Dante's Inferno (TV VHS) [1967] dir Ken Russell

"Omnibus" Dante's Inferno (1967)



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061552/

Original Air Date:22 December 1967

Pat Ashton ... Fanny Conforth
Derek Boshier ... Millais
Caroline Coon ... Annie Miller
Janet Deuters ... Annie Brown
Norman Dewhurst ... Burne-Jones
Andrew Faulds ... William Morris
Clive Goodwin ... Ruskin
Douglas Gray ... Hunt
Tony Gray ... W. M. Rossetti
David Jones ... Howell
Christopher Logue ... Swinburne
Gala Mitchell ... Jane Morris
Judith Paris ... Elizabeth Siddal
Oliver Reed ... Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Iza Teller ... Christina Rossetti

Plot: With his wife sickly and his career stifled, Dante Gabriel Rossetti tries to make a mark with his painting and poetry.

Review: Like the dissertation on Duncan, Russell's look at painter/poet Rossetti and his own personal Hell (a clear allusion to the Dante of Divine Comedy fame) can be tough going at times. His relationship with Elizabeth Siddal is very upsetting, especially when we learn of her terminal illness and Rossetti's mere indifference to it. There is also another woman, a dark haired succubus who seems to bring out the worst in the artist, constantly turning causal outings into turmoil even where situations finally seem settled. As mentioned before, Russell seems obsessed by the way women of the age interacted with men. There is a contemporary twist of course, but the overall interpretation seems wrapped up in an intricate combination of need, nurturing, and novelty. As played by Reed, Rossetti is a ruthless cad, treating everyone with determined disdain. At least in this situation, we see how the personalities of everyone involved influenced the art.