THE DEVILS - KEN RUSSELL IN PERSON!
by Ken Russell
1971, 103 minutes, 35mm. With Oliver Reed, Vanessa Redgrave, and Dudley Sutton.
SPECIAL HALLOWEEN MIDNIGHT SCREENING!
Special thanks to Ken Russell, Monica Tidwell, David Pendleton (Harvard Film Archive) and Marilee Womack (Warner Bros).
Controversial filmmaker Ken Russell makes his stage directorial debut this fall in NYC with a production of Anthony Horowitz’s MINDGAME, at the SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street), with performances starting on October 28. To mark the occasion, Anthology offers a special midnight screening of the notorious THE DEVILS, which provoked a scandal upon release and remains one of the most unforgettable films of the 1970s. Set in 17th-century France, it portrays the witch-hunt that ensues when Sister Jeanne (Redgrave), an insane nun, is used by a power-hungry elite to destroy the head of the fortified town of Loudun, Father Grandier (Reed), a liberal, libertine priest.
“Outrageous even by today’s standards, THE DEVILS is perhaps the best example of Russell putting his taste for excess to good use. […] THE DEVILS is bursting with Inquisition-style torture and some truly blasphemous sequences, but it isn’t your average exploitation flick. Russell uses the witch-hunt motif to explore manias – sexual, political, religious and otherwise. It is no surprise that aficionados consider THE DEVILS to be the film Ken Russell was born to make.” –BRATTLE THEATRE
Special thanks to Ken Russell, Monica Tidwell, David Pendleton (Harvard Film Archive) and Marilee Womack (Warner Bros).
Controversial filmmaker Ken Russell makes his stage directorial debut this fall in NYC with a production of Anthony Horowitz’s MINDGAME, at the SoHo Playhouse (15 Vandam Street), with performances starting on October 28. To mark the occasion, Anthology offers a special midnight screening of the notorious THE DEVILS, which provoked a scandal upon release and remains one of the most unforgettable films of the 1970s. Set in 17th-century France, it portrays the witch-hunt that ensues when Sister Jeanne (Redgrave), an insane nun, is used by a power-hungry elite to destroy the head of the fortified town of Loudun, Father Grandier (Reed), a liberal, libertine priest.
“Outrageous even by today’s standards, THE DEVILS is perhaps the best example of Russell putting his taste for excess to good use. […] THE DEVILS is bursting with Inquisition-style torture and some truly blasphemous sequences, but it isn’t your average exploitation flick. Russell uses the witch-hunt motif to explore manias – sexual, political, religious and otherwise. It is no surprise that aficionados consider THE DEVILS to be the film Ken Russell was born to make.” –BRATTLE THEATRE
There are no future showings scheduled.