Enfant terrible director Ken Russell and 70s supergroup The Who combine forces to memorable excess in this 1975 screen version of Pete Townshend's now classic 'rock opera'.

Roger Daltrey plays Tommy Walker, a boy struck deaf, dumb and blind by a childhood trauma who, through encounters with such outrageous characters as The Pinball Wizard and The Acid Queen, grows up to find fame and salvation as both a master pinball player and a religious cult figure.

The Who are joined by music greats Eric Clapton, Elton John and Tina Turner and stars of the calibre of Jack Nicholson and Ann-Margret for an over-the-top musical and dramatic extravaganza that is now indisputably part of music and movie cult history.

On the DVD: Tommy comes to DVD in a two-disc set, with the feature on disc one accompanied by three audio tracks: Dolby Stereo or 5.1 surround, as well as the original "Quintaphonic" surround mix--a unique experience with effectively two pairs of stereo tracks plus a centre track for the vocals. The anamorphic picture adequately recreates the original theatrical ratio. The second disc has a series of lengthy and illuminating new interviews with the main (surviving) players: Townshend, Russell, Daltrey and Ann-Margret, in which we learn among other things, that Daltrey wasn't Townshend's first choice for the role, that Stevie Wonder was the original preference for the Pinball Wizard, and that Ken Russell had never heard of any of these rock stars before agreeing to helm the movie. There's also a feature on the original sound mix and its restoration for DVD. All in all, a satisfying package for fans of one of the daftest chapters in the annals of rock music.

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Tommy UK 2 Dvd Set
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