Product Description

Originally rated X, this film combines historical, comedic, and surrealistic elements to tell a tale of politics and witchcraft. In order to take over pre-rennaisance France, Cardinal Richelieu and his power-hungry followers will have to eliminate Father Grandier. Grandier controls the one town that keeps Richelieu from having total control of the region. The plan is to convince the townspeople that Grandier is a warlock and that all of his nuns are possessed by devils. The accusations are heard at a public trial - whose results may surprise you.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9132 in VHS
• Released on: 1995-04-26
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 103 minutes

Customer Reviews

Hieronymous Bosch Goes To The Movies
"Hell will hold no surprises for you."

Those in the know will recall Bosch was a painter who made a name for himself with his unconventional (and somewhat surreal) biblical allegories. His most famous (most reproduced, anyway) is "The Garden Of Earthly Delights". A typtrich, it depicts (from left to right) The Earthly Paradise, Garden of Earthly Delights, and Hell. Naturally it is Hell everyone is fascinated by.

So it is with Ken Russell's "The Devils". Russell did his own brilliant adaptation of Huxley's book (and John Whiting's play) and delivers up an allegory as complex, as entertaining, as graphic, and as timeless as anything Bosch could imagine. Bottom line: an errant Priest (Oliver Reed) falls victim to political ambitions.

Released in 1971, the common response was indignation. Remember, this was an era of taboo-breaking: Pekinpah (the violence of Wild Bunch and Straw Dogs), Roeg and Cammel (the sex, drugs and violence of Performance), and Pasollini (the blasphemies and political allegories of Canterbury Tales) were out there upsetting all kinds of people for all kinds of reasons. With all that to compete against, it's not surprising Russell made the film he did.

And be warned, "The Devils" is packed shoulder-to-shoulder with grotesque characters, graphic and savage violence and cruelty, and some bizarre and frightening religious imagery (hence the Bosch reference. In fact if you study the painting you'll see the smoking ruins of the town, and the Bird-headed Demon enthroned like Cardinal Richelieu/The King, all of which appear in the film -- see also Bruegel's "Triumph Of Death"). Russell pulls no punches, and I've very curious to know what it was the British Censors removed (and apparently destroyed) from this film.

But (unlike Pasollini's "Canterbury Tales", for example) this isn't an inept exercise in breaking the rules for the sake of notoriety. Russell has crafted a brilliant drama and realized it in a beautiful film. The "excesses" are important depiction's, NOT gratuitous sensationalism. While one cannot accuse Russell of being overly subtle, his wit and skill as writer/director cannot be challenged. Ultimately "The Devils" is nail-biting drama: Grandier maneuvers deftly through his enemies' snares as the world around him becomes increasingly more dangerous and corrupt.

And besides, the Cast (at their best), lighting and camera-work, and the costumes and sets are worth the price of admission. This film looks spectacular. Tragically there's no sign of a letter-boxed edition. Perhaps someone (Criterion would be nice) will get off their ass and give this film the presentation it deserves.

Russell described the film as a classic collision between the Individual and the State. Pope John Paul I complained (before he was Pope) about the "excesses never seen before" (ironic, considering his mysterious demise only weeks after assuming the papacy). However, the Catholic church's complaints were not about the film as blasphemy, but about it's *depiction's of blasphemy* (like Martin Scorcese, Russell was raised a Catholic and knew a thing or two about the process); they didn't argue about the events portrayed, but about the honesty with which Russell portrayed them. Was it necessary? Yes it was.

Russell isn't "Catholic bashing", he's criticizing the abuse of power and the corruption that comes with all institutions -- in this instance, organized religion. In fact, the character of Grandier -- a man capable of the highest and lowest excesses -- ultimately realizes his faith and attains the strength to survive his tortures through it.

"The Devils" is a masterpiece. One of the notorious highlights of it's era, it stands the test of time and plays as well now as it did then.

RUSSELL AND REED AT THEIR BEST
Why 4 stars? Because this VHS contains a cut version of the original british film release. What we now deserve is a DVD with the full uncensored version of this masterpiece by Ken Russell.
Oliver Reed at his best, a powerful performance by Vanessa Readgrave, a beautiful and daunting photography surely confer classic status to this work of art, with surrealistic undertones.
Based on a historical facts, as told by Aldous Huxley's The Devils of Loudun, this is a riveting story about father Urbain Grandier's martyrdom, during the reign of Louis XIII.
After Richelieu convinces the King that self-government of small provincial towns must end, the feudal nobility lose their independence by an edict calling for the destruction of their castles and walls, whilst the Hughenots are being crushed by force. One of these towns is Loudun, where the priest (a Jesuit) is Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed), an intellectual young priest, that knows the meaning and consequences of the edict calling for the destruction of the fortified walls of Loudun. Consequently, when Laubardemont, an agent of the Cardinal Richelieu arrives in the town, he is confronted and stopped by Grandier.
But Father Grandier is strikingly handsome and a sensualist. His vows of celibacy have not prevented him from fathering a bastard child with the daughter of Trincant, the town magistrate, and performing an illegal marriage with Madeleine, a young lady with whom he has fallen in love.
Meanwhile the Convent of the Ursulines in Loudun is ruled by Sister Jeanne of the Angels (Vanessa Readgrave), a young humped back noun, with a beautiful face. She develops an obsession with Grandier and has sensual visions which involve the young priest. When she hears about the illicit marriage, she loses control and falsely accuses the priest of sorcery and lewdness.
Grandier's enemies (Laubardemont, Trincant, Father Mignon and others) grasp the false accusation as an instrument for the destruction of the priest. They accuse Grandier of sorcery and call for an exorcist, Father Barre, who starts performing a series of exorcisms never seen before in France. The methods used by him and his assistants to extract the devils reputedly within the bodies of the nuns are base and sadistic. From Sister Jeanne's altered mind come the screams and the behavior that affect the other nuns. From there, collective hysteria spreads and as the nouns bask in their notoriety, their fantasies become more and more unreal. Those who oppose this infernal circus, on the grounds that the exorcists are the ones depraved, deliberately provoking the nouns, are arrested by Laubardemont, who wants to see the matter through. Both Richelieu and his agent are well aware of Grandier's innocence but the raison d' Etat calls for the destruction of the young priest.
Not surprisingly, based on the hysterical accusations of the nouns, Grandier and Madeleine are arrested. Grandier is brought to trial and found guilty of sorcery. He is viciously tortured, vainly, in order to extract a confession of his guilt. When Grandier is burnt alive at the stake, in the public square of Loudun, we see, in the background, that finally the walls of the city are starting to be destroyed...........
A DVD full version of this underrated classic is a must, for the sake of the history of cinema, and to keep alive a strong spirit against political manipulation and religious fanaticism.

DVD edition of 'The Devils' MUST be released!!!!!
'The Devils', "one of the most controversial films ever made in the UK," is not only Ken Russell's BEST film, but probably the most IMPORTANT religious commentary ever put onto film (thanks to the glorious union of Aldous Huxley & Ken Russell). Although you can purchase the widescreen, least censored, Maverick Directors series, UK version (PAL VHS) from www.amazon.co.uk (ASIN: B00004CUX5, Catalogue Number: S015401) -- where the heck is the director approved DVD edition of this film, already???!!! This is an outrage to the film appreciation community, and especially to Ken Russell fans (who have the availability of almost every other Ken Russell film EXCEPT 'The Devils', arguably his VERY BEST, on DVD)!! Every rational reviewer of this film cries the same thing (hello, Warner Brothers!) -- consumers WANT a director approved DVD edition of 'The Devils' (NOT the butchered, US version), including Flim Four's 'Hell on Earth', "an hour-long documentary presented by Mark Kermode on Ken Russell's 1971 film" PLEASE, ALREADY!!!