The Red Shoes

It may be the film that launched a million little girls' dreams of becoming a ballerina, but Michael Powell's groundbreaking dance fantasy, The Red Shoes (1948), originally seemed a risky undertaking. Powell and his erstwhile filmmaking partner, Emeric Pressburger, were dealing with a form of dance that tended to scare off the uninitiated, and they aimed to conclude their picture with a lengthy ballet sequence that ran without dialogue. The graceful movement of dance itself would, in effect, serve as the final movement of the narrative, and nobody was certain if such a concept would play properly on the big screen. The story opens with Julian Craster (Marius Goring), a fledgling composer, realizing that his work has been stolen for the Lermontov Ballet's production of "Hearts of Fire." When Julian confronts the company's controlling director, Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), Lermontov enlists him to score his next work, The Red Shoes. Unfortunately, Lermontov's star decides to get married, so he re-casts a beautiful young dancer named Victoria Page (Moira Shearer) in her role. The Red Shoes becomes a huge success, and Victoria is suddenly a star. When Julian and Victoria fall in love, Boris, who secretly pines for the young woman, kicks Julian out of the company. But Victoria chooses love over art, and leaves with him. This will lead to another meeting between Victoria and Boris, and a frenetic final presentation of The Red Shoes. Simply call... more