Mahler (1974)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Ken Russell

Writer:

Ken Russell (writer)

Release Date:

February 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Music

Plot:

Both trifles and structure are tossed out the door by director Ken Russell in this film. Here, historical content matters not so much as metaphors...

Plot Keywords:

Marriage | Suicide | Gustav Mahler | Death | Flashback

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Robert Powell	...	Gustav Mahler
Georgina Hale	...	Alma Mahler
Lee Montague	...	Bernhard Mahler
Miriam Karlin	...	Aunt Rosa
Rosalie Crutchley	...	Marie Mahler
Gary Rich	...	Young Gustav
Richard Morant	...	Max
Angela Down	...	Justine Mahler
Antonia Ellis	...	Cosima Wagner
Ronald Pickup	...	Nick
Peter Eyre	...	Otto Mahler
Dana Gillespie	...	Anna von Mildenburg
George Coulouris	...	Doctor Roth
David Collings	...	Hugo Wolf
Arnold Yarrow	...	Grandfather

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Belgium:KT | UK:15 (video rating) | UK:AA (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Black Park Country Park, Wexham, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Company:

Goodtimes Enterprises

Trivia:

Cameo: [Oliver Reed] a train conductor blowing a whistle as Mahler's train is about to pull out of the station.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When Mahler's train leaves St. Pölten, a sign is visible identifying the town as "Saint Pölten". Yet, the German long script for the town is "Sankt Pölten".

Quotes:

Max: [laughs] I can't remember - what religion are you?
Gustav Mahler: I... am a composer.

Movie Connections:

Spoofs Morte a Venezia (1971)

Soundtrack:

In Stormy Weather

Cosima Wagner as a Nazi dominatrix? Ken! Really!

Ken Russell made several films for the BBC on artists and musicians like Fredrick Delius, the composer, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the painter and poet, and one of the founders of the Pre Raphaelite movement. The Rossetti film features the late Oliver Reed in an engrossing performance. This Mahler film is quite good. I feared watching it because I thought Ken Russell would make a circus of Mahler's tempestuous life, but it's a fairly controlled foray, except for the aforementioned sequence with Wagner's widow, BUT she was well acquainted with Hitler, and she never met a Nazi she didn't like, so the scene with her was founded on fact.

Robert Powell, and the lovely Georgina Hale, give beautiful performances. I looked in their credits and see THEY ARE BARELY WORKING TODAY. Maybe their own choice or a preference of stage work. I can't believe they would pass up today's movie money. They have not appeared as far as I can see in any major movie project for years. I don't get it. Russell, if he worked with the editor fitting the music to the film, shows a real feeling for the music. Even today Mahler's music is a specially acquired taste, and if much of it sounds bizzaire today, think what it sounded like to listners in 1906. A special kudo must go to David Collings as the insane composer Hugo Wolf. An acting gem. Also no current acting credits. David where are you? We need guys like you, Robert Powell, and Georgina Hale.