"The Red Shoes" Review

 

by Daniel White

It's possible The Red Shoes (1948) could have been made with another performer in the lead role other than Moira Shearer, but I doubt it could have been made as well. She is phenomenal. Directed by those two pros, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, it's a beautiful looking film, with magnificent cinematography (Jack Cardiff), art direction, set designs (Hein Heckroth, Arthur Lawson), and music (Brian Easdale). But none of that would have mattered if the actress playing Victoria Page had been unsuitable. Thankfully, Shearer is more than suitable, she is superb.

(Very) loosely based on the Hans Christian Andersen tale, the film's main theme is an old-yet-enduring one: the conflict between dedication to one's art or pursuing personal happiness. At the movie's outset, there is no question about where Victoria's passion lies. She is a dancer and everything else is secondary. Discovered by the demanding impresario Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), she very quickly blossoms into a prima ballerina. Unfairly, her time at the top is brief. After a sensational season with Lermontov's company, including a smashing debut in The Red Shoes (a vehicle created just for her), she chucks it all to marry the troup's musical conductor and sometime composer (Marius Goring).

Victoria does a sudden about-face, going from being a brilliant artist to the wife of one. But Victoria's abrupt decision to forsake her heart's desire doesn't detract from the magic of this film! How welcome it must have been after the drab and dreary war years to the British public. It was also a huge critical and financial success in the U.S., where it deservedly garnered five Academy Awards nominations, winning two (Best Musical Score, Best Art Direction).

After recently belittling the talents of several Hollywood goddesses and getting belittled right back by their rabid fans, I am relieved to report the absolute perfection that is Moira Shearer in The Red Shoes. She is the main (but certainly not the only) reason to see this amazing movie. The film also features a supporting cast of dancers who could act, including choreographers Robert Helpmann and Leonid Massine. Their ability to do both adds immeasurably to its charm.

Produced by Powell and Pressburger's company, The Archers, and in glorious Technicolor, The Red Shoes is available on YouTube (in a restored, pristine copy). It would be positively criminal of me not to highlight how scintillating our red-headed star looks in outfits designed by Jaques Fath of Paris and Mattli of London.