Lisztomania

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Cast

Roger Daltrey
as Franz Liszt

Sara Kestelman
as Princess Carolyn

Paul Nicholas
as Richard Wagner

Ringo Starr
as Pope

Rick Wakeman
as Thor

Fiona Lewis
as Countess Marie

Veronica Quilligan
as Cosima

Nell Campbell
as Olga

Andrew Reilly
as Hans von Bulow

John Justin
as Count d'Agoult

Anulka Dziubinska
as Lola Montez

Imogen Claire
as George Sand

Peter Brayham
as Bodyguard

David English
as Captain

Rikki Howard
as Countess

Felicity Devonshire
as Governess

Murray Melvin
as Hector Berlioz

Andrew Faulds
as Strauss

Kenneth Colley
as Frederic Chopin

Aubrey Morris
as Manager

Ken Parry
as Rossini

Otto Diamant
as Felix Mendelsohn

Georgina Hale

Oliver Reed
as Princess Carolyn's Servant

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Critic Reviews for Lisztomania

Audience Reviews for Lisztomania

• Dec 16, 2012

  Franz Listz, a huge 19th century celebrity because of his hit version of "Chopsticks," beds a succession of mistresses until the Pope orders him to travel to Germany and exorcise a demon from rival composer Richard Wagner. It's the biography of Franz Liszt if it were directed by Benny Hill working from a script by Federico Fellini; its silly and phallic, and lots of fun if you can surrender yourself to it.
  Greg S Super Reviewer
• Nov 14, 2012

  Franz Liszt(Roger Daltrey) performs at a sold out show, almost entirely composed of screaming teenaged girls. The only exception is Richard Wagner(Paul Nicholas), a promising young composer, whose work Liszt makes fun of before Wagner slinks off into the darkness. Fame is not all fun and games as Liszt is commanded to perform for Tsar Nicholas, taking him away again from his paramour Marie(Fiona Lewis) who gave up everything to be with him. At least, his daughter Cosima(Veronica Quilligan) makes him a doll which should comfort him until he makes a detour to visit Princess Carolyn(Sara Kestelman). With baroque, anachronistic and stylistic energy and imagery that includes an additional debt to classic and silent films, Ken Russell is less interested in the facts of Franz Liszt's life, assuming the audience is already familiar with his story and music(all I know is from the film "Impromptu" which featured Julian Sands as the Hungarian composer), than with creating a personal and psycho-political film that tries with a good deal of success to show what the inside of an artist's head looks like. Of course, not everything we see in there is pretty, as Liszt lives constantly in fear of being castrated and/or trapped. That's nothing compared to Richard Wagner who Russell sees as the root of all evil, i.e. Nazism. While I admire the effort to show the Nazis not occuring in a political vacuum, their causes probably went beyond just one classical composer.
  Walter M Super Reviewer
• Aug 04, 2011

  If this had less singing sequences and more crazy Wagner-vampire-frankenstein sequences i would rate this even better. Neverless, good ol Ken Russell knows how to make a good bio pic. You will be missed sir.
  Tsubaki S Super Reviewer

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