The Devils is a 1971 historical drama horror film written, produced and directed by Ken Russell, and starring Vanessa Redgrave and Oliver Reed. A dramatised historical account of the fall of Urbain Grandier, a 17th-century Roman Catholic priest accused of witchcraft after the possessions in Loudun, France, the plot also focuses on Sister Jeanne des Anges, a sexually repressed nun who incites the accusations.
Writer-director Ken Russell in 1971
Image: Oliver Reed 1968 (cropped)
Image: Vanessa Redgrave Mary, Queen of Scots
Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films were mainly liberal adaptations of existing texts, or biographies, notably of composers of the Romantic era. Russell began directing for the BBC, where he made creative adaptations of composers' lives which were unusual for the time. He also directed many feature films independently and for studios.
Russell in 1971
Producer Andre de Toth, Ken Russell, and Michael Caine in Helsinki during production of Billion Dollar Brain, in Sofiankatu, Finland (1967)
Russell in 2002