Self
Tony Palmer appeared at Harrogate Film Festival on 12 March 2020 as part of a celebration of his work which included a screening of Mighty Good, his television documentary about the Beatles era. This independent documentary feature chronicles that occasion, while probing deeper into the life and work of Palmer.
Writer
War footage meets the Bee Gees, Elton John, Tina Turner, Peter Gabriel, Bryan Ferry and others as they belt out new arrangements of Beatles songs. The result is a truly original anti-war musical.
Director
War footage meets the Bee Gees, Elton John, Tina Turner, Peter Gabriel, Bryan Ferry and others as they belt out new arrangements of Beatles songs. The result is a truly original anti-war musical.
Director
A collection of unedited interviews with Vangelis recorded for the film Vangelis and The Journey To Ithaca in September 2008, which was subsequently finished without Tony Palmer.
Editor
Tony Palmer directs this documentary exploring the life and work of the celebrated English composer, conductor and pianist. Britten is particularly well known for his operas, which include 'Peter Grimes' and 'Death in Venice'. Palmer discusses the life experiences that influenced Britten's work, such as the turmoil of World War II, which horrified his pacifistic nature, and reflects on the role of an artist in such troubled times.
Director
Tony Palmer directs this documentary exploring the life and work of the celebrated English composer, conductor and pianist. Britten is particularly well known for his operas, which include 'Peter Grimes' and 'Death in Venice'. Palmer discusses the life experiences that influenced Britten's work, such as the turmoil of World War II, which horrified his pacifistic nature, and reflects on the role of an artist in such troubled times.
A run-down hotel room, a piano, a maid and the guests who stay there. Life begins, life ends, and lives are changed forever in the piano room.
Self
Keep on Burning tells the fascinating story of the world's most enduring underground music movement: Northern Soul. Featuring key DJ's, journalists and promoters, including soul radio pioneer Tony Blackburn, Marc Almond and key DJ's, journalists and promoters.
Director
Director Tony Palmer tells the incredible life story of Athol Fugard, the prolific playwright, novelist, and director who exposed the horrors of South Africa's apartheid system for the entire world to see. Interviews with Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela, Yvonne Bryceland and others help to illuminate Fugard's remarkable legacy.
Director
From director Tony Palmer, telling the story of Gustav Holst. The first ever film about this english composer.
Director
Tony Palmer directs this 1971 documentary about Scottish bass player and former Cream member Jack Bruce. The film tracks Bruce's life from his childhood in the Gorbals to the height of his fame with Cream and beyond.
Writer
"Bird on a Wire" follows Leonard Cohen on his 1972 European tour.
Director
"Bird on a Wire" follows Leonard Cohen on his 1972 European tour.
Director
Banned by the BBC in 1971, director Tony Palmer's profile of the late Peter Sellers was, in the words of the film's subject himself, "the only portrait which really understood me." Sellers was an icon of comedy and a true innovator, but a look inside reveals a tragic figure. How could one of the world's most beloved comic talents have such a morbidly distorted opinion of himself? In this documentary, interviews with such friends, fans, and colleagues as Raquel Welch, Yul Brenner, Spike Milligan, Laurence Harvey, and others reveal the true personality behind the man who was loved by everyone, but still viewed himself as entirely alone.
Himself
A rare look at Led Zeppelin, from their humble beginnings to their status as rock gods. The unique chemistry between singer Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist John Paul Jones & drummer John Bonham led to tensions within the band, but were essential to their success. Take a journey where incredible heights and extreme lows helped forge one of the greatest rock bands ever.
Director
Directed by renowned British film director Tony Palmer, this film captures the band at the Maidstone Fiesta during the summer of 1970 as they run through their set of the time. This included various jigs and reels, and the songs Sir Patrick Spens and Now Be Thankful. The film also features two songs from Matthews Southern Comfort, the band led by former Fairport Convention member, Ian Matthews.
Director
Award-winning filmmaker Tony Palmer directs this riveting documentary on the life and times of influential English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. With archived performances by conductor Sir Adrian Boult and stirring musical passages from "The Tallis Fantasia" and "The Lark Ascending," among others, Palmer's film also features interviews with Vaughan and his beloved wife, Ursula.
Writer
Shot over the course of a year, this intimate portrait of provocative composer John Adams presents scenes of the artist at work and at play against the backdrop of dramatic American landscapes that reflect the themes of his music. Though he has a number of credits to his name, Adams is best known for his unconventional opera "Nixon in China," which explores the former U.S. president's meeting with Mao Zedong in 1972.
Director
Shot over the course of a year, this intimate portrait of provocative composer John Adams presents scenes of the artist at work and at play against the backdrop of dramatic American landscapes that reflect the themes of his music. Though he has a number of credits to his name, Adams is best known for his unconventional opera "Nixon in China," which explores the former U.S. president's meeting with Mao Zedong in 1972.
Director
This film is a biographical look at the career of the acclaimed Margot Fonteyn.
Director
A documentary portrait of composer Malcolm Arnold. Broadcast in two parts on The South Bank Show but premiered in its entirety at the Royal Festival Hall
Director
A look at the life of Bobby Moore
Director
Director
Richard Wagner's operatic retelling of the story of the search for the Holy Grail receives a lavish production in this video, which records performances held in Bayreuth, St. Petersburg, and Ravello, Italy. Internationally renowned tenor Placido Domingo leads the distinguished cast; Tony Palmer directs.
Director
The life of composer, conductor, pianist and Oscar-winner Andre Previn, filmed during a year which culminated in the world premiere of his first opera, A Streetcar Named Desire, in San Francisco. Wherever he went, the camera followed. To Tokyo for a concert with Kiri Te Kanawa. To Philadelphia for a teaching session in the Curtis Institute. To Tanglewood for an incredible jazz improvisation recording of Gershwin Variations. To New York to play with the Ray Brown Trio at the Blue Note Club. To Vienna with the Vienna Philharmonic. To Washington DC for a concert with the Emerson Quartet. To Boston for a conductor's masterclass with, among others, Daniel Harding. And, of course, the rehearsals and first performance of Streetcar with the incomparable Renee Fleming and director Colin Graham.
Director
Tony Palmer tells the life story of Sergei Rachmaninoff through the use of home movies, concert footage, and interviews. John Gielgud reads from Rachmaninoff's diaries in a voiceover.
Director
This is Palmer's highly controversial portrait of Brahms - a film that exploded the familiar image of 'stodgy old bearded Brahms' - a man whose first musical experience had been playing an upright piano in the brothels of Hamburg where he had grown up, and who at the end of his life lived a bachelor in Vienna having his every need satisfied by the prostitutes of the city whom he always affectionately described as his ‘little singing girls'. It is a celebration - of Brahms' unabashed, life-enhancing, sexually explosive music. Warren Mitchell portrays the composer
Director
The story of Henry Purcell.
Director
Director
Rose Sellars is a middle-aged woman who falls in love with a widower. However, his children believe that their father is too old to start a new relationship.
Producer
The story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin.
Production Design
The story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin.
Editor
The story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin.
Writer
The story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin.
Director
The story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin.
Director
Tony Palmer's award-winning feature-length documentary profile of Richard Burton.
Himself
A one-hour documentary on the making of Frank Zappa's bizarre 1971 comic musical. Vintage private footage from Frank's personal archives plus behind-the-scenes of the actual shooting and recording. With Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, Keith Moon and such songs as "Sleeping in a Jar," and "Strictly Genteel." The inside history of the first feature-length film to be shot on video in 6 days.
Writer
Soldier of fortune, Monroe Bieler, is sent to dole out some American-style justice when the wife and child of an African president are kidnapped by terrorists.
Director
The story of the last years of Handel.
Director
In Torre del Lago, by Lake Massaciuccoli, Puccini is writing "The Girl of the Golden West" when his wife Elvira accuses him of a dalliance with their maid, Doria Manfredi, a young women from town. Although the maestro is frequently unfaithful, he denies the affair; Elvira insists she's right and publicly hounds Doria. Between scenes in this domestic drama that turns tragic, we watch a Scottish company rehearse and stage "Turandot," Puccini's last opera. The film finds parallels between the two stories and suggests that in the opera, Puccini expresses love for his wife and guilt in Doria's fate. Three local gentlemen provide a spoken chorus as Puccini's score plays throughout.
Director
This autobiographical film about the most important and influential composer of the 20th century includes documents, photographs and film never seen publicly before. Stravinsky's three surviving children talk about their father and there are contributions from the late Madame Vera Stravinsky, his music associate Robert Craft, Marie Rambert, Balanchine, Nadia Boulanger and many friends. Included in the film are important performances: Les Noces has never before been heard in this, its original form, and the choreography of Petrushka was specially recreated for the film by the Bolshoi and was not seen in this form since 1911. Finally, there is priceless film of Stravinsky himself in this unique film.
Editor
Início do século XX. Gustav von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde) é um compositor austríaco que vai para Veneza buscando repouso, após um período de estresse artístico e pessoal. Porém ele não encontra a paz desejada, pois logo desenvolve uma paixão por um jovem, Tadzio (Björn Andrésen), que está em férias com sua família. Tadzio incorpora o ideal de beleza que von Aschenbach sempre imaginou e pensa em ir embora antes de cometer um ato impensado, mas sua bagagem foi para outra cidade, obrigando-o a permanecer ali. Além disto a cólera asiática começa a chegar em Veneza.
Director
Início do século XX. Gustav von Aschenbach (Dirk Bogarde) é um compositor austríaco que vai para Veneza buscando repouso, após um período de estresse artístico e pessoal. Porém ele não encontra a paz desejada, pois logo desenvolve uma paixão por um jovem, Tadzio (Björn Andrésen), que está em férias com sua família. Tadzio incorpora o ideal de beleza que von Aschenbach sempre imaginou e pensa em ir embora antes de cometer um ato impensado, mas sua bagagem foi para outra cidade, obrigando-o a permanecer ali. Além disto a cólera asiática começa a chegar em Veneza.
Director
A documentary by Tony Palmer on English composer Sir William Walton (1902–1983), made shortly before his death. The film includes the only full-length interview ever recorded with Walton. Filmed at his home on Ischia and in Oxford, London & Oldham, it includes contributions from Laurence Olivier, Sacheverell Sitwell and Lady Susana Walton. Specially performed extracts of his music are conducted by Simon Rattle in his first substantial contribution to television when he was in his early 20s, with Simon Preston, Julian Bream, Yvonne Kenny, Yehudi Menuhin, Iona Brown, John Shirley-Quirk, Elgar Howarth & Ralph Kirshbaum, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band, Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford & Los Paraguayos.
Writer
1969's Apollo 11 mission to the moon is highlighted in this tribute to the history of the United States' space program.
Director
1969's Apollo 11 mission to the moon is highlighted in this tribute to the history of the United States' space program.
Director
A portrait of one of England's greatest composers. Winner of the Prix Italia.
Director
Narrated by cinema legend Franco Zeffirelli, this intimate made-for-television documentary traces the life and times of the mercurial Maria Callas, one of the most renowned and respected operatic divas of the mid-20th century. Rare authentic footage, candid interviews and breathtaking performances help paint a portrait of an artist remembered as much for her quick and explosive temper as she is for her immeasurable talent.
Director
Documentary covering the famous Wigan Casino northern soul venue and the working class kids who spend all their money not on alcohol but on records and dancing all night.
Director
No musical group has had as profound an impact on pop music as The Beatles. Tony Palmer's groundbreaking documentary gives us an intimate look at one of the most influential groups in musical history.
Director
"Four Ways to Say Farewell" is a personal introduction to Mahler and his Ninth Symphony, during which Leonard Bernstein is seen and heard rehearsing the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Filmed in 1971, this rehearsal was directed by Humphrey Burton,
Director
Irish Tour '74 is a film which captures the artist, his music, the period and the place with perfection. Filmed in January 1974 at Belfast Ulster Hall, Dublin Carlton Cinema and Cork City Hall.
Director
Documentary about Butlins
Editor
Director Tony Palmer exposes the harsh underbelly of the famed Miss World beauty contest, going beneath the glamour to reveal a hotbed of bullying, and sexism. At once tragic, funny, and deeply moving, this document of gender power dynamics remains as relevant today as it was upon its release in 1974.
Director
Director Tony Palmer exposes the harsh underbelly of the famed Miss World beauty contest, going beneath the glamour to reveal a hotbed of bullying, and sexism. At once tragic, funny, and deeply moving, this document of gender power dynamics remains as relevant today as it was upon its release in 1974.
Director
In November 1971, Ginger Baker, the legendary drummer of Cream and Blind Faith, decided to set up a recording studio in Lagos, then the capital of Nigeria. Baker was one of the first rock musicians to realize the potential of African music. He also decided that it would be a rewarding musical experience to travel to Nigeria over land across the Sahara desert - a journey that would lead him into a number of adventures. This film by Tony Palmer follows Ginger Baker's odyssey as he makes his journey and finally arrives in Nigeria to set up his studio, which would run successfully through the seventies as a facility for both local and western musicians (Paul McCartney's Wings recorded "Band On The Run" there).
Director
This 1973 documentary by the award-winning director Tony Palmer shone a light on the multi-millionaire Hugh Hefner and his Playboy empire. It gave Hefner the opportunity to tell his story and, of course, it offended the usual suspects - Mary Whitehouse, the Daily Express and many more.
Editor
In 1976 the pianist, entertainer and one of the biggest stars of the day, published a coffee table book about his collection of homes, jewellery and costumes called The Things I Love. This DVD is nothing more-nor-less than precisely that, as told to the acclaimed film-maker Tony Palmer. Liberace himself takes us on a guided tour of his Hollywood and Palm Springs homes and his treasured possessions.
Director
In 1976 the pianist, entertainer and one of the biggest stars of the day, published a coffee table book about his collection of homes, jewellery and costumes called The Things I Love. This DVD is nothing more-nor-less than precisely that, as told to the acclaimed film-maker Tony Palmer. Liberace himself takes us on a guided tour of his Hollywood and Palm Springs homes and his treasured possessions.
Writer
"Touring makes you crazy," Frank Zappa says, explaining that the idea for this film came to him while the Mothers of Invention were touring. The story, interspersed with performances by the Mothers and the Royal Symphony Orchestra, is a tale of life on the road. The band members' main concerns are the search for groupies and the desire to get paid.
Cinematography
"Touring makes you crazy," Frank Zappa says, explaining that the idea for this film came to him while the Mothers of Invention were touring. The story, interspersed with performances by the Mothers and the Royal Symphony Orchestra, is a tale of life on the road. The band members' main concerns are the search for groupies and the desire to get paid.
Director
"Touring makes you crazy," Frank Zappa says, explaining that the idea for this film came to him while the Mothers of Invention were touring. The story, interspersed with performances by the Mothers and the Royal Symphony Orchestra, is a tale of life on the road. The band members' main concerns are the search for groupies and the desire to get paid.
Editor
A primeira de várias incursões de Jagger no cinema, o pôlemico Performance sofreu várias montagens diferentes até seu lançamento. Um gângster (James Fox) jurado de morte por seus pares se refugia na mansão de um rockstar decadente (Mick Jagger), junto com duas garotas andróginas (Anita Pallenberg e Michelle Breton), e lá tem seus sentidos testados por um coquetel de drogas e perversão. Ao mesmo tempo, há um choque entre os mundo do gângster e do roqueiro, com suas diferenças.
Director
A BBC documentary portrait of Peter Sellers, filmed over a period of nine months in 1969 where director Tony Palmer interviews Sellers and friends and associates about the actor's career and life. At age 44, with 38 films already behind him, including Dr. Strangelove and two "Pink Panther" films, Sellers was then at the crest of his career. But his personal life, which included two bad marriages (and two more to come), a near-fatal 1964 heart attack, and increasingly disturbing personality disorders, was in tatters.
Director
Originally a BBC documentary, this film by Tony Palmer about the 1960's music scene was later released as a standalone DVD by the BFI
Director
The historic Farewell Concert at Albert Hall in London by one of rock's greatest groups has been dynamically recorded in this film by Robert Stigwood. The group, composed of Eric Clapton on lead guitar, Jack Bruce on bass and lead vocals, and Ginger Baker on drums, give an electrifying performance that is as exciting to watch as it is to hear. Each of the musicians has gone on to become a superstar in his own right, and we get to see fascinating backstage interviews with all of them. Highlights include the long version of "Sunshine of Your Love" and "White Room" along with other Cream hits.
Writer
Director
Director
The German electronic band performs a live concert at the Reims Cathedral.
