Ken Russell was only involved with a film based upon The Who's 1969 album Who's Next.
Ken Russell . Russell also directed several films based on the lives of classical music composers , such as Elgar , Delius , Tchaikovsky , Mahler , and Liszt . Later in his life he turned to making low-budget experimental films such as Lion 's Mouth and Revenge of the Elephant Man , and they are as edgy and ` out there ' as ever '' . Tommy is a 1975 British musical fantasy drama film based upon The Who 's 1969 rock opera album Tommy about a seemingly disabled boy who becomes a religious pinball champion .