Editing Ken Russell (section)

===The mid-1970s===
Russell wanted to make ''Little Sparrow'', a film about [[Édith Piaf]], or a biopic of [[Ludwig II of Bavaria|King Ludwig of Bavaria]],<ref>Ken Russell: A Director Who Respects Artists Kahan, Saul. Los Angeles Times 28 March 1971: n18.</ref> but neither was made. Instead, he himself provided most of the financing for ''[[Savage Messiah (1972 film)|Savage Messiah]]'' (1972). The film is a biopic of the painter and sculptor [[Henri Gaudier-Brzeska]], who died fighting for France at age 23, in 1915, in the [[Trench warfare|trenches]] of the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] during the [[World War I|First World War]]. The film stars [[Dorothy Tutin]], [[Scott Antony]], and [[Helen Mirren]].

Russell announced a biopic of [[Sarah Bernhardt]] with [[Barbra Streisand]] but it was not made.<ref>"The Oscar of His Dreams Is Wilde" Haber, Joyce. ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'' 30 April 1972: d15.</ref>

He worked with [[David Puttnam]] on ''[[Mahler (film)|Mahler]]'' (1974) starring [[Robert Powell]] as [[Gustav Mahler]].

In 1975, Russell's star-studded [[Tommy (1975 film)|film version]] of [[the Who]]'s rock opera ''[[Tommy (The Who album)|Tommy]]'' starring [[Roger Daltrey]], [[Ann-Margret]], [[Oliver Reed]], [[Elton John]], [[Tina Turner]], [[Eric Clapton]] and [[Jack Nicholson]], spent a record fourteen weeks at the No.1 spot.{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}

Two months before ''[[Tommy (1975 film)|Tommy]]'' was released (in March 1975), Russell started work on ''[[Lisztomania (film)|Lisztomania]]'' (1975), another vehicle for [[Roger Daltrey]], and for the film scoring of [[progressive rock]] keyboardist [[Rick Wakeman]].<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|author=Brian Hoyle|title=Russell, Henry Kenneth Alfred [Ken] (1927–2011)|date=January 2015|id= 104393|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/public/dnb/104393.html}}</ref> In the film, the music of [[Franz Liszt]] is stolen by [[Richard Wagner]].  Wagner's operas then put forward the theme of the [[Übermensch|Superman]]. ''Tommy'' and ''Lisztomania'' were important in the rise of improved motion picture sound in the 1970s, as they were among the first films to be released with [[Dolby]]-encoded soundtracks. ''Lisztomania'', tagged as "the film that out-Tommys 'Tommy'", topped the British box-office for two weeks in November 1975, when ''Tommy'' was still in the list of the week's top five box-office hits.

Russell's next film, the biopic ''[[Valentino (1977 film)|Valentino]]'' (1977), starring [[Rudolf Nureyev]] as [[Rudolph Valentino]], also topped the British box-office for two weeks, but was not a hit in America. After this he said "nobody in Hollywood would give me even a B movie to direct."<ref name="washed">I thought I was all washed up
''[[The Guardian]]'' 9 July 1981: 13.</ref>