Isadora **** (1966, Vivian Pickles, Peter Bowles, Alexei Jawdokimov, Murray Melvin) – Classic Movie Review 10,395

Isadora (1966) is the vivacious, deservedly much admired Ken Russell TV movie version of the life of the 1920s American dancer Isadora Duncan, with a most compelling, attractive and genial lead performance by Vivian Pickles and inventive writing and direction from a high-spirited Russell, who appeals directly to the emotions of laughter and tears.

One of Russell’s great TV triumphs, now a classic of the medium, it is tight, incisive and caustic in contrast to the 1968 Vanessa Redgrave cinema movie Isadora that it sparked off.

The original title was Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World.

Also in the cast are Peter Bowles, Alexei Jawdokimov, Murray Melvin, Jeanne Le Bars, Sandor Elès, Alita Naughton, and Ken Russell.

Isadora [Isadora Duncan, the Biggest Dancer in the World] is directed by Ken Russell, runs 75 minutes, is made and released by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) (1966) (UK), written by Ken Russell and Sewell Stokes, shot in black and white by Dick Bush and Roger Crittenden, produced by Ken Russell, designed by Luciana Arrighi and choreographed by Bice Ballaire.

Russell described Isadora as ‘part genius and part charlatan’.

Russell jokily shot the prison corridor in a BBC corridor.

Its American TV network premiere was on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in 1978.

It is released on DVD by BFI Video (2016) (UK).

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,395

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