Alla Nazimova's 1922 "Salome" and Ken Russell's 1988 "Salome's Last Dance"

We discuss Nazimova's "Salome", astonishing even today, with design by Natacha Rambova influenced by Aubrey Beardsley's illustrations of Oscar Wilde's play, then consider the possible influence of the silent film on Ken Russell's representation of Salome. Along the way we also discuss Russell's "The Debussy Film", how his choice of music for "Salome's Last Dance" refers back to "The Debussy Film", and why he might have chosen "In the Hall of the Mountain King" from "Peer Gynt" for Salome's dance music. Though I mention that Nazimova was famed for her performances in Ibsen plays, i got a little too carried away with talking about Peer Gynt and trolls and neglected, during the podcast, to remind how Grieg's "Peer Gynt" had been inspired by Ibsen's play. While Nazimova concentrates on interpreting Wilde, Russell films (and photographs) Wilde observing a production of his play, so that we must consider Oscar Wilde's relationship to it--and his trial and imprisonment. One could spend days discussing these films and still not do them justice, and i really looked forward to doing the podcast on them. Then we got silly, and though we dug we didn't go as deep as I would have liked. Hopefully, we still inspire the listener to seek out these two films and view them.

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