country hotel is obsessed with a strange woman in the same hotel. The woman seems to observe him in provocative ways, but he does not dare to approach her. One day he follows her to her room and listens to strange “erotic” sounds from inside, and begins to have erotic thoughts.

The Strange Affliction of Anton Bruckner

The life of Austrian composer Anton Bruckner and his numeromania.

Peepshow

A parable made in the manner of an old silent comedy about artistry and illusion.

Faust

In an epic tale of good versus evil, Faust sells his soul to the Devil and tries to save Marguerite from an eternity in Hell.

Elgar: Portrait of a Composer

A partly dramatised account of the life of classical composer Sir Edward Elgar. An episode of the BBC arts series Monitor.

Mindbender

Scientist Joe Hartman introduces self-proclaimed Middle Eastern psychic Uri Geller to America.

The Secret Life of Arnold Bax

A biopic about the eminent composer Sir Arnold Bax.

The Light Fantastic

While most of Ken Russell's documentaries for the BBC's Monitor arts strand focused on a single creative figure, he would also occasionally make more wide-ranging surveys of the state of a particular art. The Light Fantastic (BBC, tx. 18/12/1960) was written and presented by Ron Hitchins, a Cockney barrow boy who has long been interested in a great many dance forms, and who has recently taken up Spanish dancing. Hitchins participates in some of the dance sequences, but his main contribution is an enthusiastic commentary that helps personalis...

Dance of the Seven Veils

Russell’s composer biopics were usually labours of love. This was the opposite: he regarded Strauss’s music as 'bombastic, sham and hollow', and despised the composer for claiming to be apolitical while cosying up to the Nazi regime. Strauss is depicted in a variety of grotesquely caricatured situations: attacked by nuns after adopting Nietzsche’s philosophy, duels with jealous husbands, literally batters his critics into submission with his music, and glorifies the women in his life and fantasies.

French Dressing

A deck-chair attendant at a British resort promotes a film festival featuring a French sexpot.