Ep. 48 The Dance Of The Seven Veils

On this episode, hosts Christopher Funderburg & John Cribbs are
joined by Lisi Russell to discuss her husband Ken Russell’s BBC
biopic of Richard Strauss, The Dance of the Seven Veils. The
controversial film, suppressed since its premiere in 1970, recently
screened for the public for the first time in five decades.
Russell’s angry and uncompromising film mixes a Monty Python-esque
sense of satire with a harsh critique of cultural institutions
across the spectrum for a depiction of Strauss that absolutely
refuses to forgive the influential composer for his strained and
tense collaboration with the ruling Nazi party. The conversation
explores whether this is a fair portrayal of Strauss (who lost
family in the holocaust), how the film may serve as an
auto-critique of Russell himself, the slippery nature of campy
comedy, and the ways in which an artist may take a intransigent
position in their artwork as a way of exploring the most difficult
aspects of an ambiguous situation. The Pink Smoke site:

www.thepinksmoke.com Patreon: www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink
Smoke on Twitter:
 twitter.com/thepinksmoke John Cribbs on Twitter:

twitter.com/TheLastMachine Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/CFunderburg Intro & outro music by Marcus Pinn of
Pinnland Empire.