Customer Reviews

Ken Russell's Films

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Of the numerous books on British filmmaker Ken Russell, Ken Hanke's KEN RUSSELL'S FILMS is by far the best and easily the most perceptive. Hanke really gets to the heart of Russell's work, bringing the film's themes and technical accomplishments into sharp focus. Russell himself has endorsed the book for its take on his work and what higher recommendation can there be? I can't wait for this finally promised updated and revised version!

Hanke's 15 year old study remains the best examination of the director Ken Russell. Hanke sees Russell as an optimistic film maker who delivers his stories with stunning immmediacy. Russell has completed over 25 tele- and feature films since the early 80s. One hopes that Hanke plans a sequel covering Russell's work of recent "vintage."

I had very high hopes for this very well written and VERY (even used) pricey book on the dearly departed master Ken Russell. I'm delighted to write that most of them were met but I must state that I still wish the book was bigger. I was hoping for a larger format similar to the Citadel Press "The Films of.." series and was slightly disappointed in how few photos were included (the dozen or so included are black and white). Those drawbacks are minor as the book is well researched, well marked with footnotes and very thoughtful in scope. An appendix with details of each Russell film up to the early 80s will prove invaluable to scholars. This book was written by a fan of Ken's who became a close friend yet has no obvious basis or hagiography included within. A nice feature is that Ken Hanke takes the best from earlier Ken Russell criticism and includes it therein. This enables those unable to hunt down out of print copies of Gomez and Phillips' books to still see what they have to offer. And while Phalic Frenzy contains more of a biography and updated works, Hanke's film criticism is superior. Lanza writes VERY well so this is saying a lot!

One, if not THEE essential Ken Russell book!