The Red Shoes (1948)

The feverish Technicolor and astonishing ballet sequences for which this film is so renowned are as spellbinding as they are disturbing.

In Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s visually ravishing masterpiece, a young ballerina is torn between the demands of love and art. Like the heroine of Hans Christian Andersen’s source fairytale, whose magic shoes compel her to dance, Victoria Page – played by real-life ballerina Moira Shearer – finds herself driven to breaking point by obsessive Russian impresario Lermontov (Anton Walbrook) when she’s cast in his ballet The Red Shoes.

With its captivating behind-the-scenes insight into the creative process, and characters for whom art is more important than life itself, the film has proved an inspiration to filmmakers and dancers alike. For writer-directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, it represented a triumphant attempt to create a ‘composed film’ in which music – here by Brian Easdale – plays a more central role, demanding similar expressive intensity in every detail of design and performance. Fittingly, it won Oscars for both art direction and music.

“It’s hard to think of many films that match The Red Shoes for ferocity and passion, since in every costume, set, and streak of grease paint there is desire. Moira Shearer’s performance as an ambitious ballerina is a tour de force. Jack Cardiff ’s moody colour work takes on a life of its own on screen. And the cinematography in the surreal extended dance sequence is breathtaking. This film taught me to love melodrama, and to understand ‘camp’ in new and complex ways.” Rebecca Harrison

1948 United Kingdom
Directed by
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Produced by
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Written by
Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Featuring
Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, Moira Shearer
Running time
136 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for The Red Shoes

Critics

Marina Ashioti
UK/Cyprus
Rebecca Barden
UK
Juan Barquin
USA
Ruth Barton
Ireland
Alasdair Bayman
UK
Philip Berk
USA
Monica Castillo
USA
Llewella Chapman
UK
Jake Cole
USA
Lillian Crawford
UK
Phil De Semlyen
UK
Caden Mark Gardner
USA
Sean Gilman
USA
Susannah Gruder
USA
Rebecca Harrison
UK
Claire Marie Healy
UK
Pamela Hutchinson
UK
Sarah Kaufman
USA
Annette Kuhn
UK
Michael Leader
UK
Guy Lodge
UK/South Africa
Kristen Lopez
USA
José Luis Lorenzo
Argentina
Willow Catelyn Maclay
Canada
Ross Maclean
UK
Emanuela Martini
Italy
Katie McCabe
UK
Justine Peres Smith
Canada
Selina Robertson
UK
Brian Robinson
UK
Nuno Rodrigues
Portugal
Cary Rajinder Sawhney
UK
Josh Slater-Williams
UK
Alessandro Stellino
Italy
José Teodoro
Canada
Meg Walters
UK/Canada
Alison Willmore
Asia/USA
Emilie Yeh Yueh-Yu
China/Hong Kong

Directors

Hanna Bergholm
Finland
Hope Dickson Leach
UK
Rose Glass
UK
Lucile Hadžihalilović
france
Joanna Hogg
UK
Karyn Kusama
USA
Joe Lawlor & Christine Molloy
Ireland
Lluís Miñarro
Spain
Martin Scorsese
Theodore Witcher
USA

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