Lisztomania (film) Lisztomania (film) Lisztomania is a 1975 film by Ken Russell about the nineteenth century composer Franz Liszt. The screenplay is derived, in part, from a "kiss-and-tell" book, "Nélida" by Marie d'Agoult (1848), about her affair with Liszt. Depicting the flamboyant Liszt as the first classical pop star, "Lisztomania" features contemporary rock star Roger Daltrey (of The Who) as Franz Liszt. The film was released the same year as "Tommy", which also starred Daltrey and was directed by Russell. Rick Wakeman, from the progressive rock band Yes, composed the "Lisztomania" soundtrack, which included synthesiser arrangements of works by Liszt and Wagner.
Lisztomania (film) probably despise it." Richard Eder of "The New York Times" wrote that for the first half-hour the film is "manic and extremely funny. Then it relapses into a noisy bit of pretentiousness in the manner of its predecessor, 'Tommy': full of flashing lights, satin spacesuits, chrome-lucite furniture and mock agony." Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune" gave the film one star out of four and wrote that "Russell fills the screen with enough outlandish sexual imagery to render one's senses numb. The film's publicists would have you believe 'Lisztomania' is outrageous; on the contrary, it's just boring." Kevin Thomas of