Ken Russell’s The Devils, Restored and Uncut

Fifty-five years after it first reached cinemas in a shortened form, Ken Russell’s The Devils is coming back in the version he wanted audiences to see. A new 4K restoration opened in the US on 16 October for a one-week exclusive run, then arrives in UK and Irish cinemas on 30 October through BFI Distribution, in partnership with Warner Bros. Clockwork.

Watch the trailer

The BFI describes it as the first publicly released version of the film as the filmmaker intended, and says no other director’s cut formally exists.

What has been restored

According to the BFI, the cut was reconstructed in 2004 under Russell and his editor Michael Bradsell, working with Mark Kermode and Paul Joyce. The picture has now been restored in 4K from the original camera negative at WB Water Tower Color, and the sound from original composite 35mm magnetic film at WB Sound.

The finished version had its premiere at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in May as an official selection in Cannes Classics. The festival lists it at 114 minutes. Warner Bros. Clockwork released the official trailer in August.

The film

Produced by Warner Bros. in 1971, The Devils stars Oliver Reed as Urbain Grandier, the 17th-century priest accused of witchcraft after reported possessions at a convent in Loudun, France, and Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Jeanne, the nun whose obsession with him sets the accusations in motion. Gemma Jones also appears.

The credits behind the camera are part of the draw. David Watkin shot it, Derek Jarman designed it in his first feature, Shirley Russell made the costumes and Peter Maxwell Davies wrote the score. According to the BFI, Russell won best director at the 33rd Venice International Film Festival.

Stuart Brown, the BFI’s director of programme and distribution, ranks it among the great works of British cinema and says the BFI is pleased to partner with Warner Bros. Clockwork on the restoration.

A centenary to come

The release is the opening act of a longer celebration. Russell was born on 3 July 1927, and BFI Southbank will mark his centenary with a retrospective in July and August 2027. The BFI says it will run from his amateur films of the 1950s through his 1960s work for the BBC to every feature he released in cinemas, with some television work screened from original prints held by the BFI National Archive.

For anyone who knows The Devils only by reputation, the 30 October release is the first chance to see this cut on a cinema screen in the UK.

Why this cut matters

Until now, British viewers at home have had only a shorter version. In its 2023 guide Where to begin with Ken Russell, the BFI called it “the ultimate Ken Russell film” and the natural starting point for newcomers, while noting that the longest easily available version was the censored UK theatrical cut on the BFI’s own DVD. A partial restoration made in 2003 was never released commercially, and the American version was recut more heavily still.

Beyond its Venice prize, the BFI says Russell was also named best director by the US National Board of Review for the film, and it counts Guillermo del Toro and Mark Kermode among its champions. Stuart Brown, the BFI’s director of programme and distribution, calls it “one of the great masterpieces of British cinema”. The restoration’s US week was handled by Warner Bros. Clockwork, which will also release it in other territories; dates outside the US, the UK and Ireland have not been announced.

Where to start with Russell before the centenary

With the BFI Southbank retrospective still months away, two BFI discs cover much of the ground the BFI’s guide recommends.

• Women in Love (1969) pairs Oliver Reed with the director two years before The Devils, alongside Alan Bates, Jennie Linden and Glenda Jackson, whose performance won her the Academy Award. The BFI Blu-ray runs 131 minutes, carries a 15 certificate and sells for £16.99 from the BFI Shop.
• Ken Russell: The Great Composers collects three of the BBC films the BFI guide singles out: Elgar (1962), The Debussy Film (1965) and Song of Summer (1968), his portrait of Frederick Delius. The dual-format Blu-ray and DVD set is £19.99.

The same BFI guide points newcomers next towards Tommy, Altered States and Crimes of Passion, and steers them away from Lisztomania and The Lair of the White Worm as too overwhelming for a first visit.

For more British cinema history, see Hammer Horror, Where to Begin and The Ealing Comedies, in Order. On how studio vaults such as Warner’s shape what gets restored, see Who Owns Hollywood’s Classic Films?

Where to watch

• Ken Russell’s The Devils (4K restoration): selected US cinemas, a one-week exclusive engagement that opened on Friday 16 October (Warner Bros. Clockwork)
• UK and Ireland: cinemas from Friday 30 October (BFI Distribution)
• Ken Russell centenary retrospective: BFI Southbank, London, July and August 2027
• Women in Love (1969): BFI Blu-ray · UK · £16.99, certificate 15
• Ken Russell: The Great Composers (Elgar, The Debussy Film, Song of Summer): BFI dual-format Blu-ray and DVD · UK · £19.99

Sources

• BFI: Ken Russell’s The Devils definitive 4K restoration to launch ahead of major BFI retrospective
• Festival de Cannes: Ken Russell’s The Devils, Cannes Classics 2026 film page
• Warner Bros. Clockwork: Ken Russell’s The Devils official trailer
• BFI: Where to begin with Ken Russell, by Michael Brooke, 4 Sept 2023
• BFI Shop: Women in Love Blu-ray, read 23 Oct 2026
• BFI Shop: Ken Russell: The Great Composers dual format, read 23 Oct 2026