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The Red Shoes - Criterion CollectionRating:
Release Date: 18 May, 1999 Retail Price: $39.95 OUR Price: $31.99 You SAVE: $7.96! Cast: Complete Cast (5 total) |
The Red Shoes - Criterion Collection Reviews
Why Do You Want To Dance?
The Red Shoes is an Academy Award-winning 1948 film, loosely based on the fairy tale from Hans Christian Andersen. This feature from, British writing/directing team, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger went massively over-budget and originally received very little commercial attention. However, the audiences grew and the picture enjoyed an unprecedented run for 110 weeks in an off-Broadway theater. By 1951, The Red Shoes had been honored with five Oscar nominations, two wins that encompassed "Best Set Direction" and "Best Score", and Universal Studios had even bought its distribution rights for the United States. Nowadays, critics and moviegoers, alike, hold the feature as one of cinema's essential firsts.
While the characters are not the most layered, and the romance between Shearer's character and Goring's is a bit too contrived, I believe The Red Shoes succeeds in being a generally winning melodrama. Albeit, the picture is predominantly set around a ballet company, I do not think one has to be a fan of the sport to appreciate it.
The technical aspect, alone, is enough reason to see The Red Shoes. Herbert and Natalie Kalmus' Technicolor is put to astounding use in this feature. One of the finest ways to describe the cinematography of the picture is, "beguilingly vibrant, with sumptuous colors." The fifteen-minute title ballet scene has to be one of the most gorgeous of its kind shot in the history of cinema. And of course, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is wonderfully conducted. Unfortunately, most of the acting is overshadowed by the film's technical achievements. Many of the leads put in rather flat performances, but Anton Walbrook is exceptional as Boris Lermontov. He successfully creates a complex antagonist that audiences can sympathize with.
Overall, The Red Shoes serves as a striking milestone in film history.
Irritated by reviewers who can't spell!
This comment is prompted by the review posted by Mr. Daniel J. Hamlow. Although praising this movie, Mr. Hamlow permits himself a pun with the name of Victoria Page, the character whom he correctlty describes as the principal dancer, with the name of actress Victoria Principal. But he makes the dismal error of mispelling Principal as "Principle," and does so twice!
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