Pavlova – A Woman for All Time

A rendering of highlights from the life of the celebrated dancer, this is less an entertainment than the by-product of a dotty Western/Soviet trade deal. The film was in negotiation for years before it went before the cameras and then, very briefly, before a few unenthusiastic spectators. All that keeps its memory alive is the footnote it adds to the career of Michael Powell, nominally supervising the film's suitability for anglophone audiences. During the diplomatic cosying up on the project, wildly improbable casting options were aired, including Brando as Diaghilev. As it turned out, the cast was fairly improbable anyway - Scorsese, Bruce Forsyth, Roy Kinnear, none of whom, alas, plays Diaghilev either.