Let's be realistic.

Excellent, a Must See

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

Joanna was one of several films that had an impact on me then and have stuck with me since then, mainly because they informed me of places and lives of which I had never before been aware, being at that time, a typical American living in an America-centered universe.This is a corny, sappy telling of the story of a young girl looking for...something: life, adventure, herself? We're not really sure. But for some reason it has stuck in my memory mostly because it seemed to be an extension of the style of films coming from the UK in the middle and late 60's. Another kind of "British Invasion".Among these were: A Hard Day's night (1964), The Girl With Green Eyes (1964), and The Knack and How To Get it (1965), Blow Up (1966). They all seemed to have that quality of gritty cinema verite infiltrated with dreamlike, music filled montages; which became more silly and less gritty as the decade wore on. Examples; What Did You Do In the War Daddy? (1966), Casino Royale (1967), and Joanna (1968).Yet, for all the silliness and sappiness that Joanna had to offer, there were also wonderful moments in the film, Donald Sutherland supplying the most; but others too in amusing little bits of curious dialogue ("He has only one name, you know, like Montavani. Nothing Montavani, Montavani nothing"). And, if you were a teenager then, amusing sight gags such as the one when Joanna is asked what she'd like to eat (in the scene, she is topless, showing small breasts); cut to frying pan with two frying eggs, sunny-side up - ha ha.Overall, though not necessarily great film making, it is still an interesting and nostalgic period piece, that somehow left one with a sense of nostalgia even in 1968.

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.

This film for me is rather a distant memory. I think at the time, I rather enjoyed the movie but really what sticks out in my mind is the beautiful rendition of the song Joanna recorded by Tony Bennett. I would like to view the film now, just to weigh in on it from a decidedly expanded life experience.

Director Michael Sarne would have the filmgoing public believe that the studios, the actors (in MYRA BRECKINRIDGE in particular), and 'the system' torpedoed his career. But, when one sees his single picture of note, JOANNA, on the big screen in a rare public showing - One discovers that the film world did not lose much. Composer Rod McKuen attended this weekend's American Cinemateque screening and revealed that the title character was a thinly autobiographical substitute for the director himself (Joanna's surname is 'Sarne' after all). On paper, it would seem to make an exciting story - Young and handsome teen comes to London; Dresses in chic fashions; Hangs out with the 'in' crowd; Has sex with every other person one meets; Parties every night; Travels to exotic lands etc. How odd then that so much of the film wanders around aimlessly from venue to venue, from person to person, from incident to incident with so little meaning or consequence. It's rare that someone would find his own life so aimless. That aimlessness is certainly a part of what Sarne was after, but almost certainly not to the degree portrayed here. To be fair, there are flashes of genuine artistic talent (and some can be mined from MYRA BRECKINRIDGE as well). The opening and closing title sequences are terrific, playful and inspired. Color, sound and editing are experimentmented with in interesting ways. A long sojourn to Morocco is both colorful and meaningful. The middle of the picture is indeed dominated by Donald Sutherland as a rich dude who takes Joanna and some friends to Africa. Affecting a bizarre stuttering accent, one can't help but be entertained, even if one suspects that much of the reaction of modern audiences is the result of familiarity with Sutherland more than the skill of the performance (indeed McKuen insisted that Sutherland's accent came and went so frequently that much of his performance had to be edited around and drowned in his music!). Certainly an interesting document of its time (with the 'shocking' inclusion of not one but two interracial romances, free sex, and the intrusion of unnecessary violence into young people's lives - a nod to Vietnam?), JOANNA is a fascinating failure.