Wagner on TV
(Dir. Tony Palmer) (1983)
4 DVDs, 10 episodes, 9 hours – what else from a Wagner bio? A sprawling, at times maddeningly repetitive and almost redundant film (originally foisted on the world as a one-off cinema release!) is none the less painstaking, illuminating, and beautiful, as good as you could expect in fact.
Burton “giving his usual impersonation of a Welsh rugby forward who has just been told that he has been dropped from the team.”*
Richard Burton gives a great rendition of that other talented belligerent named Richard, suggesting the inner arrogance, drive and sacrificial impulse of the master composer.
‘Of COURSE you want alphabetical billing, John…”
The episodes are linear, essentially, with flashes forward, backward and sideways. One for those who know and care about Wagner and his legacy.
[*Clive James]
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