The Devils (Ken Russell, 1971)

[nicolas]

Details on the restoration of The Devils: https://forum.blu-ray.com/showpost.php? ... tcount=557

[colinr0380]

Mark Kermode after a screening at Lincoln Center. I particularly like his linking the themes of the film forward to Tommy.

And I do like putting The Devils in a tradition of poetic British cinema in a lineage from Powell & Pressburger. You could see how Derek Jarman would pick up that similar mantle in his own films afterwards too. Though I slightly disagree with Kermode that it should not be underestimated just how big a year 1971 was for powerfully confrontational films - Warner Bros by itself had a provocative year with A Clockwork Orange and John Boorman's Deliverance all presenting material that still remains challenging and relevant to this day. And a lot of that probably had to do with a very specific period between the decline of the studio system in the US, and before the rise of the Blockbusters with Jaws, that were leading to studios taking chances on all sorts of material, allowing the opportunities for such films to get made.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

I can’t help but wonder if the “Clockwork” division tried to push this out first because the braindead execs at Paramount () would try to bury it.

[Finch]

Re Ellisons, you can also forget anything vaguely critical of Israel getting made under their leadership.

[Altair]

I can’t help but wonder if the “Clockwork” division tried to push this out first because the braindead execs at Paramount () would try to bury it.

Not that Warner Bros. has been any kind of supporter of this film for most of the past five decades...

[Matt]

Given that the re-release was announced in early May, I would think restoration of the film was well underway before Paramount made their bid for WBD at the end of February.

[Drucker]

I do think that everyone knowing that Warners would be sold probably motivated some people. Was Netflix going to restore this film?

[Lowry_Sam]

Lobby standee for The Devils weighs 666 lbs., I'm sure Ken would be amused.

[olmo]

Re Ellisons, you can also forget anything vaguely critical of Israel getting made under their leadership.

The Devils indeed.

[Altair]

I saw this in 35mm at the Alamo Drafthouse in San Francisco - lovely, organic grain, cool blue-to-grey colour tones, but overall looked immaculate. Really hard to imagine a better restoration.

[tenia]

I saw it 3 days ago (on DCP) and it does gorgeous.
"Exciting announcements" to come about home video releases. We might even get one in France.

[j99]

Not that Warner Bros. has been any kind of supporter of this film for most of the past five decades...

No, although they did allow the BFI to release a DVD of the film several years ago, but did not allow a blu ray release, which was an unusual decision. Has there been any announcement about a high definition release this time around? It’s probably the only way I’m going to be able to see it.

[Mr.DarjeelingLimited]

My 35mm screening is in an hour, can’t wait.
After The Devils, I’m seeing You Can See Everything as well.

[Mr Sausage]

Yes, just saw it and the thing looks terrific. I have a taste for hysteria if done with conviction, as this is, so it was a lot of fun to see for the first time, and on the big screen!

I just want to mention that the rating’s board in my province gave this a 13+. Takes a bit of the vinegar out of this oft suppressed, oft condemned bit of cinematic blasphemy to think that I could’ve gained admittance in elementary school! I wonder if the lenient rating has to do with Quebec’s (sometimes misdirected) passion for secularism, currently at something of a pitch. Quebec carried out what it calls the Quiet Revolution in the 60s, where the church was finally prevented from holding any official place in the provincial government, a move the province now regularly celebrates. So all the nudity and sexuality and other things in the movie not appropriate for teenagers is given a pass for its instructive depiction of religious hypocrisy and the dangers of coupling religion and state power. Tho’ I doubt any schools here are rushing to arrange field trips to see it.

[Never Cursed]

I just want to mention that the rating’s board in my province gave this a 13+.

Do a lot of films usually get above that in your province? I know that, for instance, in France, it's very uncommon for a movie to get a rating higher than "forbidden for under 12" (and populating that rating are films like Fat Girl, Blue Is The Warmest Color, and the uncut version of Killer Joe - at the "universal" level are such child-friendly classics as Mulholland Dr., American Beauty, and The Royal Tenenbaums)

[Mr Sausage]

I suspect no, that it’s like in France, but I haven’t payed enough attention to say for sure. But there is for instance a 16+ category, which the current Queer animated comedy, Jim Queen, holds. It’s the only film out now which holds it. What pushes tat one over the edge but not The Devils, I couldn’t say, as the latter gets pretty freaky. Again I don’t wonder if educational benefit was in its favour.

Blue is the Warmest Colour, Killer Joe, and Fat Girl also have 16+. As does Cronenberg’s Crash.

Mulholland Drive, The Royal Tennanbaums, and American Beauty are 13+, so Québec is not quite as permissive as France.

The only things with 18+ I could find on a cursory search were movies like Hostel 2 (but not part 1), Human Centipede 2 (again not part 1), and Martyrs—so films with the most extreme and punishing violence.

But even that’s not a guarantee, as other New French Extremity films like Haute Tension and Inside are 16+, as are all the recent Evil Dead movies.

[Saturnome]

Québec's rating stats are the reverse of the US (where something like 60% of films are R rated I think?) :

2% of films are more than 16+, so it's just not common. From my knowledge, gore is the most important factor. Least important is the swearing.
Meaning that quite a few R rated movies are rated G here. Even some films that used to be rated X, like Medium Cool, is G here.