Dancing days… Valentino (1977)

I must admit to not always understanding Ken Russell. His films seem to suffer from an exuberance of ideas with excessive imagery often counter-pointed with the grotesque and just plain silly. Why, for example, spend a fortune on period mise-en-scène only to undermine it all by having the hero eat chips with Heinz tomato ketchup?

Ken doesn’t go for historical accuracy and is aiming for the “feeling” of his great subjects in a modern context but… why would Valentino be eating ketchup?!  Ken said he was writing a “novel” with his film and mixing fact and fiction was part of that process… he later said that this film was his biggest mistake.

Carol Kane, Rudolf and Heinz...

Anachronisms abound across Russell’s work as do appropriate non-actors from Rick Wakeman as Thor the Thunder God in Lisztomania to all four members of The Who in Tommy to Rudolf Nureyev in this film. Rudy has the right name and some of the same kind of presence but he’s not perfect casting for the great Latin Lover even though he does his best.

Similarly, Michelle Philips of The Mamas and the Papas, is asked to dance with Nureyev and act with Leslie Caron (who can do both really well) and Felicity Kendall (the best actor in the film). Philips is a stunner whose limitations are well placed for Natasha Rambova’s emotional and sexual distance… Valentino just happened to marry two women whose interests were elsewhere and who both had relationships with Nazimova.

Michelle Philips

This has led to questions about Valentino’s own proclivities but what’s so difficult to understand about the status of sex-symbol? He certainly took exception to any questioning of his manhood and even called out the author of an article questioning his impact on American manhood. He ended up fighting the boxing editor of another paper Rory O'Neil (here played by the brilliant Peter Vaughan) and, no doubt helped by the coaching of Jack Dempsey, won.

Peter Vaughan

The fight did not appear to have any link with the actor’s death in August 1926 from peritonitis following complications after an operation for appendicitis but this is Ken’s “Novel” not Rudy’s life…. To better illustrate the story Ken turns the players into comedy caricatures – Nazimova is a scheming mad woman and Rambova is a screaming control freak with Rudy caught in the middle.

Good attention to detail as Rambova's designs for Camille are replicated

It’s clear though that Russell is fascinated by the period and the creative power of these individuals – he recreates elements of Rambova’s marvellous art nouveau design even down to the bobbles in hair look Nazimova had in Salome – a film so out there that Ken could only dream…

But it’s all about Rudolph and the extraordinary outbreak of grief on his untimely death starts the film: riots in the streets outside the funeral parlour, smashed glass as women and men tried to get a glimpse of the body. Russell doesn’t show the four “black shirts” Valentino’s studio arranged and pretended were sent as a show of respect from Mussolini for his fellow countryman but subsequent events showed exactly how wrong a move that was…

June Mathis remembers with that guy from Cheers...

Inside the funeral parlour, the press buzz around as the main players from Valentino’s life mourn and are led to reflect on their role in his life.

First is Bianca de Saulles (Emily Bolton) who knew the former agricultural student – here he dreams of farming oranges yet in reality he hated them – when he had to hustle for a living. We see him dancing with some fella named Nijinsky and they make a handsome couple with an aggressive, balletic Tango (incidentally, the Tango was originally invented as a dance for sailors).

Dancing lessons with Nijinsky?

Then there is June Mathis (Kendall) a writer who first spotted his potential as a dramatic lead rather than the heavies he had originally played and who got him his break in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921). Before that he’s shown upsetting a Mr Fatty (William Hootkins) – a reference to Roscoe Harbuckle who deserves better – before stealing off with his lady friend, Jean Acker (Carol Kane).

Nazimova grieves

He marries Acker and follows her into the movies and, with Mathis’ help, to stardom.

Back at the funeral, Alla Nazimova (Leslie Caron) arrives to stunning effect perhaps also standing in for the absence of Pola Negri who genuinely did make a scene. Leslie Caron is having a ball here though and is well cast as the mature ex-ballerina turned actress.

Nazimova and Rudy’s ex Natacha Rambova (Michelle Phillips) arrives and we enter the heart of the story. Rambova fixes quickly on the Italian stallion and we’re never quite convinced that the two connect even though Rudy is clearly infatuated with her. Even in the film’s most iconic (or at least publicised) moment – the couple nude in a desert tent – Rambova teases without actually completing the moment… Is she only interested in advancing her own cause through him or is there a genuine reciprocation?

In-tents relationship...

Rather than following her dance of the seven veils to its natural conclusion she seems to rush her demi-lover away so he can save himself for The Sheik’s big rape scene the following day. The moment duly arrives with Agnes Ayres (Jennie Linden) hamming it up outrageously – honestly Ken did you not like silent films at all?!

What she says...

So it goes as Valentino goes from strength to strength with his hippy-drippy muse and her micro-management. The two decide to wed in Mexico as technically he is still married to Jean Acker. Nazimova shops them though and they end up in jail where, denied bail by studio boss Jesse Lasky (Huntz Hall), he has to endure a night of humiliation in the maddest most grotesque cell Russell could dream up… ah, but it’s symbolic…

Back outside it’s now a battle between the studios and Rambova for control over the priceless “asset”… something that vaguely resembles the power struggle of real life and that’s the film’s major problem: if you know anything about the actuality of Valentino’s life you’ll be frustrated by the film’s presentation of his final months. Yes there was that boxing match – yet Rudy didn’t die directly afterwards… but a month or so later and from an unrelated illness it only matters because it matters!

An' th' winner isss...

Dusty verdict: Some good moments but to be viewed with historical sensors switched off and credibility checked in at the door… Russell has such a powerful vision yet always seems more than capable of self-sabotage: just one darned thing too many after another (the ketchup).

The film does look good though and is now available on Blu-ray as well as DVD from Amazon and the usual suspects…

Psychedelic spice… The Touchables (1968)

They say that if you can remember the Sixties then you probably weren’t there in which case the participants in this film may have a gap in their recall for 1968 at least… As the country wrestles with the ins and outs of the EU you find yourself searching for the exact point in time when Britain actually was Great: the world wars undoubtedly but it’s harder when you really look elsewhere. The Victorian Empire may have seen our global domination at its peak but there were long depressions in the domestic economy and society was hardly egalitarian at home let alone in the colonies.

No. Let me put it to you that our greatest moment of being Great was indeed the Sixties – a glorious filling of tie-dyed liberation sandwiched between the austerity of the fifties and the strife of the seventies. So, is that’s what the “leavers” want to return to? Probably not as I’d guess most of them are far too square.

The Touchables is far from the greatest film of that decade but it does retain some power as an evocation of the endless possibilities of those hazed days. And it looks simply smashing!

Any film that has Pink Floyd’s Interstellar Overdrive sound-tracking a speed boat ride in a lake, can’t fail to gain psychedelic points in my book and to cap that we also have Nirvana (UK version) performing All of Us over the closing credits. So, big tick for the groovy sounds man.

It’s also very hard to think of another film with such an abundance of sublimely groovy women… it’s like Candy to the power of four with Esther Anderson, Marilyn Rickard, Kathy Simmonds and the impossibly-lovely Judy Huxtable playing the central quartet in mod-skirts and liberated foot-wear. They are four characters in search of a plot though and no amount of razzle-dazzle can hide that.

Esther Anderson

The screenplay was written by Ian La Frenais who, along with Dick Clements did so much film work before their seventies hay day with The Likely Lads and Auf Wedersein Pet. It’s based on a book by David and Donald Cammell the legendary director of Performance, based on an idea from by its director, Robert Freeman (who photographed the covers for With The Beatles, Beatles For Sale and Rubber Soul) and they’re all definitely trying to say something.

Judy Huxtable

But I’m not sure what. As with other films of the period, the style of revolt was sometimes more important than the substance: just the freedom to express free sexuality and alternative culture was a major step forward and we only look back judgementally now because we still don’t have any answers – just more cycles of reaction and action under our belt.

Kathy Simmonds

After an extended display of sexualised hair throwing, sensuous back arching and luscious looks at the camera; the girls kidnap Michael Caine or at least his waxwork dummy. Sexy Sadie (Judy Huxtable) makes off with him in her white sports car and after the gang of four reconvene at their pad it’s clear that this was a dry run for the acquisition of a more animated figure.

Marilyn Rickard

Her partners in this gentile crime are the quirky Busbee (Marilyn Rickard) – the baby of the group – and the more sexually knowing Samson (Kathy Simmonds) who’s a little bit scary.

Melanie (Esther Anderson) “Dancing Spice” who throws some superbly-impressive go-go manoeuvres throughout the film is dating a pro-wrestler Lilywhite (Harry Baird with dubbed American accent) who keeps writing artistic cheques his intellect can’t quite cash. His house is full of “genuine replicas” of classic Greco-Roman art and he comes up with almost-wise comments such as “remember who leaps last always loses…” or some-such.

Ricky Star and Harry Baird share a moment

Lillywhite fights in ballet shoes and outwits his opponents with dancing style; it’s a funny concept and very La Frenais even if it wears out quickly.  His main enemy is Ricki (Ricki Star) who is a more typically animalistic fighter. Ricki has other cultural ambitions and is in league with a posh gangster called Twyning (James Villiers). As luck would have it, he targets the same pop star as the girls for his protection racket partly because he fancies him - another shock twist from the time which lands with less force now… in these enlightened times (mostly).

David Anthony on TV

The object of their affections is a pop star called Christian (David Anthony) who they watch on television being interviewed by a young Joan Bakewell: he has lots of confident, content free easy answers and does a passable impression of George Harrison.

Ricky takes Christian's manager for a ride

The girls swing an invite to a wrestling match where they know Christian will be present and kidnap him dressed, of course, as nuns. The chloroformed singer is taken far away into the countryside to an incredible looking inflatable dome, which is highlighted against the setting Sun from various angles by Freeman – it is a superb image.

Inside the dome, Christian is bound and informed of his unusual fate. The girls have no specific agenda other than making sure that they all sleep with him and Christian, being a star from 1968 is ultimately all too happy to support this strategy in what becomes something like elective abduction.

Approaching the dome...

As their relationship heats up, Christian slips in to an easy routine as the girls play games to win their turn whilst in the outside world his manager (John Ronane) is under pressure from Ricki and Twyning to find their missing asset.

Things only turn serious when Christian tries to escape back to commitments he’s sure he has. He is chased by the girls and Sadie on horseback and shot in the head as he tries to escape by motorboat.  This shocking moment of selfish violence is soon forgotten when he emerges unscathed… Don’t worry, we’re not in that kind of film seems to be the message.

A roundabout of affections...

But, when Melanie returns home to change her wig, she is followed and before you can say “Granny Takes a Trip” the bubble has been taken over by Starr’s armed henchmen… all looks bad until Bisbee escapes through the toilet window and runs back to London for help…

Dusty verdict: Just as a more urgent narrative breaks out we realise that there hasn’t really been one for much of the film. The Touchables is bubble-gum, easy watching but it doesn’t really have any point to make other than to reinforce the benefits of being young, lovely and free.

If there are any serious points on the contemporary social situation they were lost on me with the film taking broad swipes at social normality with a more tolerant eye than many would expect from 1968.

Judy in the sky with diamonds

The female cast are all beautiful and this is an undeniably good thing, but they don’t have a huge amount of real acting to do. Still, along with the fab clothes, Nirvana and Syd’s Floyd they make the trip to ’68 more than bearable and it goes without saying that Robert Freeman's direction is highly-visual and stunningly lovely (just like the girls).

The Touchables is pretty rare so I’m stuck with my old VHS but I’m sure that a  DVD can’t be that far away given the enduring appeal of the style if not the substance.