Art or love: Victoria Page (Moira Shearer – Peeping Tom, The Tales of Hoffman) is forced to chose between success as a principal ballet dancer or the man she loves.
Rising to be the star dancer in the Lermontov Company headed by the Machiavellian Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook – Gaslight, 49th Parallel), Page traverses Europe to acclaim with seasons in Paris and Monte Carlo. The staging of the new ballet, The Red Shoes, to showcase her talent brings new challenges – and love as Page falls for composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring – The Barefoot Contessa, A Matter of Life & Death). Torn between the demands of dance and those of the heart, she must decide her future.
With many professional dancers (including Robert Helpmann and Leonide Massine) included in the cast and Moira Shearer herself fully trained, The Red Shoes is a sumptuous and convincing dance-based melodrama of a narrative set in the world of the creative process. Directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life & Death) focus on the expressionist visuals (cinematography Jack Cardiff – Black Narcissus, Fanny) of a somewhat hackneyed storyline loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersson fairytale.
Nominated for 5 Oscars in 1949 including best film, scipt and editing, won 2 for set/art design and original score (Brian Easdale – Black Narcissus, Peeping Tom).
Rating: 62%
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