Good concept, poorly executed.

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Unshakable, witty and deeply felt, the film will be paying emotional dividends for a long, long time.

Just read between the lines of his audio commentary to this calamity of a film. To be honest there aren't that many lines in the first place as Russell seems lost delivering an audio commentary on his own and without Mark Kermode to prompt him and keep him on track. There are long gaps in the commentary that are occasionally broken by dull observations from the director. This is not a DVD review but Russell's commentary does reveal a great deal about the huge flaws in this film and the director who seemed so obsessed with shocking his audience probably comes as close as he ever did to apologising for taking things too far even by his own extreme standards. Some of his comments can be easily re-interpreted: Russell: 'Raising money on classical subjects is not the easiest profession so I'm taking a holiday from that.' Actual meaning: 'No one will allow me to make another feature film on the life of a composer after the monumental disaster of Lisztomania.'Russell: 'To really appreciate the film you'd have to know quite a bit about the reality behind Liszt.' Actual meaning: 'If you knew nothing about Liszt before seeing the film then you'll be none the wiser afterwards.'Russell: 'Maybe it wasn't as successful as I'd have hoped it would be.'Actual meaning: 'It was a catastrophe that ruined my career.'Russell: 'In drawing the facts together I've probably annoyed the Wagner family more than I might have.' Actual meaning: 'I deeply offended and insulted the Wagner family for showing the following: 1) Wagner as a vampire who sucked blood from Liszt's neck 2) Wagner as a mad Frankenstein-like scientist who used his music to create a monster in his laboratory that would turn Germany into a great country3) Hitler as another monster that was created out of Wagner's body. Russell: 'I raised the odd eyebrow as I saw it.' Actual meaning: 'This film is totally over the top and I'm embarrassed by it.'Russell even stops his commentary nearly 6 minutes before the end of the film as though he couldn't bear it any longer and wanted to get out of the studio as quickly as possible. I don't blame him.I saw Lisztomania out of curiosity as it had been denounced as the most extreme of Russell's films so I shouldn't have been too surprised by what I saw but there really is nothing to recommend this film apart from Paul Nicholas who is actually quite good as Wagner.The film critic Alexander Walker likened Russell's The Devils (which incidentally is a much better film and nowhere near as over the top when you consider the subject matter) to the masturbatory fantasies of a Roman Catholic boyhood. Lisztomania seems like the masturbatory fantasies of the director himself. There's really no pleasure to be had in watching someone as talented as Russell undoubtedly was taking his career and flushing it down the toilet. Give it a miss.

This was one of those films I saw simply because I wanted to see the lead actor without his shirt on. I don't even remember if somebody recommended it to me first. I usually describe this one to people as "a typical Ken Russell crap-fest with penis all over it." Many commentators imply or state outright that this film has some really deep commentary on pop-culture -- but I know what's really going on: there is seriously penis all over this film.The costumes and sets are more opulent than Tommy, and the plot is one part "life of Franz Liszt through metaphor" and two parts allegory about how pop will eat itself or something. Honestly, the plot in Zardoz is easier to follow and the allegory doesn't get lost in a veritable redwood forest of penis, either.The real reason to watch this film is for the three or four minutes of Nazi Franken-Wagner near the end. Seriously. The first time around when I saw that, I LOL'd in my pants and had to rewind it just to see it again and make sure that's what was really going on.This is quite possibly the goofiest thing to come out of the mid-1970s and, honestly, it surprises me that it's not yet available on DVD, considering some of the truly lousy films that end up on DVD uncut special editions. This is a must-see for fans of 1970s opulence and suckers for truly strange films that only appeal to a handful of people. While I see the points other users have commented on, I think the metaphor and social commentary gets lost, as I said, in all the penis. (It opens with a penis joke, ends with something phallic-like in the visuals, and there is a twelve-foot plaster doodle jutting from Roger Daltry's crotch and straddled by George Sand during a musical number, not to mention all the penis everywhere else in the film.) If you can see past the penis and art-film pretentiousness, several good and relevant points are made throughout the film. Social commentary aside, it's visually impressive with an amazing soundtrack. For many reasons, I'm proud to have this one as a part of my collection of rare VHS tapes.

After seeing this film one late night (and yes this film is best viewed late nite a la Rocky Horror Picture Show) I really thought it was cheesy and campy and therefore a treasure to some audiences. Barbarella, starring Jane Fonda in 1968 and the fore-mentioned Rocky Horror Picture Show of 1975 starring Barry Bostwick and Tim Curry were campy cult classics and this one is an addition to that repertoire. Ken Russell has done some good films, despite their use of bizarre imagery and cartoonish silliness- Mahler, Liar of the White Worm, The Devils and Tommy the musical. Lisztomania is at once a parody of film, using Rocky Horror Picture Show elements, and a fantasy of historical fiction. Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner and Cosima were all real people but in this film they exist as parody and as fictional characters akin to comic book characters. The theme seems to be the battle between good versus evil played out by two rival composers- Liszt and Wagner. In real life, these legendary composers were friends and found inspiration as colleagues. But in this comic book type of movie, Liszt (Roger Daltrev) fights the evil machinations of the Nazi vampire Richard Wagner bent on world domination. He creates a Frankenstein that resembles Hitler. It's up to Franz Liszt and friends to save the day by attacking him with their pipe organ spaceship. Lots of fun to watch. Other things to look for include a giant penis idol, a piano torture machine, Ringo Starr as the Pope and throughout the film is a rock musical style similar to Rocky Horror Picture Show. So if you liked that one, you'll like Lisztomania. Don't take it seriously. Not to be viewed by children.

The real-life Franz Liszt had an incredibly bizarre life, with plenty of erotic encounters. He also wrote gorgeous music. This should have been a great movie.Unfortunately, Ken Russell goes even more nuts than usual with his Ken Russellisms. Gratuitous breasts? Check. Sparkly crosses? Check. Sexy nuns? Check. Phallic symbols? Check. Adolescent girl behaving shockingly? Check. The only thing missing is the water that usually gushes symbolically through his pictures.Roger Daltrey comes off as a complete idiot in interviews, yet gives incredible performances in everything from Pete Townshend to William Shakespeare. He tries to save Lisztomania with his acting (he can go from farce to high drama easily)and his good looks (though he's gorgeous with his signature curls straightened, why exactly DOES his hair get straighter as the film progresses?)Many of the supporting actors help a bit, too, including a tiny but memorable, pre-Rocky Horror scene from Little Nell.I've seen Tommy many times, but I don't think I'll ever watch Lisztomania more than once. However, I'm not sorry I saw it. I would love to own the soundtrack--Liszt and Wagner sound terrific redone as 70's guitar-rock. At a mere 103 minutes, there is too much padding. I recommend that people watch as I did, with a hand on the fast-forward of your remote.Lisztomania is too mired in its own coolness and allegory. Many scenes start out promisingly, and many of the visuals are shocking or impressive at first, but then the scenes go onnnn and onnnn...