|
1966 Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World
The dancer Isadora Duncan who dies when her scarf is caught in the wheels of a open roof sports car and she was strangled. The film must have the fastest start ever in a film, Duncan dancing frenetically, her clothes falling off till she is carried off the stage still dancing and the audience go wild. After this typical Russell shock-start, with no credits, the films switches to a voice-over (compare Valentino) of Isadora´s life, then moves to traditional documentary stock shots of Greece and a historian talking. The Greek scenes were not by Russell, presumably added by Huw Weldon. The commentary is typical BBC for the time and not typical of Russell "lack of fires and thin tunics make stoicism an essential part of the curriculum".
Wild imagery is present throughout: the cripple (played by Ken Russell) rescuing Isadora from the sea after her suicide attempt, Isadora kissing her lover in the hearse over the coffins of her two dead children as a band of musicians play on top of the hearse.
In the second half the film does begin to flag. There is little dialogue (mainly mime or speechmaking) but what dialogue exists is very bad (acting and writing) and the dancing is another problem. It becomes increasingly clear that Vivian Pickles cannot dance beyond running in circles and waving her arms in the air- this makes a film about one of the most famous dancers ever difficult and no editing and close up of hands can get around it. The film lags into sentimentality, with lots of dancing children, until the shocking death. Despite the bad parts, still worth seeing. Some regular Russell images occurs: the beach scene, water reflecting sun and out of focus, a cripple, women dancing arms in air, fire and water, a doll in the water, a failed suicide (compare The Music Lovers), a film in a film (slide show). The dancing children are similar to those in Ken's amateur film Amelia and the Angel. The Singer sewing machine would come back much later in Martinu, the pool scene in Lady Chatterley and the veils in Salome. This is one of Russell's favourite films. Rudolf Nuryev the dancer disliked the film and was one of the reasons there were problems starting Nijinsky (which never got made). Nuryev later starred in Valentino. Vivian Pickles stars. Others include Alex Jawdokinov (who was also in Billion Dollar Brain, Music Lovers and Savage Messiah and would later act alongside Ken in The Russia House), Iza Teller (Dante's Inferno and the films Billion Dollar Brain and The Devils) and Alita Naughton of French Dressing. Ken has a cameo role. The script was by Ken and Sewell Stokes who then re-did Isadora with Melvyn Bragg and Vanessa Regdrave. Camerawork was by Dick Bush and Brian Tufano (Trainspotting), editing was by Michael Bradsell and costumes by Shirley Russell and Joyce Hammond. A flawed classic. |
