Too many times I've popped in a DVD of a film described as a 'classic' title, and emerged 90 minutes later wondering where that reputation came from. High expectations are so often dashed.
Well, from the first moment of The Red Shoes you know that in this case, the expectations are going to be met. Admittedly, you have to have some liking for dance or ballet -- but if we take that as read, then this film will sweep you away.
The good impression starts developing right from the opening titles. This is Technicolor. Not some weak, simpering impersonation with washed-out hues and lustre-less tones, but Technicolor in all its three-strip glory, blazing forth like 1000 neon signs. There has never been a process to match the classic Technicolor, and this film is a glowing tribute to it, with deep, rich tones and perfect saturation.
The film has been described by many critics as one of the finest British films of any genre, and time has proven that judgement correct. Ironically, as the excellent documentary which is part of this DVD package, points out, the British Rank Organisation decided on first preview viewing that The Red Shoes was a non-commercial failure. It even refused to give it a proper opening season. It was instead picked up, almost by chance, by American enthusiasts, who gave it its lasting place in cinema history.
Writing,directing and production credits are shared by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, co-creators of many landmark British movies including The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and I Know Where I'm Going. But The Red Shoes is generally considered their glory, attracting amazing tributes from the likes of Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.
Now a confession. I saw this film on the big screen many years ago, when aged around ten. And I vowed to myself to never see it again. It was, after all, based loosely on the Hans Christian Anderson folk-tale. And in his inimitable way, Hans Christian Anderson had created a horror-story laden with his strange sadistic spin on Christianity - and neither his 'children's tale' nor this ballet-world spin on it are children's fare.
The Red Shoes is the title of a ballet being created within the film, set upon the film's heroine, ballerina Vicky Page (Moira Shearer) whom the Russian impresario Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) is grooming for stardom.
Lermontov believes that a ballerina must give all to her art. Love and marriage must be set aside forever in service to that art. Sex is OK - but nothing lasting or too distracting! And for a time, Vicky agrees. But then, she meets young composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) and love starts to rear its unwanted head. And of course her artistic standards fall right away - how can anyone dance properly if they're happy? No-one can, if Lermontov has his way...
So poor Vicky Page ends up torn between the impresario who has become her puppet-master, and the man she loves. In between the two men stand ballet, and life. One or both will be ripped asunder.
The acting is uniformly excellent. This was Moira Shearer's first movie; she disliked the experience intensely, feeling it took away from her proper career as a ballet dancer. But how good she was found for the role. Her acting is on the same level as her dancing - superb.
And here, also from the world of dance, are Leonide Massine and Australia's Robert Helpmann, who also choreographed the set-piece 'ballet-within-the-ballet'. Both are excellent, and both give totally historic performances - in fact, the whole ensemble of dancers assembled for this movie gives an amazingly accurate depiction of a ballet company on and off the stage - the 'family' feeling the performers have, the always humorous, sometimes bitchy banter, the constant support they give each other - it's all there.
This is a great movie - but be warned. Despite its dance theme and its 'G' rating, this is NOT a film for children. It's not that the ending is particularly graphic by today's standards - it just connects so strongly to that arch-sicko Hans Christian Anderson, who believed children should suffer from the earliest possible age.
