#30 - The Red Shoes (1948, Michael Powell / Emeric Pressburger)


This movie was really interesting because it was a musical without any singing! We've got an idealistic dancer, the composer she loves, a tyrannical director, backstage drama, everything you'd expect from the Dream Factory except the tunes. Of course, I generally am apathetic about the tunes so this is cool with me. Except that most of this movie left me wanting more, it's pretty light on actual drama and the like.

But OH MAN, the mid-film ballet sequence!! Only the best fifteen minutes of film EVER!!!! I'm totally a sucker for any supposed stage performance that utilizes crane shots, superimposition and montage. You know, just like the real ballet. I'm not kidding though, this and all those awesome Busby Berkley numbers rule so hard because they do so much that theater can't offer. If only there were more ballet films like this! I wish the whole thing was ballet. I guess I should see The Tales of Hoffmann, that's a full opera in this style. I hope it is.

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