Movies: Tony Palmer

"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 ...

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...

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...

Making of "200 Motels"....

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...

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....

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....

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, i...

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

"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,...

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 num...

70s Butlins documentary, part of a series of films directed by Tony Palmer, which was announced in The Stage [The Stage, 25 July 1974, p.14] "Tony Palmer is directing a new series with Harriet Crawley which will be seen in the HTV area. Tentatively t...

Interviews, footage and photos profile violinist Yehudi Menuhin as prodigy, musician, husband, father and teacher....

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....

The story of Henry Purcell....

Yet more archive film has been found from the famous 1972 tour, which formed the basis of the best-selling 2010 DVD Bird on a Wire. Concert material from the shows in Stockholm, Paris and the Albert Hall, with Cohen at the height of his powers perfor...

Tony Palmer directs this 1970 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....

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...

Tony Palmer’s study of the German composer Paul Hindemith....

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 ...