The Red Shoes (1948)

I wish I could remember the exact lines about The Red Shoes, which was nominated for Best Picture of 1948, that are made by one of the female dancers in A Chorus Line. After hearing so many of the other dancers rave about seeing The Red Shoes and how it changed their lives and made them want to become dancers, she says something to the effect of "I've never seen The Red Shoes. I've never even heard of The Red Shoes. I don't give a fuck about The Red Shoes." Perhaps if she had seen it, she would have a different opinion. It's a pretty stellar film in terms of the dancing itself. I didn't think the plot is particularly illuminating, but when the dancers take the stage, that's another point entirely.

The primary focus of the film is the rise of a young red-haired dancer named Victoria Page (played by Moira Shearer). Well, red-haired is a bit tame; flame-haired might be more like it. She starts, as they always do, as a member of the corps. However, the director of the ballet company, Boris Lermentov (Anton Walbrook), happens to catch one of her performances back in her hometown and is smitten with her. Soon, she has been given the plum role of lead dancer in a new ballet entitled The Red Shoes, complete with red shoes, naturally.

Well, "new ballet" isn't really accurate. Lermentov asks a young composer he's hired, Julian Craster (Marius Goring), to rewrite some unworkable sections of a ballet. Craster takes quite a lot of initiative and rewrites the entire score, making it into a rather amazing, if difficult, piece. He too begins to make a reputation for himself, so his and Victoria's fates rise together.

Have I failed to mention that Julian and Victoria fall in love? Well, you saw that coming anyway, I suppose. Much to the chagrin of Lermentov, the two begin having a clandestine relationship--clandestine to Lermentov, anyway. And, as you might expect in a film like this, the man with the power does all that he can to keep his object of desire close to him and far away from the man she truly loves. You know that approach is doomed to fail, but I'm not sure you'll quite be prepared for exactly how badly it fails or how painfully.

None of that really matters, frankly, because it's the recreation of the ballet itself that stands out. I'm not an expert on ballet or dance, but I found The Red Shoes (the ballet within the movie) to be completely engrossing, a spectacularly staged dance, full of emotion and excitement. The rest of the movie can only pale in comparison to it, so strong are the feelings that Victoria and her fellow dancers stir in you. I can easily see how this movie--or, to be fair, this part of the movie--would make people want to become dancers. Unless, of course, you're than one girl who's never seen it. Yet.