The Red Shoes (1948)
Directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Film Review

The Red Shoes, arguably the best film ever made about the world of ballet, marks the creative highpoint of one of cinema's most successful partnerships, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (a.k.a. the Archers).  No matter how many times you watch this film, you cannot help but be impressed by the sheer imaginative genius and beauty of its design, and the searing poignancy of the story it tells, about the irreconcilable conflict between art and life.

The film started out as a draft screenplay which Pressburger wrote early in the 1930s for producer-director Alexander Korda (who is believed to be the inspiration for the story's main character, the austere impresario Lermontov).  This was intended to showcase Korda's future wife Merle Oberon, but was ultimately unused.   After the Second World War, Powell and Pressburger were keen to make an escapist film, quite different to the realist dramas they had previously produced, and so bought back the screenplay from Korda.  This they hastily developed into The Red Shoes.   The story is based on the well-known fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen.

To give the film as much authenticity as possible, the Archers offered some of the supporting roles to some very eminent figures from the world of ballet: Léonide Massine, Ludmilla Tchérina and Robert Helpmann.   The leading role of Victoria Page went to Moira Shearer, who had a promising ballet career with the Sadler's Wells Ballet Company.  Not only was Shearer a natural born dancer, but she also proved to have great talent as an actress.  Although she preferred her career in ballet, Shearer would subsequently appear in a number of other films, including the Archers' Tales of Hoffman (1951) and Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960).

The film's other stars are Anton Walbrook, the distinguished Austrian actor who had previously starred in The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), and Marius Goring, who had appeared in The Spy in Black (1939) and A Matter of Life and Death (1946).   In one of his most memorable roles, Walbrook is the personification of the artist who sees himself as God, brutally suppressing his humanity in an obsessive pursuit for artistic perfection.   Goring is an unusual choice for a romantic lead but he conveys brilliantly the terrible inner conflict between creative ambition and romantic love.

The sumptuous and very stylish look of The Red Shoes - quite unlike anything in British cinema at the time - is the product of Jack Cardiff's glorious colour photography and a stunning production design by the acclaimed German art director Hein Heckroth.  The centrepiece of the film is an unbroken 17 minute ballet sequence - the Red Shoes ballet - which is a small masterpiece of dazzling surreal fantasy.  This inspired and, highly complex, ballet sequence was choreographed by Robert Helpmann, with a beautifully evocative score by Brian Easdale.

It's hard to imagine, given its standing today, but when The Red Shoes was first released in the UK it fared very badly.  This was mainly because its distributors, the Rank Organisation, were doubtful of its merit and so did very little to promote it.  However, its fortunes changed drastically when it reached the United States, where it was both a critical success and an instant box office hit.  Subsequently, it became one of the highest earning films ever made in Britain.  The Red Shoes was nominated for five Oscars in 1949, including Best Picture, and won two - in the categories of Best Art Direction (Color) and Best Music.  Since its initial release, the film's reputation has steadily increased and today it is recognised as one of the true great masterpieces of British cinema.

Film Synopsis

Boris Lermontov, the manager of a world famous ballet company, expects nothing less than total commitment from those he employs.  His latest protégés show great promise - Victoria Page, an aspiring young ballerina, and Julian Craster, an ambitious composer.  After a successful début, Victoria is offered the leading role in Lermontov's production of a new ballet, The Red Shoes, for which Craster is to write the entire score.  The ballet is concerned with a peasant girl and a pair of magical red shoes.  When the girl puts the shoes on, they take over her life and she ultimately dances herself to death.  When it opens in Monte Carlo, the ballet is an immense success, but Lermontov is furious when he discovers that Victoria and Julian have fallen in love and intend to marry...