OPINION The Curious Case of The Devils
Now that we have the Snyder Cut, can we get a proper release of Ken Russell’s The Devils?
Full disclosure: I was skeptical about Zack Snyder’s Justice League receiving any kind of release so soon after the theatrical cut, not just because of the potential continuity complications for the DC Extended Universe (Warner Bros. claim to be all about the Multiverse now, with multiple versions coexisting at the same time, but whether they will fully commit to that remains to be seen), but chiefly because of the studio’s track record.
Yes, they released the Donner Cut of Superman II, but that was essentially cleaning up someone else’s mess (the first four Superman movies were made by other companies that had obtained the film rights). The Snyder Cut was essentially tantamount to admitting they were in the wrong this time, even with the caveat that it’s still technically someone else – HBO Max, a separate WarnerMedia entity – cleaning up their mess. And when it comes to holding back a movie out of spite, there’s another notable entry in the Warner Bros. catalogue: The Devils.
Originally released in 1971, The Devils was directed by Ken Russell, a British director who was no stranger to controversy (his previous work Women in Love was one of the first mainstream films to feature full frontal male nudity). Based in part on a book by Aldous Huxley, it’s the story of the rise and fall of Urbain Grandier (played by Oliver Reed), a priest who was accused of witchcraft.
The religious element, paired with graphic sex and violence, made the project a tough sell for some. The late Alexander Walker, film critic for The Evening Standard, hated it so much the BBC scheduled a televised debate between him and Russell, who had criticized Walker’s review for containing factual inaccuracies. No footage exists of the event, which culminated in Russell whacking Walker’s head with a copy of the newspaper (the critic subsequently admitted to having been too harsh, though he still disliked the film, when he was interviewed for a documentary a few decades later).
The content also posed major problems in terms of censorship. One scene in particular, dubbed “the Rape of Christ” (where naked nuns sexually defile a statue of Jesus), was completely removed by Warner Bros. even before the film was submitted to the ratings board, and Russell agreed to certain minor cuts elsewhere in the movie in order to obtain an X rating in the UK (the equivalent of an 18 certificate today). Further alterations were made for the US release, where the theatrical cut was approximately 109 minutes long (the UK version was roughly two minutes longer).
The uncut version remained unseen until 2002, when critic Mark Kermode, one of the foremost experts on horror cinema and a personal friend of Russell, uncovered the missing footage in the Warner Bros. vaults and put it back in. It was subsequently shown at one-off events and film festivals on a few occasions, only to then disappear again after Russell’s death in 2011.
There are currently two versions available on home video: the American cut, which is the one Warner Bros. has distributed on home video worldwide, and the UK theatrical edit, which exists only as a special edition DVD issued by the British Film Institute. Guillermo del Toro, another horror connoisseur, has criticized the studio for withholding the full version of the movie, calling it “a true act of censorship”. Kermode has stated that the UK branch of Warner Bros. is perfectly willing to put out Russell’s original cut but has failed to get approval from US headquarters.
In other words, the studio has essentially been sitting on a complete version of what is considered a seminal work of British cinema for almost two decades, seemingly because they don’t like the movie. That attitude is even odder now, in light of the release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which actually required a budget of 70 million dollars to complete the director’s vision. In Russell’s case, the full cut is already available, would require no major expenditure and is the subject of widespread public demand, at least in the UK. Additionally, the film’s 50thanniversary is imminent. What do they stand to lose at this point? #ReleaseTheRussellCut