Movies: Tony Palmer

In underworld terms, Chas Devlin is a 'performer,' a gangster with a talent for violence and intimidation. Turner is a reclusive rock superstar. When Chas and Turner meet, their worlds collide—and the impact is both exotic and explosive....

A one-hour documentary on the making of Frank Zappa's bizarre 1971 comic musical. Vintage private footage from Frank's personal archives plus behind-the-scenes of the actual shooting and recording. With Ringo Starr, Theodore Bikel, Keith Moon and suc...

"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 ...

Soldier of fortune, Monroe Bieler, is sent to dole out some American-style justice when the wife and child of an African president are kidnapped by terrorists....

Tony Palmer's award-winning feature-length documentary profile of Richard Burton....

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...

The story of the great Soviet composer Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) and his life and career during the rule of Stalin....

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....

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....

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...

After disbanding the original Mothers of Invention in '69, Frank Zappa unleashed a second incarnation of the band by '70. This film focuses on the sophomore Mothers and this often-overlooked period in Zappa's career. Featuring rare footage, exclusive...

Documentary about Butlins...

Originally a BBC documentary, this film by Tony Palmer about the 1960's music scene was later released as a standalone DVD by the BFI...

This emotional film by the award-winning director Tony Palmer includes a performance of the “Third Symphony” by The London Sinfonietta alongside powerful footage of Górecki at Auschwitz and Birkenau....

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....

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 ...

1969's Apollo 11 mission to the moon is highlighted in this tribute to the history of the United States' space program....

A collection of unedited interviews with Vangelis recorded for the film Vangelis and The Journey To Ithaca in September 2008, which was subsequently finished without Tony Palmer....

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