The collaboration between Britain’s loudest rock band of the time with its most controversial film director resulted in one of the most striking musicals ever made.
It’s a Boy: The Birth of Tommy
In 1969 British rock band The Who released their fourth, and most ambitious album, or rather a double album. The end of the sixties was heralding in the ideas of prog rock and the concept album – Tommy was at the forefront of this movement, a self confessed “Rock Opera”. Instead of a series of unrelated songs Tommy told a story from beginning to end but what upset many who listened to it was the story itself.
Do You Think It’s Alright? Controversy and Tommy
The controversy surrounding Tommy centred on the way that the story seemed to be offensive or exploitative, particularly regarding its attitude towards disability and abuse. Unlike many controversies that diminish over time, this is still a relevant issue when considering the work although there is an argument that in many ways Tommy is seen to triumph over the obstacles that life has thrown at him, that the film offers empowerment and hope without glossing over the adversities that have affected him.
Tommy is a Pinball Wizard
Tommy’s father goes missing during the war, presumed dead, but returns to find that his wife has a new lover. The couple kill Tommy’s real father but the boy sees everything. In order to cover up their crime they psychologically cause Tommy to become blind, deaf and dumb so that their deeds will remain undiscovered. Tommy does little as he grows into adulthood, pushed from pillar to post but hope comes in an unlikely shape. His sense of touch means that he is supremely talented at pinball, eventually freeing him from his afflictions and turning him into a messianic figurehead to a disaffected generation.
Enfant Terrible: Director Ken Russell
Tommy had already been turned into a successful album, live show and even adapted for an orchestra when the idea of a film version was mooted. The problem was who would be capable of turning the rock opera into a credible film? The answer was inspired. Maverick film-maker Ken Russell had been making films about music for many years, for the TV arts programme Monitor as well as the Tchaikovsky biopic The Music Lovers (1970) and the musical The Boy Friend (1971). Russell was certainly no stranger to controversy, his D. H. Lawrence adaptation Women In Love (1969) was considered scandalous at the time while The Devils (1971) is still unavailable uncut to this day.
Listening to You: Making Tommy
Tommy is highly unusual for a musical film in that every line is sung. All of the music was recorded specially for the film, meaning that the actual filming was completed silently. To further enhance the cinema experience Tommy was recorded in “quintaphonic” sound, a revolution at a time when stereo was still the standard and mono not unheard of. The resulting mix engulfed the audience in sound, providing the cinemas installed the equipment necessary to show it properly.
I Get Opinions: Reaction to Tommy
Director Ken Russell unleashes his prodigious talent onto the screen with Tommy. It is a film unrestrained in ambition and, often, taste with an assault on the eyes that predates the eye-candy of modern pop videos but does so with an over-riding purpose. Russell fills his screen with striking imagery, film references and visual gags. The razor-sharp editing on the hit Elton John single Pinball Wizard is astonishing in its speed and virtuosity. Tommy: a musical unlike any other.
