# "The Red Shoes" in glorious restoration



## Guest (Jul 20, 2021)

I note that the US has GLORIOUSLY and FLAWLESSLY restored this film for Criterion. Scorsese regards it as the greatest colour film ever made. My copy from 2003 is an intermediate restoration and impoverished compared to this latest iteration, with colour bleeding and blurring a major problem. Only one complaint about the latest restoration; it's a bit too dark, but maybe the restoration team wanted to focus on the 'gothic' elements of the 'fairy tale'.

"The Red Shoes" an absolute masterpiece, except for the 'romance' element when the film lags for a time. And who would sit through a 15 minute ballet in the cinema today?

Anton Walbrook is stunning in this film. It's his picture, but the whole narrative captures the unique world of the personalities who inhabit the world of ballet. The tantrums, the celebration, the exhaustion, frustration and drive towards perfection at any cost. It's all there. Walbrook's voice is a musical instrument, his mien and comportment imbue the character and film with total grace and class - which counterpoints his 'gothic' personality and total need to control. But his movements are balletic in themselves. What an actor!! This Viennese actor was the paragon of class and style: look at him at *58:30*!! Moira Shearer can't act, unfortunately, and wasn't happy having to make the film. Her dancing is superb.

Don't wait long to see this because it's sure to disappear from the internet quickly:


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## Barbebleu (May 17, 2015)

Thanks for the heads up. One of my favourite films.


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## Guest (Jul 20, 2021)

Barbebleu said:


> Thanks for the heads up. One of my favourite films.


I'm glad. I love this film with all my heart and especially Walbrook's performance. And the ballet, of course. Our Australian Robert Helpmann had a major role.

"*The Red Shoes*" influenced Vincente Minnelli "An American In Paris" and "Some Came Running" and many other film-makers - mostly with the use of colour but also the explicit mise-en-scene of the ballet itself.


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2021)

Note at *51 minutes*: the framing of Michael Powell is so reminiscent of John Ford. A room of creative people in "The Red Shoes" going over the orchestration, each one doing something to contribute to the movement within the frame keeping it organic and progressing the narrative.

Many directors have failed on this technical aspect of film making; for example, Michael Curtiz "We're No Angels" - a dreadful film which just is moribund and set-bound with so little movement: look at them all just sitting around!!






Compare with John Ford, "The Searchers" and this classic scene - a real 'mobile frame'.






Michael Powell's film preceded this one by Ford, but would have known other Ford films where he uses a lively mise-en-scene.


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## Guest (Jul 21, 2021)

Christabel said:


> Note at *51 minutes*: the framing of Michael Powell is so reminiscent of John Ford. A room of creative people in "The Red Shoes" going over the orchestration, each one doing something to contribute to the movement within the frame keeping it organic and progressing the narrative.
> 
> Many directors have failed on this technical aspect of film making; for example, Michael Curtiz "We're No Angels" - a dreadful film which just is moribund and set-bound with so little movement: look at them all just sitting around!!
> 
> ...


I've added another masterful scene from a great director with a lively frame; this time interactions between actors at the top of their game: at 15 minutes here - "His Girl Friday". Howard Hawks, director.


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