| The Red Shoes is one of the most famous collaborations from the producing-directing-writing team of British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Loosely based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, the picture is now considered the greatest ballet film ever made. Yet, when it debuted in 1948, this lavish and ambitious production flopped at the British box office. Ironically, The Red Shoes turned a profit on U.S. screens, confounding studio execs who assumed that a ballet movie would be of no interest to American audiences. |
| The Red Shoes centers on the Ballet Lermontov, an internationally celebrated dance company run by dictatorial Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook). Possessing a keen eye for talent, Lermontov impulsively hires young, talented and beautiful ballerina Vicky Page (Moira Shearer) and the talented, young composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) to join the company. Vicky shines under Lermontov’s tutelage, and in no time he taps her for the principal role in a ballet written by Julian. |
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| With Julian’s ballet a smashing success, Vicky stands at the crossroads of realizing her life’s dream. Lermontov plans to mold his new star into a prima ballerina, thereby assuring himself a dominant role in the ballet world for decades to come. |
| But as fate—and the movies—would have it, Vicky and Julian fall in love. This romantic development puts a serious crimp in Lermontov’s objectives, setting Julian and Lermontov on an inescapable path to clash. As a result, Julian leaves the dance troupe leaving Vicky in the precarious position of having to reconcile her passion for dance with her love for Julian. |
| Rather than cast actors to play dancers—as many filmmakers did at the time and still do to this day—professional dancers were cast in acting roles to ensure a high level of authenticity in the dance sequences. This casting decision led to the hiring of Moira Shearer in the female lead, as well as other cast members including Ludmilla Tcherina (as a nutty prima donna), Leonide Massine, and Robert Helpmann (who also served as the production’s choreographer). |
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