CARNEYVA

This film could almost be viewed as the "let's-get-real" answer to "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner", a film that probably still could not get made in the U.S. As a snapshot of "swinging London" in the sixties, "Joanna" has it all. But Donald Sutherland absolutely steals this movie as Lord Peter Sanderson; his strange, wonderful, secular soliloquy on a Moroccan beach at sunset still provokes both goose pimples and tears. South African actress Genevieve Waite, who plays the wide-eyed heroine, was declared persona non grata in her native country after making this film, solely because of her love scenes with Calvin Lockhart (she later emigrated to the U.S. and married John Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas). All in all, a strange, wonderful, campy, mystic trip to the sixties.

Even actors as talented as Emma Fielding and Simon Callow could not save this one. These actors will put this one behind them and go on to greater accomplishments. I am impressed that they chose art over commercialism in this effort, and most especially with their faith in the material. But it was clear that the direction and editing left a great deal to be desired. My sense is that the best part of this effort was probably left on the cutting-room floor. One disappointing film does not break a career.

This is not the typical bodice-ripping, 18th century romance, with all of the cliched lurking, thwarted passions. No, the central themes here are beautifully woven into a single strand, with the characters displaying a range and depth rarely seen in American cinema. Anna Massey, Warren Clarke (remember him as "Dim", the slow-witted droog in "A Clockwork Orange") and Aariyon Bakare present powerful and memorable performances. But Emma Fielding as Frances Scott absolutely steals this movie. This enormously talented London stage and RSC actress brings the whole package: extraordinary beauty, emotional range, presence, and a wondrous voice that is itself "sheer theatrical viagra" (forget about the recent overrated displays on the London stage in "The Blue Room" and "The Graduate"). Ms. Fielding richly deserves to be cast in the lead of full-length feature films, and in roles that require intelligence, imagination and her megawatt star-power.