Love in Blume

By RICHARD SCHICKEL

ICE CASTLES Directed by Donald Wrye Screenplay by Donald Wrye and Gary L. Baim

Can a teen-ager from a small town in Iowa overcome parental opposition, lack of first-class training, and a late start, rise to a point near the top in competitive figure skating, recover from an accident that blinds her, and then struggle back to her former form, in the process reclaiming the young love she abandoned along the way?

Fortunately, Ice Castles is one of those movies that play a lot better than they read in outline. Obviously the people responsible for this movie are fully aware of all the conventions governing stories about the rise, fall and eventual triumph of stars of sports and show biz (and figure skating is, of course, an intriguing blend of both disciplines). But the film makers do not abuse these conventions, which are for the most part understated, glanced off. The emphasis is on believable performance. In the leading role, Lynn-Holly Johnson, 19, formerly with the Ice Capades troupe, is more than adequate both skating and acting. She is slender and winsome in the manner of other young gymnasts, dancers and skaters who have lately captured the public's imagination and whose seeming fragility so interestingly contrasts with their fierce determination and dazzling technique.

But what makes the film work, at least at the pop-fairy-tale level, is the reality principle. The plot is improbable: the girl is left blind by injuries sustained in a bad fall, then begins a long, painful but ultimately successful struggle to regain her sight and skills. Yet the film is kept firmly grounded in plausible, recognizable territory by the realistic detailing in Donald Wrye's direction, the authentic tone of the dialogue and the straightforward work of an excellent cast. Tom Skerritt as the skater's father, reluctant to let her go, and her first coach, Colleen Dewhurst, are particularly good. There is a choice piece of writing for Robby Benson, playing her boyfriend. In the beginning he is both unsure about what he wants to do in life and fearful that she will outdistance him.

Though in the end he is the one who over sees her rehabilitation and organizes her comeback, it is Benson's early work as a decent but painfully groping adolescent that most offers us the pleasures of honestly observed characterization.

There is enough honesty of a similar quality throughout the picture to keep any not too critical adult going through any matinee. Combine that with the pleasant lyricism of its skating scenes and you have the movie equivalent of a Judy Blume novel for teenagers: something you need not be ashamed to offer a kid and that you may find yourself more interested in than you would have suspected as you glance over her shoulder. -- Richard Schickel

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