Wednesday, July 14, 2021
The Red Shoes
- Commentary: I remember the first time I saw this movie. I was a mid-teen (or, perhaps, a little younger), continuing to take dancing classes but not toward any particular goal. I don't know how it happened but the local university managed to wrangle a a copy of this movie for an exclusive showing. My dance teacher, who considered me talented but unmotivated, badgered me until I asked my mother to take me to the showing of the movie.
It didn't motivate my dancing but it did accelerate my interest in romantic tragedy. I remember audibly gasping at the scene of Vicky Page's death. I was not expecting it. This brought the movie into focus for me and I've had a hankering to watch it, again. Now, it's a part of my collection.
So far, I've only watched it once. During that watching, I couldn't help but compare it to the story portrayed in Black Swan, which I've seen, but, you'll note, I do not own, and doubt that I ever will, unless someone gifts me with it. Anyway, it occurred to me as I was watching this, and, mind you, this consideration is based on a relatively poor memory of Black Swan, that Black Swan portrays the interior danger of living for one's art and this film portrays the external danger of living for one's art. Not that I particularly, well, sympathize with either of the movies' statements. But, there you have it, an off-the-cuff thought about these two movies.
Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Actor Role Anton Walbrook Boris Lermontov Marius Goring Julian Craster Moira Shearer Victoria Page Robert Helpmann Ivan Boleslawsky Léonide Massine Grischa Ljubov Albert Bassermann Sergei Ratov Ludmilla Tchérina Irina Boronskaya Esmond Knight Livingstone Montague
One of Roger Ebert's Great Movies.
The Wikipedia write-up for this movie is here.
Release Date: 1948
Directed by Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger.
Labels: §1, Criterion2, dance, dramaD, fantasy4, romance4
