TOMMY (1974) - Ken Russell visualises rock opera

TOMMY

(1974, UK)

Ken Russell passed away on November 28th last year. His death was unexpected, catching me out just as I was preparing this review of Tommy. How dare he. Hopefully he'll still haunt a few projection booths where they show silent movies and play old classical records. Maybe scare some BBC executives into letting some young auteurs have free range of their facilities...

I won't attempt a full tribute, there are already several books on the subject, some of them by Russell himself. But it's my pleasure to continuing to highlight his films on these pages. You can always look at the many obituaries and tributes signposted on his Facebook page. But it was sad to have to say farewell to the film-maker who helped visualise and influence my own small teenage rebellion far more than punk rock did. Besides feeding my brain at a tumultuous time in my formative years, he was belting out movies that annoyed my least favourite people.

Tommy makes the front page for the UK release

It helped that many 'messages' in his films weren't hidden under layers of cryptic metaphor or obscure satire. If he wanted to say something, it was shouted from a mountaintop by a female stormtrooper in leather fetish gear, or screamed by a dozen naked nuns, or projectile-vomited from a television set. It wasn't subtle, but it was very accessible. Much more than most other 70s arthouse. It was symbolism that anyone could understand. That is, I understand what's being said in individual scenes - TV advertising is hard sell, don't buy crack off Tina Turner, Marilyn Monroe was bigger than Jesus... But with Tommy, I still don't quite understand the main thrust.

Tommy is a child of World War 2, but just as he's born, his air force father is shot out of the sky. His mum (Ann Margret) brings him up alone until she meets a cheeky wide boy (Oliver Reed) at a holiday camp. But after a childhood trauma renders him deaf, dumb and blind, his mum and new dad give up on him as a hopeless case. While they enjoy themselves, they leave Tommy in the care of various unsavoury friends and untrustworthy relatives (Paul Nicholas, Keith Moon, Tina Turner...).

But when Tommy discovers an astonishing mastery of pinball machines, his parents are delighted that his miraculous popularity could be hugely rewarding to them all...

Tommy isn't Russell's best film (I honestly think it's The Devils), but it was his most financially successful. For me it's a musical equivalent of Zardoz. Mad, mystifying fun that I enjoy without fully understanding. I thought it was my young years to blame for being confused by this at a midnight cinema showing. But years of TV and video revisits have left me none the wiser.

I'd suggest Tommy as a parallel with Pink Floyd The Wall (1982) which I also don't fully 'get'. I know they're both concept albums angry at something, or a lot of things, both topped with a pop star with too much power. The central characters both have problems relating to the world, one is cut off from his senses, one cuts himself off from the world.

The difference is that The Wall is full of anger, hate, and so much negativity that some critics confused its Nazi-imagery with, well, Nazism. I can understand Pink's anger at his mother, teacher, judge, the war, but not Pink's transformation into a drugged-up hate-monger. The film and the music are memorable, but not enlightening. A dark vision of a young musician descending into a complete mental breakdown, in an England that could easily be nudged into fascism. Like Tommy, I understand which institutions he's angry about, and the subject of each chapter of the story, but not where it's all going.

Tommy offers a few similar observations on the power of pop idols, but as a much lighter morality play re-written by the Carry On team. Oliver Reed provides seaside humour, and the nightmarish interludes are played for cruel laughs. I'd rather watch Cousin Kevin torturing Tommy and Uncle Ernie fiddling about as visualised by Ken Russell, rather than Alan Parker. It's still startling enough without shocking us into stark depression.

Russell has the hefty task of visualising every song before the vocabulary of the pop video had even begun. The crash zooms, lightning edits, costumes, sets and production design can still sufficiently blow your mind, with a fair few unintentional laughs (do gangs of bikers really find hang-gliders awe-inspiring?).

I really have no clear idea what Tommy is ultimately getting at, but at least Russell remains faithful to the text - the lyrics of The Who's original album - rather than trying to impose his own storyline. But this seems to be a story without a clear target. Organised religion? But is Tommy so oblivious that he's being organised? He seems really happy about it all.

A large part of the pleasure is the cast of familiar faces doing extremely unfamiliar things. There's Roger Daltrey acting and running around half-naked. His acting debut is earnest but not very special, but his tanned muscular physique is quite astonishing.

Meanwhile, Hollywood sex kitten Ann Margret is sensational - she can sing up a storm, dance like a wild thing, and can rock a huge chocolaty phallic symbol like no other. She gets full marks for apparently doing whatever the director suggested, in whatever clothes were provided. Her various transformations throughout the story demonstrate an impressive range of many talents.

Russell-regular Oliver Reed can't sing or dance to save his life, but he can act his way through it all. Elton John can't act, but famously sings a great rendition of 'Pinball Wizard'. Incidentally, The Who's original album doesn't sound nearly as special without all these guest vocalists, like Tina Turner (as the freaky, frightening Acid Queen).

Jack Nicholson surprises simply by appearing in this at all, but also by giving an understated performance, in a Ken Russell film of all things. And he sings. In a convincing English accent. And he's just so damned handsome. And he knows it.

Like the other unrestrained 1970s Russell films, like the less-successful Lisztomania (also starring Daltrey), Mahler, The Devils... it helps if you lean back, enjoy the ride and let the madness just play out, as if your screen has just vomited baked beans all over you, but it's alright because you really like baked beans.

1969 album review of The Who's original album in The Observer

Bizarrely, the day after watching Tommy again, my Dad gave me an old newspaper cutting on the back of which was this album review.

Tommy - the soundtrack album, with much less Who

Vinyl double-album interior photo-montage

I watched this remastered region 2 UK DVD (above) which looks and sounds fantastic but is very short of extras compared to the earlier 2-disc release, which includes a documentary I'd like to see. It does still however have Ken Russell's commentary track. Pretty hateful cover art though...

For those who want the best sound and vision quality, there's also a Blu-ray release in the USA (which I've yet to see). Again apparently short of extra materials.

A wealth of photos from Ken Russell's movies on this picture-heavy blog devoted to him...

JOHN CARTER OF MARS - usually sold with sex

While I'm fully expecting Disney/Pixar's John Carter to be family fare, the story has often been sold using similar themes as, say, Conan The Barbarian. One man can sort everything out, and needs a sword far more than he needs clothes. The new movie will be the first time in decades that the story hasn't been sold with flesh as well as fantasy.

1917 - John Carter already sporting a daring mini-skirt



Frank Frazetta paperback cover art, 1970 

Another Frazetta, carefully depicted Barsooms

Mid-1970s UK paperback

1990 Marvel Comics adaption

1996, Dark Horse sends Tarzan to Mars

2012, Dynamite puts back the 'graphic' into graphic novels

Indeed, the current Dynamite Entertainment adaptions are now subject to a lawsuit for both the use of the character and it's pornographic representation. Presumably they missed Frank Frazetta's earlier works...



Large collection of cover artwork from a hundred years of reprints of John Carter novels on this FlickR account.

Much more about the many incarnations of John Carter here at the Barsoomia Wikia...

JOHN CARTER OF MARS in the 1970s

I'm looking forward to see Pixar's live-action adaption of John Carter this weekend, after first encountering the character in the 1970s when the eleven book series was reprinted.

1975 UK paperback, cover art by Bruce Pennington

Edgar Rice Burroughs first started writing the John Carter stories in 1912, but they blended into the 70s' sci-fi publishing boom despite being more about science-fantasy. New English Library used striking cover art for all their publications, making them look brand new.

New English Library also celebrated their artists with a large-format magazine, Science Fiction Monthly, which alongside short stories and articles, presented textless cover art and original sci-fi themed paintings that could easily be used as posters. The tabloid-sized magazine wasn't held together with staples, so it was easy disassemble.

DC Comics, 1973

DC Comics also ran these adaptions, half about John Carter of Mars, the other half about Pellucidar, another Burroughs' fantasy about a prehistoric 'cavemen and dinosaurs' civilisation at the Earth's core. The comic only lasted a dozen issues, but the epic story of John Carter has been tackled in several comics since.

Three Michael Moorcock novels, written as an homage to Edgar Rice Burroughs and H.G. Wells, were first published in 1965 but reprinted in 1971 by NEL, when I first read them. I mention them here because they've a very similar premise and style to the John Carter books. A young scientist, Michael Kane (!), who just happens to be an olympic swordsman, is sent by matter transmitter to the planet Mars many eons in the past. There he fights hostile Martians and fantastic animals using only primitive weapons and his wits. I enjoyed Moorcock's 'Martian trilogy' immensely as a teenager, though I never finished the John Carter novels...

Again the cover art, particularly for 'Masters of the Pit', captured my imagination in that it looked like a modern, photo-real image. Unlike many of the illustrations on John Carter novels and comics, the hero is bravely portrayed as naked, as described in the Moorcock novels. This artwork also appeared in an issue of Science Fiction Monthly magazine, without the text.

As a result, I still confuse the story of John Carter of Mars with this potent homage.

THE HAUNTED HOUSE OF HORROR (1969) - new DVD release

In November 2011, The Haunted House of Horror was finally released as a standalone DVD. It had previously only been available in Anchor Bay's Tigon Collection boxset, which saved the movie from a the limbo of murky VHS releases.

This new Odeon Entertainment release is an improvement, with a 16:9 anamorphic release which adds picture information at the sides. It also retains the director's frank and funny commentary track from the Tigon boxset. It's a PAL region 2 DVD for the UK.

A proto-slasher that beats from a decade before Halloween and Friday the 13th, it stars Frankie Avalon trying to get away from the smiling beaches, Jill Haworth, Dennis Price, George Sewell, Richard O' Sullivan...

I've added these details to my updated review of The Haunted House of Horror, and added more photos and screengrabs too.

Click here for the full article.

JAWS filming locations, part 3 - North and East: Brody's house, State Beach

Concluding this three-part photo-tour of Martha's Vineyard, an informal look for the filming locations for Jaws (1975).

VINEYARD HAVEN

At the end of Part 2, we were at the far west point of the island at Gay Head Cliffs, an area also called Aquinnah. We drove back across the island heading north to Vineyard Haven, a small town on the west side of a large natural harbour.

This was a far smaller town than it sounded in the guide book, but it's one of the busiest places on the island, with two docks for the huge car ferries from the mainland. Therefore, this is the most likely location for the 'tourists on the menu' montage in Jaws.

EAST CHOP

East Chop lighthouse

Driving to the other side of the harbour, in search of the Brody house on East Chop Drive, we had a look at East Chop lighthouse, one of five on the island.

Next door to the Brody house

This house isn't in the film, but it's between the lighthouse and the house used as the Brody family house in Jaws. I'm guessing that the location scout first suggested these houses because they were close to the picturesque lighthouse. 

The Brody house

Just down the hill from the lighthouse, the 'Brody house' has now been reclad, and the garage has been converted into a separate dwelling. 

Rear veranda just visible (which has a view of their jetty)

But the veranda at the back and their own little dock are still visible from the street. This end of the veranda was where Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary) freaks out while looking at a book of shark attacks...

Other end of the veranda, and their private jetty (the far one)

It's a private residence, the owner didn't even want it used again for filming Jaws 2. So we didn't spend too long lurking outside, and certainly didn't trespass on any private land to get a better angle.

The jetty closest to the house is in a state of disrepair -
this should be where Michael Brody's birthday present was moored 

STATE BEACH

Taking the coast road south from East Chop to Edgartown takes you along a long sandbar which needs two bridges to complete it as a roadway. The larger of the two bridges (the more southern of the two) was made famous in the film, where the shark enters 'the pond' while a false alarm distracts the police patrols.

This beach and the bay are the reason Jaws was filmed here on Martha's Vineyard, as the water is very shallow for a long way out. Meaning that the huge tracking mechanism for the shark could be easily laid in shallow water, for both the beach and 'at sea' scenes. The huge wide bay was relatively sheltered from crosswinds and currents, but the horizon could still be clear of land, to maintain the illusion that they were filming far out at sea.

State Beach, looking north -
land curves round the horizon, sheltering the bay

This beach was used in two major scenes. The shark attack witnessed by Chief Brody while he's relaxing with his wife, and the crowded beach  scenes set on July 4th. The bandstand and the brightly colour-striped cabanas were all built for the film, but all there is to see now is sand and sea. Who knows exactly where Spielberg filmed his electrifying reverse-zoom close-up of Roy Scheider. 

Guessing where Scheider had his back rub

Reverse angle - this sea saw a lot of action

Behind most of the length of the beach is a long stretch of water called Sengekontacket Pond. The action in 'the pond' is easier to pinpoint, where Brody's son meets the shark while sailing with two friends, and the policeman's desperate run to try and help him after being distracted by the stampede. Brody runs along the bridge and jumps over the side onto a much smaller beach by the entrance to the pond.

The rocky breakwaters, the bridge and the channel into the pond have recently been remodelled though. I was disappointed that the distinctive wooden supports for the bridge are now concrete pillars.

The bridge leading to the pond -
the beach with the woman artist is at top left, "Sh... sh... shark!"

The bridge supports are no longer wooden -
dense trees surround the pond at the rear

Brody runs down along here to get to the pond -
I've no idea why I'm leaning like that

Looking south across the channel
at the 'artist's beach' and beyond

The artist's beach - the bridge is at right -
note how the bay stretches round the horizon

On the bridge, looking south - pond is on the right

On the bridge, looking at State Beach,
guessing where the bandstand stood

The beach seems much deeper than it was in the film

View from the artist's beach, looking across the channel

On the artist's beach, the pond can be seen at top

I wanted a shot of me standing here, blocking one of the most chilling angles in the film, when the shark submerges in this channel to go under the bridge and into the pond. To learn how they shot that, you'll need to read Memories from Martha's Vineyard.

Chief Brody can't have read this

The pond side of the bridge, recently remodelled

Reverse view, a small beach looking over the pond -
I thought this might be where the girl bathers see the boys in trouble

OAK BLUFFS

On our final morning, we left the island on a small ferry from Oak Bluffs. I don't think this town was seen in the film, but it's the largest town on Martha's Vineyard, with the prettiest buildings on the island, making it the most usual tourist destination for daytrippers. 

Oak Bluffs car ferry dock

As you can see above, this dock at Oak Bluffs can't be the one seen in the car ferry montage in Jaws. Every time I saw these ships, I could hear John Williams music.

Best Jaws souvenir shop on the island! (Closed on Mondays)

Just down from the harbour, on Spring Street, this shop makes a point of selling the best Jaws souvenirs. Of course, it was shut the day we were there. I suppose that gives us an excuse to go back!

Compared to some other of our 'location tours', we often had to use our imaginations. I spent a few moments at each spot, staring out to sea aimlessly wondering if that patch of water had seen any action. How desperate! For all I knew, we could have been in the wrong place at various parts of this tour. But I think we saw most of the locations that are still identifiable.

My main regret is that we couldn't find out where the closing shot (frame grab above) was filmed.  A stretch of deserted beach with a lighthouse in the distance. From what I'd read, I'd assumed it was the lighthouse at the top of Chappaquiddick, but we didn't have time to see that. I'm now thinking it looks more like the beach at Aquinnah with the Gay Head lighthouse top right. We also couldn't find any building that resembled the gutting shed where Brody and Hooper search the shark's stomach.

But this trip has further cemented my love for Jaws, appreciating how much was made out of so little. Some films use spectacular locations for impressive imagery. Making a spectacular film full of unforgettable images in a quiet seaside town takes special talent.

Again, it was weird to visit a place for the first time that was already so familiar. Thankfully, no teenage impressions have been smashed - the visit didn't reveal any outrageous 'cheating' or disappointments. Just a wider view of a place I first saw through a letterbox.


Jaws tour - part 1: Edgartown - the heart of Amity Island

Jaws tour - part 2: bonfire beach, Katama Bay, Quint's dock

The making of Jaws - a look at the books and documentaries

My notes on the film
( All photographs in this post are copyright of Mark Hodgson and David Tarrington © 2011 )