- Mahler (film)
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Mahler
Original poster for Spanish version of MahlerDirected by Ken Russell Produced by Roy Baird Written by Ken Russell Starring Robert Powell
Georgina Hale
Lee MontagueMusic by Gustav Mahler
Richard Wagner
Dana GillespieCinematography Dick Bush Editing by Michael Bradsell Distributed by Mayfair Films
Visual Programme Systems Ltd.Release date(s) 24 October 1974
February 1975Running time 115 min Country United Kingdom Language English Mahler is a 1974 biographical film based on the life of composer Gustav Mahler. It was written and directed by Ken Russell for Goodtimes Enterprises, and starred Robert Powell as Gustav Mahler and Georgina Hale as Alma Mahler. The film was entered into the 1974 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Technical Grand Prize.[1]
Contents
Plot
The film begins on a train journey with Gustav Mahler (Robert Powell) and his wife Alma (Georgina Hale) confronting their failing marriage. The story is then recounted in a series of flashbacks (some of which are surrealistic and nightmarish), taking one through Mahler's childhood, his brother's suicide, his experience with anti-semitism, his conversion from Judaism to Catholicism, his marital problems, and the death of his young daughter. The film also contains a surreal fantasy sequence involving the anti-Semitic Cosima Wagner (Antonia Ellis), widow of Richard Wagner, whose objections to his taking control of the Court Opera were supposedly removed by his conversion to Catholicism. In the process, the film explores Mahler's music and its relationship to his life.
Some outdoor sections of the film were made in Borrowdale, in the English Lake District.
Cast
- Robert Powell as Gustav Mahler
- Georgina Hale as Alma Mahler
- Lee Montague as Bernhard Mahler
- Miriam Karlin as Aunt Rosa
- Rosalie Crutchley as Marie Mahler
- Gary Rich as Young Gustav
- Richard Morant as Max
- Angela Down as Justine Mahler
- Antonia Ellis as Cosima Wagner
- Ronald Pickup as Nick
- Peter Eyre as Otto Mahler
- Dana Gillespie as Anna von Mildenburg
- George Coulouris as Doctor Roth
- David Collings as Hugo Wolf
- Arnold Yarrow as Grandfather
- David Trevena as Doctor Richter
- Elaine Delmar as Princess
- Benny Lee as Uncle Arnold
- Andrew Faulds as Doctor on Train
- Otto Diamant as Professor Sladky
- Michael Southgate as Alois Mahler
- Ken Colley as Siegfried Krenek
- Sarah McClellan as Putzi
- Claire McClellan as Glucki
The music score of the movie consists of recordings by the Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Bernard Haitink.
References
- ^ "Festival de Cannes: Mahler". festival-cannes.com. http://www.festival-cannes.com/en/archives/ficheFilm/id/2238/year/1974.html. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
External links
- Mahler at the Internet Movie Database
Directorial works of Ken Russell Elgar · French Dressing · The Debussy Film · Always On Sunday · Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World · Dante's Inferno · Billion Dollar Brain · Song of Summer · Women in Love · The Dance of the Seven Veils · The Music Lovers · The Devils · The Boy Friend · Savage Messiah · Mahler · Tommy · Lisztomania · Valentino · Altered States · Crimes of Passion · Gothic · Segment "Nessun Dorma" in Aria · Salome's Last Dance · The Lair of the White Worm · The Rainbow · Whore · Prisoner of Honor · The Secret Life of Arnold Bax · Lady Chatterley · Mindbender · Dogboys · The Fall of the Louse of UsherCategories:- British films
- English-language films
- 1974 films
- Films directed by Ken Russell
- Films about classical music and musicians
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