Ken Russell joined Humphrey Burton on stage to discuss how they met, became friends, their careers but ultimately the work of Ken Russell.
Ken talked about his very first interview with Huw Wheldon at Monitor. Ken explains, “I shot a film about a young Catholic girl who was in a nativity play and she naughtily takes home her angel wings to show her mother. Her naughty brother ends up breaking them so she then has to scour the streets of London to find new ones and being a good Catholic girl, she does so.”
After the showing of the film Huw Wheldon uttered that it looked like it had been shot on toilet paper but you've got the job.
Ken went on to make his first professional film "John Betjeman - A Poet in London". This was a visualisation of John Betjeman's poems.
Throughout the morning clips were shown from both the 1961 film Prokofiev, Ken Russell's portrait of the Great Russian composer, and the remarkable and imaginative portrait of the composer Elgar in 1962.
During the discussion Ken and Humphrey were both witty and amusing which greatly delighted the audience. Ken shared with the audience the story of when he cast Oliver Reed and Alan Bates for the 1969 film “Women In Love”.
At first they were reluctant to do the infamous nude wrestling scene but after a night at the pub, a few drinks and a joint trip to the gents, while standing waiting for nature to take its course one looked to their left the other to their right, they suddenly realised that there was nothing in it and they had nothing to be concerned about. This had the audience in fits of laughter.
At the end of the discussion, the audience were invited to ask questions and also to meet Ken and Humphrey. Enthusiasts were thrilled with their morning of recollections and memories from Ken and Humphreys early years.
By Deborah Brennan
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