The Red Shoes (1948) ~My Favourite Movie

"You are the One, Miss Page".
Boris Lermontov, The Ballet Company's Owner (anton walbrook) attending by surprise Miss Page (moira shearer) performance
Criterion Collection
Warner Home Entertainment
Filmax
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
Directed by
Michael Powell
Emeric Pressburger
Writing credits
Hans Christian Andersen (fairy tale)
Emeric Pressburger (original screenplay)
Keith Winter (additional dialogue)
Michael Powell (written by) and
Emeric Pressburger (written by)
CAST:
Marius Goring ... Julian Craster
Jean Short... Terry
Gordon Littmann... Ike
Julia Lang... A Balletomane
Bill Shine... Her Mate
Léonide Massine... Ljubov (as Leonide Massine)
Anton Walbrook... Boris Lermontov
Austin Trevor... Professor Palmer
Esmond Knight... Livy
Eric Berry... Dimitri
Irene Browne... Lady Neston
Moira Shearer... Victoria Page
Ludmilla Tchérina... Boronskaja (as Ludmilla Tcherina)
Jerry Verno...
Produced by
George R. Busby.... assistant producer
Michael Powell.... producer
Emeric Pressburger.... producer
Original Music by
Brian Easdale (music composed by)
Cinematography by
Jack Cardiff (director of photography)
Film Editing by
Reginald Mills
Production Design by
Hein Heckroth
Art Direction by
Arthur Lawson
Costume Design by
Hein Heckroth (uncredited)
Makeup Department
George Blackler.... makeup artist (uncredited)
Eric Carter.... makeup artist (uncredited)
Ernest Gasser.... makeup artist (uncredited)
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sydney Streeter.... assistant director (as Sydney S. Streeter)
J.M. Gibson.... third
Music Department
Thomas Beecham.... conductor: The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Ballet of The Red Shoes (as Sir Thomas Beecham, Bart.)
Ted Drake.... music recorder
Brian Easdale.... conductor
Brian Easdale.... music arranger
Other crew
Joan Bridge.... associate colour control
Alan Carter.... assistant maitre de ballet: The Ballet of The Red Shoes
Joan Harris.... assistant maitresse de ballet: The Ballet of The Red Shoes
Robert Helpmann.... choreographer: The Ballet of The Red Shoes
Natalie Kalmus.... colour control
Léonide Massine.... the part of the Shoemaker created and danced by: The Ballet of the Red Shoes (as Leonide Massine)
Doreen North.... continuity
J. Arthur Rank.... presenter
John Seabourne Jr..... liaison editor (as John Seabourne Jnr.)
Production Companies * Archers, The * Independent Producers (uncredited)
Distributors * Eagle-Lion Distributors Limited (1948) (UK) (theatrical) * Eagle-Lion Films (1948) (USA) (theatrical) * Universal Pictures (1951) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release) * J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (1960) (UK) (theatrical) (reissue) * Paramount Home Video (1987) (USA) (VHS) * Warner Home Video (1992) (UK) (VHS) * Pickwick Video (1994) (UK) (VHS) * Atlantic Film (2006) (Sweden) (DVD) * Carlton Visual Entertainment (2001) (UK) (DVD) * Continental Home Vídeo (200?) (Brazil) (DVD) * Criterion Collection, The (2004) (USA) (DVD) * Epix Media (2005) (Germany) (DVD) * F.J. Lucas (Brazil) (VHS) * General Film Distributors (GFD) (1948) (UK) (theatrical) (released through)
Other Companies * D&P Studios logo * Royal Opera House, The theater (uncredited) * Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The music played by (as The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra) * Ted Heath's Kenny Baker Swing Group music played by (as Ted Heaths Kenny Baker Swing Group)

[@joandabulewicz577]

This movie has stayed in my memory for many years. My mother took me to see it when I was very young. I thought Moira Shearer was the most beautiful person I had ever seen and wanted to grow up looking like her. The dancing was sheer magic! And I cried at the end and I still do when I think about it. I wanted to be a ballet dancer, of cause that never happened. But I can say with all honesty that this movie effected the rest of my life.

[@SaskiaVintage]

Hi Joan, you are not alone :) I myself too wanted to be a ballet dancer. My mom was a dancer at the national folkloric dances and she was asked to join the troupe and travel all over the world but my grandad refused. So, I guess I inherited this love for classic dance. I could not enter a ballet academy at that time, money matters... then I realized I was the right height but... it was late then, when I could afford it the time had already gone to start being a ballerina... alas. So this movie is my mom and my favorite too. I also cry at the end, and I have always felt that Moira and Anton were perfect, also Marius. Without them the Red Shoes would simply be another movie. This one is my favorite because it has everything in it. And also because it reminds me of a personal experience. So I am really happy we both share a great love and emotion for this masterpiece. Big Hugs and thanks for your beautiful and deep comment! xoxox

[@TalentedSGSSuzyQ]

As a trained ballerina/dancer this is one of my favorite scenes from the film!! So beautiful!

[@Joeann1969]

A master of piece that everyone shoulf have seen

[@antique7391]

I'm a paramedic/firefighter and Iraq war veteran. My partner and I (both males/veterans) returned from a 911 call about three years ago at 9-10 at night. We flipped thru the channels and found this on the Turner Home Network channel. We are both pretty tough guys but sat transfixed by the movie till it was over. My co-worker has since died of cancer. I will always remember sitting at the station watching this movie with him.

[@SaskiaVintage]

+antique I am sorry for your loss. I hope the movie was something that you both enjoyed and felt special watching it. This movie had also a deep influence in my taste for musicals. It's a deep, ahead of time movie. I read once that Martin Scorsese decided one day he would be a movie director when his father took him to watch The Red Shoes. Thanks for your comment, antique. It's an unforgettable movie and unforgettable as well as eternal the time we spend with our dear ones watching it.

[@antique7391]

+Saskia Well thank you for the thoughtful reply. I told my wife about the movie about two years ago and we both watch it about once a year as a treat. I am thankful I have the type of brain that is amazed and "gets this movie". I feel sorry for people who would write it off after 15 minutes as boring and who would return to reality t.v.

[@SaskiaVintage]

+antique Yes, me too. I watch it with my husband from time to time. He was very surprised at the dancing long sequence, with the creativity they used for this movie due to the lack of technology as it is used today, as well as the plot itself. Sadly reality has taken even politics! Thanks again for your beautiful comment.

[@Marvelouscortex]

note the stare from the ballerina, Vicky, and the ballet impresario/owner, Lermontov. He is taking her measure; the degree of her talent; and she knows it, and hence the stare. Everything in the arts and sciences and . . . is talent, how much or how little?

[@TralfazConstruction]

It's become in vogue to like The Red Shoes. For me, as Boris recalls too, it was on a rainy Saturday afternoon while our local PBS station was having a pledge drive.

[@Marvelouscortex]

a vogue? What about the creativity, talent, of the Archers. Considered one of the best choreographed, the best in technicolor. The re-creation of the Tale by HC Andersen. The end maybe a bit much. Great films are **not** so by vogue - not in the longer term, nor for that matter in the shorter term

[@headiero]

This is my favorite as well.

[@zachdawson6052]

best scene ever

[@MrFalconford]

moira shearer was ahead of her time one might say?