Editing Ken Russell (section)

===Return to television and ''Altered States''===
Russell returned to television with ''[[William and Dorothy]]'' (1978) a look at the life of [[William Wordsworth]] and his sister Dorothy, and ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (film)|The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'' (1978), about [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]].

Russell went to Hollywood to make ''[[Altered States]]'' (1980), a departure in both genre and tone, in that it is Russell's only foray into [[science fiction]].  Working from [[Paddy Chayefsky]]'s [[screenplay]] (based upon his novel), Russell used his penchant for elaborate visual effects to translate Chayefsky's hallucinatory story to the cinema, and took the opportunity to add his trademark religious and sexual imagery. The film had an innovative [[Academy-Award|Oscar]]-nominated score by [[John Corigliano]]. The film enjoyed moderate financial success, and scored with critics who had otherwise dismissed Russell's work. [[Roger Ebert]], who had given ''[[The Devils (film)|The Devils]]'' "zero stars", and had panned Russell's early composer portraits (he did, however, give three stars to both ''[[Tommy (1975 film)|Tommy]]'' and ''[[Lisztomania (film)|Lisztomania]]''), gave it his highest rating for Russell's work (three-and-a-half stars), praising it as "one hell of a movie!"

Although the film was a financial success, Russell had difficulty making his next film. One project, ''Beethoven's Secret'', was about to start shooting when financing fell apart at the last minute. He was attached to do the film of ''[[Evita (1996 film)|Evita]]'' for over a year, but ultimately left the project when he refused to cast [[Elaine Paige]] in [[Eva Perón|the lead]]. A biopic of [[Maria Callas]] with [[Sophia Loren]] also failed to get financing. However, Russell found himself artistically rejuvenated when offered the chance to direct some opera. He did ''The Rake's Progress'', ''Soldiers'' and ''Butterfly''.<ref>MOVIES: KEN RUSSELL: OPERA HIGHS AFTER FILM LOWS
Mann, Roderick. Los Angeles Times 22 January 1984: r14. /</ref>

Russell's next film after ''Altered States'' was ''[[The Planets (film)|The Planets]]'' (1983), about [[Gustav Holst]]'s [[The Planets|orchestral suite]] of the same name. This 53-minute film was made specially for ''[[The South Bank Show]]'', the weekly arts programme on the [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]] network in Britain. It is a wordless [[collage]] that matches [[stock footage]] to each of the seven [[Movement (music)|movement]]s of the Holst suite.  [[John Coulthart]] wrote "familiar Russell obsessions appear: [[Nazis]], naked women and the inevitable [[crucifixion]]."<!-- Yes, this is self-published, but Coulthart is authoritative, and I could find nothing else adequate. --><ref name="John Coulthart">{{cite web |title=The Planets by Ken Russell |url=http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/2013/05/06/the-planets-by-ken-russell |date=6 May 2013| access-date=19 February 2017}}</ref> After essentially disappearing for decades, in 2016 the film was re-released on [[DVD]] by [[Arthaus Musik]].<ref name="arthaus-musik">{{cite AV media
 |people      = Ken Russel
 |title       = The Planets
 |medium      = [[DVD]]: cat. no. 109168,  [[Blu-ray]]: cat. no. 109169
 |publisher   = [[Arthaus Musik]]
 |date        = 1983
 |url         = http://arthaus-musik.com/dvd/neuerscheinungen/media/details/ken_russells_view_of_the_planets.html
 |url-status     = dead
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20170220174449/http://arthaus-musik.com/dvd/neuerscheinungen/media/details/ken_russells_view_of_the_planets.html
 |archive-date = 20 February 2017
 |df          = dmy-all
}}</ref>

For ''The South Bank Show, Russell'' also made ''[[Vaughan Williams: A Symphonic Portrait]]'' (1984) about [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]].

Russell returned to feature films with a sexual thriller, ''[[Crimes of Passion (1984 film)|Crimes of Passion]]'' (1984), starring [[Anthony Perkins]] and [[Kathleen Turner]] for [[New World Pictures]]. It had moderate critical success and did not perform well at the box office, but was a big hit on video.<ref name="chi"/>