The Red Shoes (1948)

Directors:

Michael Powell
Emeric Pressburger

Writers:

Hans Christian Andersen (fairy tale)
Emeric Pressburger (original screenplay)

Release Date:

6 September 1948 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance | Music

Tagline:

Dance she did, and dance she must - between her two loves

Plot:

Under the authoritarian rule of charismatic ballet impressario Boris Lermontov, his proteges realize the full promise of their talents...

Plot Keywords:

Ballet | Ballerina | Shoe | Composer | Forced To Dance

Awards:

Won 2 Oscars. Another 1 win & 5 nominations

Cast

Marius Goring	...	Julian Craster
Jean Short	...	Terry
Gordon Littmann	...	Ike
Julia Lang	...	A Balletomane
Bill Shine	...	Her Mate
Léonide Massine	...	Ljubov (as Leonide Massine)
Anton Walbrook	...	Boris Lermontov
Austin Trevor	...	Professor Palmer
Esmond Knight	...	Livy
Eric Berry	...	Dimitri
Irene Browne	...	Lady Neston
Moira Shearer	...	Victoria Page
Ludmilla Tchérina	...	Boronskaja (as Ludmilla Tcherina)
Jerry Verno	...	Stage-Door Keeper
Robert Helpmann	...	Ivan Boleslawsky

Also Known As:

Die roten Schuhe (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
Las zapatillas rojas (Mexico) (Spain) [es]
Les chaussons rouges (Belgium: French title) (France) [fr]
Czerwone pantofelki (Poland) [pl]
Czerwone trzewiki (Poland) [pl]
De röda skorna (Sweden) [sv]
De røde sko (Denmark) [da]
De rode schoentjes (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
De rode schoentjes (Netherlands) [nl]
Hong wu xie (China: Mandarin title) [zh]
Os sapatos Vermelhos (Portugal) [pt]
Punaiset kengät (Finland) [fi]
Sapatinhos Vermelhos (Brazil) [pt]
Scarpette rosse (Italy) [it]
Ta kokkina papoutsia (Greece) [el]

Runtime:

133 min | Japan:136 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Iceland:L | South Korea:12 | Sweden:Btl | West Germany:12 | Australia:G | Finland:S | UK:U | Spain:T | Ireland:G

Filming Locations:

Royal Opera House, Bow Street, Covent Garden, London, England, UK

Company:

Archers, The

Trivia:

This film is #8 in the "BFI 100", a list of 100 of "the best British films ever" compiled by the British Film Institute in 1999/2000.

Goofs:

Continuity: The length of Julian's cigarette changes dramatically (gets longer and then gets much shorter than he could smoke it down to in the short time between shots) while he's playing the piano for Vicky in Lermontov's office.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[holding doors closed]
Doorman: They're going mad, sir. It's the students.
[From outside]
Julian Craster: Down with tyrants!
Manager, Covent Garden: All right, let them in.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Shutter Island (2010)

Soundtrack:

Excerpt from 'Giselle'

One of the few films impossible to over-praise

The film isn't THAT closely related to Hans Christian Andersen's story; but it would be a good idea to read the story before seeing the film. It's one of Andersen's better stories, anyway.

Another minor note: if no other consideration will sway you, see `The Red Shoes' for a perceptive look the position of the ballet composer relative to that of the dancers. For Powell and Pressburger it's no more than a diverting side issue, but it's one of the things that especially interested me. If you look at advertisements for ballet productions today, you'll notice that the composer's name is NEVER printed - even if the ballet is called `Cinderella' and the public has no way of working out whose score is being used. It puts the composer in his place, no doubt. Yet musicians at the ballet are in the habit of thinking that they're the most important people there.

I'm on their side. I happen to loathe classical ballet as such. `Swan Lake' strikes me as a lovely score disfigured by people who insist on dancing to it. Yet `The Red Shoes' makes me put all of this aside. Indeed, it would be fair to say that I simply CAN'T dislike ballet while watching the film - which is especially odd, considering some of the things it does to people.

So, yes, if `The Red Shoes' can have this effect on ME, of all people, it's surely one of the best films ever made. I can't agree at all with the people who describe the film as `melodrama' or `camp'. (The latter charge I scarcely even understand.) The story is what it is and it's told at the most realistic and sincere level appropriate. The characters who act theatrically (NOT melodramatically) are all creatures of the theatre, and have not spent not just their days but their lives in Lermontov's troupe. If you want a more understated view of things then watch the musicians. To put in a word for one of them, Brian Easdale's source music is superb: GOOD music of a kind that an English composer like Craster might well be expected to write. It's clear that Easdale wrote Craster's compositions first, and then constructed the rest of the score around them, rather than vice versa.