Movies: Tony Palmer

Gustav Von Aschenbach, a passionate composer, arrives in Venice as a result of wanderlust and there meets a young man by whose beauty he becomes obsessed....

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 grow...

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...

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 den...

A biographical look at the career of the acclaimed Margot Fonteyn. As a little girl called Peggy Hookham growing up in Shanghai, she told her mother she would one day become the greatest dancer in the world. Still performing at the age of 67 despite ...

In 1945, the new Polish government asked for the heart of Chopin previously buried in Paris. A woman called Paulina Czernika approached the government claiming to have some love letters from the composer to her great-grandmother, the Countess Delfina...

A celebratory look at the life of football legend Bobby Moore....

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 es...

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....

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 d...

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...

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....

Making of "200 Motels"....

A portrait of one of England's greatest composers. Winner of the Prix Italia....

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 ...

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,...

A behind-the-scenes look at the Aldeburgh Festival and the opening by The Queen of the new concert hall at Snape....

The story of the last years of Handel....

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 a...

"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,...