Jaclyn Smith of 'Charlie's Angels' fame stars in this ho-hum reincarnation thriller, one of the lesser known Cannon Group productions. The story has to do with a writer named Gregory (Nigel Terry of "Excalibur") who probes the mystery of a ballerina who mysteriously perished in a fire in the 1930s. Curiously, his American fiancee (Smith) bears an awfully strong resemblance to that long-ago ballerina. Soon, strange things are happening to Gregory, while he starts working with an aged woman, Madame Nabakov (Shelley Winters, "A Patch of Blue") who knew the ballerina back in the day. Fancying herself a spiritualist, she puts Gregory under in order to help him get in touch with his past life.
While the film is undeniably romantic, this viewer found it difficult to care that much about the story or the characters. It would seem that the filmmakers didn't care that much themselves, as they bring very little zeal to this tale. Smith of course is gorgeous in her dual role, and Winters is typically amusing. Claire Bloom ("Charly") rounds out the main acting quartet as the ballerinas' overly protective mother. Smith radiates elegance, but her performance is passable at best; it's up to Terry to do most of the heavy lifting, although even he doesn't seem to want to make much of an effort.
There are some decent visuals, and a nice score by Pino Donaggio, but the tale fails to make a true emotional impact - until the concluding few minutes, although it's not really enough to redeem the film.
This was the feature directing debut (and, to date, ONLY theatrical feature as a director) for renowned cinematographer Anthony B. Richmond, whose credits in that capacity range from "Don't Look Now" to "The Man Who Fell to Earth" to "Candyman"; he was married to Smith at the time this was made.
Five out of 10.
