Wagner (film)

Wagner
Genre	Biography drama
Written by	Charles Wood
Directed by	Tony Palmer
Starring	Richard Burton Vanessa Redgrave Gemma Craven Marthe Keller Ronald Pickup László Gálffi Miguel Herz-Kestranek John Gielgud Ralph Richardson Laurence Olivier
Country of origin	UK
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	10
Production
Location(s)	Dublin, Ireland
Cinematography	Vittorio Storaro
Running time	466 minutes
Production company(s)	Hungarofilm
Release
Original release	December 1983

Wagner is a 1983 film on the life of Richard Wagner. The title role was played by Richard Burton. It was directed by Tony Palmer and written by Charles Wood. The film was later released on DVD as a ten-part miniseries.

Other main roles were played by Vanessa Redgrave, Gemma Craven, Marthe Keller, Ronald Pickup, Miguel Herz-Kestranek and László Gálffi. Sir John Gielgud, Sir Ralph Richardson and Sir Laurence Olivier played ministers of Ludwig II of Bavaria.

The music of Wagner was specially recorded for the film, and conducted by Sir Georg Solti.

Tony Palmer's original concept of Wagner was as a feature film. It lasted 7 hours 46 minutes, but it was later edited down to a 5-hour version in which some characters disappeared. Later the film was screened in episodes on television. In 2011 it was re-released in a three-DVD set in its full original version as a feature film, in high definition and widescreen. It had earlier been released on videotape.

It was filmed in many authentic locations including King Ludwig II's castle of Neuschwanstein and Herrenchiemsee, and the Residenz in Munich, Germany. Other locations were in Hungary, Switzerland, Siena, Tuscany, Venice, Vienna and Dublin.

Palmer said of Burton's performance, "Even now – although there were criticisms – I can't think of anybody who could have brought it off better than he did."

The film received glowing reviews from leading journals:

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