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List Price: $39.95 | | Label: Criterion
Salesrank: 4349
Released: May 18, 1999 |
| Our Price: $24.72 |
| Used Price: $21.78 |
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MPAA Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A glorious Technicolor epic that influenced generations of filmmakers, artists, and aspiring ballerinas, The Red Shoes intricately weaves backstage life with the thrill of performance. A young ballerina (Moira Shearer) is torn between two forces: the composer who loves her (Marius Goring), and the impresario determined to fashion her into a great dancer (Anton Walbrook). Criterion is proud to present The Red Shoes in its DVD premiere.
Description of The Red Shoes - Criterion Collection:
It's been said that this 1948 classic has been responsible for the ballet lessons of more young girls than any other film. It's not hard to understand why: Michael Powell and Emerich Pressburger's dark fairy tale presents the ballet as an exquisite, magical work of art; but under the theatrics and glory is an all-consuming lifestyle with the power to destroy those who love it perhaps too much. Moira Shearer practically glows as Victoria "Vicky" Page, a young woman consumed by a will to dance who is accepted into the highly prestigious ballet company run by perfectionist Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook). Meanwhile, a gifted young composer, Julian Craster (Marius Goring), is brought on board as an orchestra coach, and later conductor and composer of the ballet that will make Vicky's name: The Red Shoes, one of the most beautiful and dramatic dances ever captured on film. Professional and personal jealousies soon pull this creative team apart, however, and Vicky is torn between her love of Julian, her responsibility to Boris, and her need to dance. Powell and Pressburger recast Hans Christian Andersen's sad story as a modern romantic melodrama, highlighted by beautiful dances and shot, not as stage ballets, but rather as expressionist cinematic dramas on impossibly grand sets awash with bold color and beautifully captured in glorious Technicolor by cinematographer Jack Cardiff. It's a brilliant melding of dance and drama as Vicky's real life mirror's the tragic story she danced in the Red Shoes ballet. --Sean Axmaker
The Red Shoes - Criterion Collection Reviews:
A perfect red 
2009-11-08 - The Russian ballet has come to town and due to circumstance; a student Julian Craster (Marius Goring) becomes a brilliant composer. An orphan Victoria Page (Moira Shearer) protected by a patron of the arts has an opportunity to become a great dancer. Neither the composer nor the dancer wants anything more. Together under the direction of the company owner Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), they create the perfect ballet "The Red Shoes".
The story of the ballet is base on a story of Hans Christian Anderson. It is about a girl infatuated with a par of dancing shoes. She places them on her feet. Moreover, begins dancing. When she tires, the shoes insist on dancing g and do so through time until her demise. You will find that there is more depth to the story than just a real life reflection of Anderson's story.
The only requirement of the company owner is that everyone focuses on their career and not fall in love. When the ballerina and the composer do just that, it raises the ire of the company owner. He forms a scheme to what end?
This film is an Archer film and holds true to the quality and entertainment value. I suggest you watch the Criterion version. There is a 19194 voice over commentary, by film historian Ian Christie with interviews of Marius Goring, Moira shearer, Jack Cardiff, Brian Easdale, and Martin Scorsese.
There is also a voice over reading of the Powell and Pressburger novelization of "The Red Shoes".
The Criterion version did not clean up all the film scratches. If this hits Blu-ray, I hope they will leave in all the criterion extras but clean up the scratches.
A Perfect Red: Empire, Espionage, and the Quest for the Color of Desire
The Red Shoes.
2009-03-25 - I enjoyed the film very much. it lived up to my expectations even though it was made so long ago. The colour was very beautiful.
A real collectors item.
The Red Shoes- Criterion Collection
2009-02-09 - Product just as described... this is a truly classic story & I have loved it just as the generations before me.
What Price Art? The Red Shoes Show the Price in Unapologetic Splendor
2009-01-06 - One could find a lot to ridicule about this ripe 1948 melodrama since there are plenty of excessively theatrical moments trumpeting the more dramatic passages. However, the film's enduring appeal comes down to the cinematic artistry of the Archers, co-directors and co-screenwriters Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the British dynamic duo who had just released another classic, 1947's Black Narcissus. Visually, it's a stunning piece full of vibrant, stylized colors that fit the florid contours of the story adapted from the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. There is an audaciously surrealism that courses through the film, but the Archers don't lose sight of the love story at its core. Ballet enthusiasts have sung this film's praises for over six decades now, but there is much more to appreciate here.
After showing a horde of youngsters flooding the balcony of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden for a ballet performance, the filmmakers settle their story on Victoria "Vicky" Page, an aspiring prima ballerina who comes from a wealthy London family and catches the attention of impresario Boris Lermontov. When his star dancer Irina Boronskaja decides to get married, Lermontov concludes she has forsaken her art and gives Vicky a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in the company's newest ballet, a fantasy piece based on Andersen's "The Red Shoes". Under Lermontov's unyielding tutelage, she learns the role of a young girl cursed to dance herself to death in a magical pair of red slippers. At the same time, prodigiously talented composer Julian Quentin, another of Lermontov's protégés, is completing the score for the ballet and unsurprisingly falls in love with Vicky. Despite the success of the ballet at its premiere in Monte Carlo, Lermontov forces Vicky to decide between her career and her pending marriage to Julian. The mounting pressure of the decision overwhelms Vicky and forces her to face unforeseen consequences.
All of 21 when she was cast, Moira Shearer is ideal as Vicky, as she is not only a striking, flame-haired beauty but an accomplished ballerina and an affecting actress. Despite a flood of offers after the film's release, she never made as significant an impression in her career, and the film itself would not be nearly as magnetic without her presence. She is showcased brilliantly in the mesmerizing fifteen-minute ballet sequence that is said to have inspired Gene Kelly to produce his magnificent ballet piece in An American in Paris. "The Red Shoes" ballet is boldly imaginative in its expressionistic visuals and the dream-like state in which Shearer dances to Brian Easdale's majestic score and Robert Helpmann's dramatic choreography. Pulling at Vicki in opposite directions, the two male leads perform admirably within the confines of their stereotypical roles - Marius Goring as the brilliant yet petulant Julian and especially Anton Walbrook who does a Barrymore-level turn as the tyrannical, smitten Lermontov (take note of the fastidious brocade robe he wears in an early morning scene). Major credit also needs to go to cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who did similarly impressive work in Black Narcissus and later became a director himself (Sons & Lovers).
As expected, the 1999 Criterion Collection DVD is a gem and a great tribute to the production. Actor Jeremy Irons reads excerpts from Powell and Pressburger's 1978 novelization of "The Red Shoes" and the original Andersen fairy tale. There are also slides of ardent fan Martin Scorsese's collection of "Red Shoes" memorabilia; publicity and behind-the-scenes production stills; and film clips and stills from the Archers' illustrious filmography. Particularly fascinating is "The Red Shoes Sketches", an animated film of Hein Heckroth's painted storyboards set to "The Red Shoes" ballet. The commentary track is the best feature even if it is a bit of hodgepodge with clips of audio interviews with Cardiff, Shearer, Goring, composer Brian Tisdale, and Scorsese. British film historian Ian Christie leads an entertaining discussion of the movie's development and production with Shearer surprisingly candid about the challenges in making the film. The original theatrical trailer rounds out the extras.
Beautiful and Trivial 
2008-10-02 - A great many people--including Martin Scosese--have stated that seeing THE RED SHOES fueled their desire for a career in the arts, and over the years the film has acquired quasi-legendary status as an intellectually profound, emotionally stirring motion picture that investigates the deep personal sacrifices a career in the arts requires. But while I found the film visually stunning and interesting in concept, I also found it simplistic in its statements on the nature of art and nothing short of trivial melodrama in terms of plot.
Very loosely based on the goings-on in the famous Serge Diaghilev ballet company, the film concerns a rising dancer (Moira Shearer) and rising composer (Marius Goring) who fall under the spell of an inflexible impressario (Anton Walbrook), who leads them to create a new ballet: The Red Shoes, based on the famous Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale. The ballet turns both dancer and composer into stars--but so far as the impressario is concerned art leaves no room for human affection, and when the dancer falls in love with the composer professional and personal tragedy is the result.
THE RED SHOES is particularly famous for its portrait of backstage life and the fifteen-minute "Ballet of the Red Shoes" sequence, which was the first of its kind in a major motion picture. Moira Shearer, who was a major dancer at the time of the film, is more of a dancer than an actor, but she carries the demands of the script very well. The remaining cast, however, overplays shamelessly, and when combined with the trivial plot and equally trivial script--well, let's just say that the whole thing acquires a slightly ripe quality and it is difficult to feel a great deal of interest in the characters or their personal difficulties.
Even so, THE RED SHOES is nothing short of visually stunning. It is easily among the finest Technicolor films made, and the attention to design detail is elegant, beautiful, and imaginative. Although certain camera techniques have dated poorly, the "Ballet of the Red Shoes" is indeed worthy of its fame, and Shearer is exceptionally attractive in her screen debut. The Criterion DVD presents the film in near-pristine condition with a truly memorable audio commentary. Recommmended, but don't expect too much in terms of depth.
GFT, Amazon Reviewer
