Review: This Blu-ray Upgrade of 'Isadora' Falls Short, As Does the Film Itself

Who exactly was Isadora Duncan? Was she part genius and part charlatan, as Ken Russell once described her? Or, was she some kind of hippie matriarch who ripped back the veil on sexuality in the late 19th and early 20th century? The answer is still hotly contested, as she was a famous drunk and had ties to anti-Bolshevists in Russia at a time when tensions were high with the U.S.

Karel Reisz's 1968 drama "Isadora" is also an enigma of sorts, eliding a conventional biopic structure with jarring flashbacks that only move the answer of who Isadora was further away from the audience. Famously whittled down from a 177-minute runtime to 140 minutes as Universal scrambled to find a way to market the film successfully, the film is an oddity that contains brief moments of beauty and an incendiary performance by Vanessa Redgrave, who really disappears into the character. Now available on Blu-ray from Kino Lorber and their
Studio Classics label, the much-maligned biopic is up for reappraisal, although it's still in no way the great film it intends to be.

Heralded as the "high priestess of modern dance," Isadora Duncan (Redgrave) broke taboos across the world with her performances. She also had many scandalous love affairs and suffered from terrible tragedies that changed her forever. We meet Duncan in the final days of her life, living in Nice and recounting her life to a biographer.

"Isadora" has often been compared to "Lawrence of Arabia," and for good reason; both films intend to demystify some of history's most important figures. While David Lean's film reveled in the enigma of T.E. Lawrence, Reisz's works so hard to find a coherent summation of Isadora's life that we're no closer to the answer of who she really was once the credits roll. Again, Reisz's original vision was nearly three hours long and, reportedly, even that version felt like a fleeting glimpse in the short and tragic life of Isadora Duncan.

At 140 minutes, the film feels even more like a haphazardly thrown-together hodgepodge of the most famous moments of Duncan's career and personal life. Yet, it's all anchored by Redgrave's incredible performance that tends to cut through the histrionics of the story to reveal something heartbreaking and maybe even a little bit profound. As Duncan languishes in destitute drunkenness and has trouble retelling her past, we feel an immediacy to a person that will never be able to heal from her trauma. The damage has been done.

The new Blu-ray from Kino Lorber offers an upgraded 1080p video presentation, but it should be noted that the film is more than due for a proper restoration. What we get here is sturdy, but sometimes the nicks, bumps, and scratches find their way through. If Reisz was going for the David Lean style of sweep and beauty in his original vision, I wonder if the colors on the release print look like what we see here. I only recommend this release if you're curious about Redgrave's performance, as that's the one big highlight of the film. Special features include:

� Audio commentary by filmmaker Allan Arkush and film historian Daniel Kremer
� Theatrical trailer

"Isadora"
Blu-ray
$29.95
https://www.klstudioclassics.com/product/view/id/6993