Isadora *** (1968, Vanessa Redgrave, James Fox, Jason Robards Jr) – Classic Movie Review 6635

Director Karel Reisz’s great-looking 1968 British biopic of the 1920s ‘modern’ dancer Isadora Duncan is flawed but fascinating.

Even if she herself is no dancer, Vanessa Redgrave impresses in an Oscar-nominated performance that exactly captures Isadora’s capricious free spirit. Redgrave won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival and was also Golden Globe nominated for Best Actress – Drama.

But James Fox as Isadora’s Berlin lover Gordon Craig and Jason Robards Jr as Isadora’s industrialist husband Paris Singer are less persuasive than Redgrave, and, unusually, some of the support acting is surprisingly shoddy.

Although the screenplay by the formidable trio of Melvyn Bragg (adaptation and screenplay), Clive Exton (screenplay) and Margaret Drabble (additional dialogue) needs to be much tighter and sharper, the film holds the attention for its intelligence and spiritedness during its entire long running time of 168 minutes.

[Spoiler alert] It helps that there is a big emotional climax. The ending as Isadora is killed when her headscarf is trapped in a car’s wheels is quite heartbreaking.

And the lavish period reconstruction, beautifully photographed by Larry Pizer in gorgeous Eastmancolor, ravishes the eye.

The screenplay is based on two books: My Life by Isadora Duncan and Isadora Duncan, An Intimate Portrait by Sewell Stokes

The cut US version runs 131 minutes, with the director’s cut at 153 minutes. It is also known as The Loves of Isadora.

Also in the cast are Ivan Tchenko [Zvonimir Crnko], John Fraser, Bessie Love, Cynthia Harris, Libby Glenn, Tony Vogel, Wallas Eaton, John Quentin, Nicholas Pennell, Ronnie Gilbert, Margaret Courtenay, Arthur White, John Warner, John Brandon, Ina De La Haye, Lucinda Chambers, Alan Gifford, David Healy, Zuleika Dobson, Noel Davies, Mark Dignam, Roy Stephens and Richard Marner.

It is produced by Robert Hakim and Raymond Hakim, scored by Maurice Jarre, designed by Jocelyn Herbert, Michael Seymour, Ralph Brinton, Bryan Graves and Harry Cordwell, and choreographed by Litz Pisk.

It follows Ken Russell’s admired 1966 TV film Isadora [Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World], with Vivian Pickles.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 6635

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