Customer Reviews

The Devils (Special Uncut Restored Edition 1971)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Quality? Dreadful print - straight fron tape, but at least it does seem to be semi-complete, and [courage!!] 'someone' has been thoughtful to make a presenvation attempt.

The Movie? Leaves you gangraped ~ stellar performances by Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave [Glenda Jackson, as legend states, turned this one down - far too graphic even for her sensibilites] as the twisted [yeah, all over - mind, body and soul] Sister madly 'in pash' with the studly priest. Real stuff, graphic, astounding images and performances - the usual Kussell clan present.

NOW, can someone please come up with a collected, restored set of the Ken Russell greats? ["Music Lovers", "Devils", "Mahler", "Savage Messiah", "The Boyfriend"]??

This is not a review of Ken Russell's brilliant film, but rather a look see at a rather strange and decrepid version of that film. Yes, for the most part, this is the UK uncensored version with all the frontal nudity and torture you might want to stomach. But beyond that--this is a print that seems to draw from many different sources. The film roller coasters all over the spectrum in terms of color, sound, screen ratio and related. At times it is close to the original in terms of screen ratio and color, but for the most part--it is simply dreadful. I admit that I ordered the film because there simply is no other dvd of the Devils in distribution. But be warned. All of the access options to chapters are completely screwed. My version of the film stuck in places that one could not believe. In fact not only did it stick, but it repeated itself. Never mind the so called "color." At times the film is close to sepia. But enuf. This is not the dvd of this film that you want, but for now it is the only one. You will have so many problems with this dvd that you might finally throw up your hands and say I GIVE IN. And press eject. And doom your memories of the Devils to the waste bin. What a dreadful shame. A perfectly great Russell film has been reduced to dreck. I originally saw the complete film at a WB screening in the US--so some sort of uncensored print does exist here. But of course you can chance it, and order this terrible dvd. Unfortunately what viewing this Inferior does--it simply diminishes the original and makes a viewer wary of ever wanting to chance another viewing in any dvd format. And that is the tragedy. It simply is not worth the cheap price to make this brilliant film a cheap memory.

Hard to believe this is an authorized DVD, as the quality is mediocre... not quite as bad as a tape-to-DVD transfer, but almost as poor. On the plus side, the film has been restored with scenes that were originally cut from the U.S. release; and they're as graphic as I remember reading about. There are also two very interesting documentaries about the film's censorship when it was released.

Why didn't Warner Brothers release this?

Finally. The unedited version-widescreen-with docs of Ken Russell's finest film. This euro-bootleg edition is somewhat grainy due probably to the fact it's copied from the broadcast on a BBC television event....but who cares! Ken Russell fans have waited for this film for so long we would take any copy. Be happy this edition is available (with the deleted rape of Christ scene in the features and edited back into the film) for viewing at all. There are several docs interviewing the players, and a great trip to Ken Russell's house,where he sprays the wasps over the front door, picks apples from a tree with the interviewer, and has a reunion with some of the cast and views the re-discovered lost footage in his back editing room. What a real treat for Russell fans. Maybe one day the bull**** over this film will go away and Warner Bros or better yet Criterion(fingers crossed)will release a cleaned up version..but for now thank your stars and take what you can get. This film is the one of the best films ever made. Highly controversial, beautifully designed, and directed by one of the most underrated directors of our time. Relish in the story..forget the picture quality...and enjoy. People nowadays are spoiled with DVD. They complain about senseless things.Remember when it was just VHS,cut up,censored and full screen formatted? It's the story people..not the number of pixels.
Ken..we will always be thankful for this film. Truly one of the most beautiful films ever made.

R.I.P. Ken Russell 2011...thank you for the art you gave the world, you will be missed.

Please don't be dissuaded by other reviewers who found the general quality of this DVD to be bad. This is a wonderful work of art and the quality is just fine. I think we've been seduced nowadays by all the high-definition this and high-definition that, to the point that we forget how normal images have always looked on the screen. This is a monumental movie that deserves to be seen and you should not be led astray by these visual and aural perfectionists. Five stars EASY!!!

After patiently waiting for years for Ken Russell's The Devils to see the light of laser, I thought my wait was over when I saw this appear on Amazon. Looks like I was hoodwinked: this is little more than a European bootleg, made from a pretty lousy videotape. This, one of my favorite films of all time, looks atrocious on a big-screen TV, and the mono(!) soundtrack has lots of high end distortion, making it an almost unbearable listening experience. The DVD case itself should be a dead giveaway: if the misspelling of the director's name isn't enough of a warning, perhaps the ineptly written blurb on the back should give you an indication that neither Russell nor Warner Brothers had anything to do with this release.
I gave it three stars for the inclusion of the excised footage and the documentaries. The aspect ratio is technically "widescreen", but not the original proportions. If you are a 'completist' fan, I suppose it would be worthwhile having this on your shelf, but leave room for an authorized, digitally remastered release... whenever that materializes.

I bought this DVD release of Kenneth Russell's "The Devils" before reading the other reviews on this page. You would have thought that the quality of this DVD was so bad that you might as well have watched a snowstorm. I'm very glad that I bought it. This is an unreleased movie. This means you are not going to get a transfer on the level of a professionally restored version. People who can't figure this out shouldn't order rare films and stick to Batman and The Mummy. I thought the transfer was great. It was not grainy at all, like a decent VHS. This DVD is absolutely worth purchasing until a fully restored version is released, which might not ever happen. I would buy it now while the price is still low!

Smeary; cloudy; bleeding colors. If you've always wanted to see how this film might look if projected on a wall of smoke, here's your chance. The cover says "restored edition"; this version does have some censored material restored, but the image is poor and does look as if it were videotaped from a TV screen--as do the otherwise excellent bonuses produced by Channel 4. Visually, this is a ghost version of the film. But the reintroduced clips from the British version and the fascinating documentary bits may be of interest to many.

Uncut? Maltin's book notes that twelve minutes were cut for the 109 minute US version. That would make the original British version 121 minutes. The cover to this disc claims 111 minutes. According to the time indicator, the running time of this disc is about 109 minutes. Is Maltin mistaken; are there 10 to 12 more minutes still missing?

Although the controversial "Rape of Christ" sequence has been re-interpolated, it's a bit of a hatchet job: watch the Channel 4 documentary included as a bonus and you'll see how the scene actually is supposed to play--with appropriate effective underscoring as the original shots crosscut between the profane and the sacred communions. As seen in this "restored" version it is not integrated as originally edited and is more disappointing than moving.

The documentary will also show you a tragic shocking sequence--still omitted in this "uncut" edition!--that follows the tossing of the charred bone. This edition can simply not legitimately call itself "uncut", nor "restored".

So there are questions, problems, and major disappointments here. I would love to see a properly uncut restored disc of this title. I saw the film in a theater in the US in 1971. It was literally breathtaking. The images and design were startling and powerful and the direction and performances were brilliant--horrifying and heartbreaking. The world is still waiting for the "Uncut Restored Edition". I guess this one will have to do in the meantime.

A lot of people carping about poor quality transfer. In the first place, it's not that bad, unless one is of purer eyes than ever to have them tainted by less than hi-def ever again--which leaves out a world of earlier films that will never be presented in anything like today's pristine perfection. But in the second place, the very bootleg quality of this presentation is part of what makes it work. It gives it an air of danger, of seeing something underground and forbidden, disapproved and censored. Contraband. The shaky medium becomes part of the art experience.

If the film has a problem it's more that it suffers from the early 1970s hippy-dippy aesthetic so many movies from that era are prone to. Think "Brother Sun, Sister Moon" in a really, really bad mood...or Woodstock as put on by Pissarro. The groovy but bumming mallet-happy inquisitor is probably the most egregious example of the then-current ethos polluting the period piece. On the other hand, that the story is amenable to this sort of cross-the-centuries hybridization speaks to the universality of its messages about power, theocracy, integrity, courage, conformity, and so forth. There's a whisper of the great "A Man for All Seasons" in some of what goes on, and rumor of "Salo," especially in the emotional centrality of a useless but heroic act of defiance.

This is a fine movie, rough and provocative and not easily forgotten. It deserves to be seen. That the only way to see it now seems to be on a flawed DVD should be considered, perhaps, part of its subterranean appeal. This was never a pretty movie to begin with. But it holds up as an iconic criticism of corrupt mergers between church and state.

The Devils (Special Uncut Restored Edition 1971)

I understand people's frustration with the quality of the print on the Angel Digital DVD version of The Devils. But it is much better than not having a copy of this important film at all, while you wait for WB to get off of their conservative behinds and release it.

It likely comes down to the fact that the restored version of this film is very controversial to say the least, and the current government is conservative Christian. This film would fare better if released during a more liberal time period.

If you truly want to see this masterpiece, and do not feel the need to wait for the official WB version to be released, if you can find this version for around $10, it is well worth it. I have seen worse prints make it to DVD, and while it is low budget, the crappy transfer is balanced by some excellent extras and supplements.

If you are one to be picky and wish to wait for the official release, probably not until late 2008, early 2009 at the earliest, if you are lucky. I will probably buy it when it comes out as well, so I can see it more clearly, and even comprare any differences. But until then I can watch it as often as I like...