The Red Shoes (1948)

Moira Shearer is just excellent in this fine example of the cinematographer and choreographer's arts - all under the able and inspired direction of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. She is the aspiring ballet dancer "Victoria" who must train under the positively brutal rule of acclaimed tutor "Lermontov" (Anton Walbrook). This maestro, however, expects undiluted devotion and so when this young woman also falls in love - with composer "Craster" (Marius Goring) she finds herself out of favour. Facing the toughest of choices, she chooses love - but even married, she is still torn. When she returns a few years later to visit - her new husband having now completed the eponymous ballet - the imposing "Lermontov" proves he can still pull her strings and she faces an heart-rending choice. P&P have created a masterpiece of rich and colourful cinema. They have turned a relatively simple Hans Christian Anderson story into a maelstrom of love, ambition, power, control - you name it, it features here somewhere. Emotions run high, cruelty runs rife and all under the baton of Brian Easdale who has created his own "Ballet of the Red Shoes" score. Both Walbrook and Goring were underestimated actors, in my view. They had an adaptability that demonstrated a surety of foot as their characters illustrate traits that at best celebrate humanity, at worst denigrate it badly. The dancing is frequently mesmerising with the media of theatre and cinema merged seamlessly to give us a really breathtaking experience. I felt vested in the fate of this young woman, I felt vested in the nasty Lermontov - which would I have chosen? This is a great film, marrying the vivid imagination of a timeless creative source with a visionary and highly entertaining ensemble adaptation. Recently staged by the Sadler's Wells Company of Sir Matthew Bourne, but good as that was - this still knocked spots off it.