The Red Shoes

Note : this review is my contribution to the blogathon My Favorite Classic Movie hosted by Rick at Classic Film & TV Café.

The Red Shoes (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948)

A young ballet dancer is torn between the man she loves and her pursuit to become a prima ballerina.

As debatable as this affirmation can be, The Red Shoes is The Archers’ masterpiece. And I’m standing firmly on my position about this opinion. Even if they have a bunch of other outstanding films like Black Narcissus, A Matter of Life and Death, and The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, the great dancing sequences and the superb composition of frames and the tremendous acting of Moira Shearer and Anton Walbrook, just to name those two, makes it one of the most re watchable movies of all time.

Previously, I wrote The Archers which is the name of the company of co-directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Together they directed nineteen films and half of them are considered as classics and five of the whole lot are at some level masterpieces. We’ll however concentrate our attention on The Red Shoes and its qualities.

With its careful treatment by the Criterion Collection, cinephiles of today can watch it in a condition that is as good as at the time the film was released in 1948. On the question of his favorite film of all time, famous great director Martin Scorsese has often answered The Red Shoes and places it with Jean Renoir’s The River as the two best Technicolor films of all time. His admiration of the film is so strong that the sets and his signature in his film New York, New York are directly inspired by The Archers’ film.

Talking about The Red Shoes’ influence, you have Dario Argento’s masterpiece Suspiria that borrows the vivid colors and aesthetics of its dancing predecessor. Argento’s violent film also has a visual beauty in his Hitchcock horror. In the latest years, the Darren Aronofsky batshit crazy Black Swan film which the story is also about a female ballerina dancer has obviously been projected the crew to get some of the elements and feels. Especially the relationship between the dancer and the director is different but shows how strong this element can be in the life of a ballerina.

It is a sumptuous film that Powell and Pressburger did in The Red Shoes and the production and the final are proving me right when I state, once again, that it is their masterpiece. It’s been ten years since the first time I watched The Red Shoes and I can vividly recall every scene from this first watch. Since then, it became a favorite of mine and this is why choose to pick this movie as my favorite classic film for the first National Classic Movie Day.

Footloose (1984)

Footloose (Herbert Ross, 1984)

It tells the story of Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon), an upbeat Chicago teen who moves to a small town in which, as a result of the efforts of a local minister (John Lithgow), dancing and rock music have been banned.

Hairspray (1988)

Hairspray (John Waters, 1988)

The original campy comedy that generated a Broadway hit musical and an average remake in 2007, John Waters’ Hairspray is a whole lot of fun. With the last appearance of the star of his trashy films like Pink Flamingo, Divine, Hairspray celebrates music and the evolution of tolerance in America.

Cabaret un film de Bob Fosse - Retrospective

TSPDT Greatest Films #281 Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972)
Set between the two World Wars and during the rise of the Nazis in Germany. Cabaret tells the story of a young man who went for a while in Berlin to teach English in a little rent where the star of a cabaret Sally Bowles stays too. Adapted from the Broadway musical show Cabaret as a traditionnal romance with musical numbers set between scenes. Some musicals numbers seem forced to fit in the story, because Bob Fosse did not used the numbers to tell the story à la Parapluies de Cherbourg but to illustre it with Cabaret numbers only. Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles gives an excellent performance and she overshadows the good performance of Michael York.

I generally like musicals but this one didn't charmed me. The numbers are confined to the cabaret and they have a lack of inventivity in the way they were chot and presented to the screen. I was waiting for much more than that. Some musical moments aren't necessary for the story and it's ok that they are not that long either.

The directing is traditionnal and unpersonnal for a film of the 1970's it felt very conservative...

Cabaret is uneven and, in my opinion, a deception. For fans of Liza Minnelli especially.

A Film Retrospective by Michaël Parent

Seven Brides for Seven Brothers un film de Stanley Donen - Retrospective

TSPDT Greatest Films #954 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Stanley Donen, 1954)


Set around 1850, somewhere in the USA, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is a romanced musical (is there a musical without romance?) tainted with a little bit of drama. From the co-director of On The Town (reviewed here) and Singin' in the Rain and the director of Funny Face, Stanley Donen. Whose other films were made with big stars and big names like Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Audrey Hepburn.

In SBfSB Donen used the dancers of the New York City ballet. The story is quite simple, seven brothers live on the mountain and they want women to live with them. The older brother gets married and the six others want to meet each a bride... Well, the rest is pretty simple, naive, and very conservative (well it's an american musical of the 50's set in 1850 what do you expect???).

The musical performances are classic and under the quality of Donen's previous films he co-directed with Gene Kelly. Funny Face that followed SBfSB three years after is far better for its story and its style. On some level I think Stanley Donen needed a big star like Gene Kelly or Fred Astaire to juice up a bit his musical numbers and inject more personality in his films. But it's more than just the cast or the director in this case, the story is so thin and simple that it felt like anyone could have directed this script. Some musical numbers, like the part when then go to a dance in the village to build a barn is very entertaining and the choregraphy is very well executed. However, the story doesn't seem to keep the momentum and the rythm the dances bring to the film.

Even with all the criticism I bragged about SBfSB I had a good time watching it and it's far from a complete failure. I just think that when I can compare the previous work of a director to SBfSB it should be at least as good as he did if not better. For fans of Donen and/or fans of american classic musicals.

A Film Retrospective by Michaël Parent

On the Town un film de Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly - Retrospective

TSPDT Greatest Films #515 On the Town (Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly, 1949)
On my quest to see the 1000 Greatest Films of all time from They Shoot Pictures Don't They? I have the luck to have a television channel (Cine Pop) that presents classic films from the 40's to this day. This morning was the presentation of one of the best technicolor musicals of the 40's; Stanley Donen and Gene Kelly's On the Town. The story is very simple, three sailors have a 24 hour permission in New York City. One of them wants to see all the landmarks (Sinatra), the other wants to meet a girl (Kelly) (well the three of them ends with a girl, please don't act surprised here!) and the last one just want ot have fun (Munshin).
A predecessor to their 1952 masterpiece Singin' In The Rain, this one is entertainning as well and very well choregraphed too. But it doesn't have the depths we can find in the story of Singin'In The Rain. Some scenes are written to present the wonderful dances by Kelly and the numerous girls of the film. The funny side is more present here too. The dance in the Natural Museum is hilarious and has a cartoonish look.
I think the thing that bothered me the most was the precipitated ending and that some gags don't hold up enough for the quality of the feature. For an musical comedy fans this is a Highly Recommended film and I personnally would recommend it to anyone who appreciate a classic entertainment of the 40's.

A Film retrospective by Michaël Parent