Production Budget Analysis

What was the production budget for The Devils?

Directed by Ken Russell, with Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton leading the cast, The Devils was produced by Russo Productions with a confirmed budget of $2,000,000, placing it in the micro-budget category for drama films.

At $2,000,000, The Devils was produced on a lean budget. Lower-budget films benefit from reduced break-even thresholds, with profitability achievable at approximately $5,000,000.

Budget Comparison — Similar Productions

• Seven Samurai (1954): Budget $2,000,000 | Gross $105,000,000 → ROI: 5150% • The Great Dictator (1940): Budget $2,000,000 | Gross $11,000,000 → ROI: 450% • Sing Sing (2024): Budget $2,000,000 | Gross $3,401,789 → ROI: 70% • The Lives of Others (2006): Budget $2,000,000 | Gross $77,672,685 → ROI: 3784% • Anatomy of a Murder (1959): Budget $2,000,000 | Gross $8,000,000 → ROI: 300%

Key Budget Allocation Categories

▸ Above-the-Line Talent Drama films live or die on the strength of their performances. Securing award-caliber actors and experienced directors represents the single largest budget line item, often consuming 30–40% of the total production budget.

▸ Location Filming & Period Production Design Authentic locations — whether contemporary or historical — require scouting, permits, travel, lodging, and often significant dressing to match the story's time period. Period dramas add the cost of era-accurate props, vehicles, and set decoration.

▸ Post-Production, Color Grading & Score The editorial process for dramas is typically longer than genre films, with careful attention to pacing and tone. Color grading, a nuanced musical score, and detailed sound mixing are critical to achieving the emotional resonance that defines the genre.

Key Production Personnel

CAST: Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Dudley Sutton, Max Adrian, Gemma Jones Key roles: Vanessa Redgrave as Sister Jeanne des Anges; Oliver Reed as Father Urbain Grandier; Dudley Sutton as Baron de Laubardemont; Max Adrian as Ibert

DIRECTOR: Ken Russell CINEMATOGRAPHY: David Watkin MUSIC: Peter Maxwell Davies EDITING: Michael Bradsell PRODUCTION: Russo Productions FILMED IN: United Kingdom

Box Office Performance

The Devils earned $2,000,000 domestically and $9,000,000 internationally, for a worldwide total of $11,000,000. International markets drove the majority of revenue (82%), indicating strong global appeal.

Break-Even Analysis

Using the industry-standard 2.5x multiplier (P&A + exhibitor shares of 40–50% + distribution fees), The Devils needed approximately $5,000,000 to break even. The film surpassed this threshold by $6,000,000.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Revenue: $11,000,000 Budget: $2,000,000 Net: $9,000,000 ROI: 450.0%

Profitability Assessment

VERDICT: Highly Profitable

The Devils was a clear financial success, generating $11,000,000 worldwide against a $2,000,000 production budget — a 450% ROI. After estimated marketing costs, the film still delivered substantial profit to Russo Productions.

INDUSTRY IMPACT

The outsized success of The Devils likely influenced studio greenlight decisions for similar drama projects.

The Devils has been cited as one of the most controversial films of all time by such critics as Richard Crouse, among others. Filmsite included it in their list of the 100 most controversial films ever made, and in 2015, Time Out magazine ranked it 47 on their list of the "50 Most Controversial Movies in History".

Following his transition into experimental filmmaking, Jarman produced the Super 8 short film The Devils at the Elgin (1974). Described by Sam Ashby as a "hypnotic, nightmarish monochrome that loops some of the more religious iconographic moments" from Russell's original, the film was captured from a screening of The Devils at the Elgin Theater in New York City. Jarman noted that Maddeline's escape from Loudun in the original film's ending gave the impression that "she walks into a blizzard of ashes" when rendered on Super 8 stock. When screening The Devils at the Elgin at festivals or his studio, Jarman would synchronize the film to a cassette tape recording of Nico's cover version of the Doors' song "The End".

Film historian Joel W.

PRODUCTION NOTES

▸ Casting

Oliver Reed, who had worked with Russell previously on Women in Love, was cast as Urbain Grandier, the philandering doomed priest. Richard Johnson, who had portrayed Grandier in a stage production of The Devils, had originally been attached to the project in 1969, but eventually dropped out of the production. Russell later claimed that he felt Jackson had actually turned down the role because it had been truncated from his original screenplay. Jackson was replaced by Vanessa Redgrave.

Max Adrian was cast as inquisitor Ibert (in his second-to-last film performance), while Dudley Sutton, who had become a cult figure for his performance in The Leather Boys (1964), agreed to appear in the film as Baron de Laubardemont. Sutton recalled that all of the "respectable actors turned it down. They thought it was blasphemous, which it is not." In the role of Father Mignon, a priest who attempts to usurp Grandier's power, Russell cast Murray Melvin, despite the fact that he was decades younger than the character, who was intended to be in his eighties. Michael Gothard, an English character actor, was cast as self-professed witch hunter Father Barre. Russell cast Christopher Logue, an occasional actor who was mainly known as a poet and literary scholar, as the vengeful Cardinal Richelieu.

As Philippe, the young woman Grandier impregnates, Russell cast television actress Georgina Hale. Judith Paris, originally a dancer, was cast as Sister Agnes, Richelieu's niece who enters the convent under the guise of becoming a nun in order to gather information on Sister Jeanne. In the credits, her role is mislabeled as "Sister Judith".

▸ Filming & Locations

Filming began 17 August 1970 in London at Pinewood Studios. The Devils marked Jarman's debut in the film industry; having previously worked in theatre, he was introduced to Russell by his friend, Hornsey College of Art teacher Janet Detuer and agreed to work on the film after seeing Women in Love. His set for Loudun, which took three months to design, was the largest set constructed on Pinewood's backlot since Cleopatra (1963), and was influenced by the works of neoclassical artists such as Claude Nicolas Ledoux, Étienne-Louis Boullée and Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Russell and Jarman were further influenced by the blank white sets of Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and the cityscape in Fritz Lang's Metropolis (1927). The interiors of many buildings, specifically the convent, were crafted with plaster and made to appear as masonry; the plaster designs were then nailed to plywood framework. According to Christopher Hobbs, the film's prop designer, Jarman "was very inexperienced, and found the work exhaustive and difficult", but Russell was very supportive of his ideas and designs.

Director Russell hired a large cast of extras, whom he later referred to as "a bad bunch" who were demanding, and alleged that one of the female extras appearing as a civilian was sexually assaulted by another male extra. Jones recalled that Reed, who at the time had a reputation for being disruptive and confrontational, was extremely kind to her on set, and "behaved impeccably". Sutton recalled of Redgrave that she was "always an adventurous type of person" on the set, in terms of exploring her character and interacting with the other performers. Russell echoed this sentiment, referring to Redgrave as "one of the least bothersome actresses I could ever wish for; she just threw herself into it."

Additional photography occurred at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, England.

▸ Music & Score

The film's score was composed for a small ensemble by Peter Maxwell Davies. Russell was reportedly intrigued by Davies' composition Eight Songs for a Mad King, which had provoked strong reactions when it was premiered in 1969. Davies reportedly took the job because he was interested in the late medieval and Renaissance historical period depicted in the film. He went on to write a score for Russell's next film, The Boy Friend. Australian promoter James Murdoch, who was also Davies' agent, was involved in organising the music for both these films.

The score was recorded by Davies' regular collaborators the Fires of London who took on extra players as the score required more instruments than their basic line-up. Davies' music is complemented by period music (including a couple of numbers from Terpsichore), performed by the Early Music Consort of London under the direction of David Munrow. In 1974, the Fires of London and the Early Music Consort of London gave a performance of a concert suite of the music at the Proms. Terpsichore, which was not well known when the film was made, has become a popular choice for concert hall performances, and Davies' contributions to the soundtrack have also been revived in the concert hall.

AWARDS & RECOGNITION

Summary: 4 wins total

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CRITICAL RECEPTION

The Devils received significant negative critical reaction upon its release due to its "outrageous", "overheated", and "pornographic" nature. The film was publicly condemned by the Vatican, who, though acknowledging that it contained some artistic merit, asked that its screenings at the Venice International Film Festival be cancelled. Judith Crist called the film a "grand fiesta for sadists and perverts", while Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film a rare zero-star rating, sarcastically mocking it as overly self-important. Pauline Kael wrote in The New Yorker that Russell "doesn't report hysteria, he markets it." Vincent Canby, writing for The New York Times, noted that the film contains "silly, melodramatic effects", and felt that the performances were hindered by the nature of the screenplay, writing: "Oliver Reed suggests some recognizable humanity as poor Father Grandier, but everyone else is ridiculous. Vanessa Redgrave, who can be, I think, a fine actress, plays Sister Jeanne with a plastic hump, a Hansel-and-Gretel giggle, and so much sibilance that when she says 'Satan is ever ready to seduce us with sensual delights', you might think that Groucho Marx had let the air out of her tires."

Critic Pauline Kael wrote that while the "critics were turned off by the madness" that the audiences "were turned on by it."

Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times lambasted the film, writing that its message is "not anti-clerical—there's hardly enough clericalism to be anti anymore—it is anti-humanity. A rage against cruelty has become a celebration of it... you weep not for the evils and the ignorance of the past, but for the cleverness and sickness of the day." Ann Guarino of the New York Daily News noted that the film "could not be more anti-Catholic in tone or more sensationalized in treatment", but conceded that the performances in the film were competent.