The Red Shoes

"Dance she did, and dance she must…Between her two loves!"

1948 2h 13m EN

🙌

8.0

BANGER

★8.0TMDB · 778

DramaRomance

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A fledgling ballerina falls in love with a brilliant composer, but the jealous head of the ballet company plots to drive them apart.

“Dance she did, and dance she must…Between her two loves!”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Anton Walbrook
Boris Lermontov
Marius Goring
Julian Craster
Moira Shearer
Victoria Page
Robert Helpmann
Ivan Boleslawsky
Léonide Massine
Grischa Ljubov
Albert Bassermann
Sergei Ratov
Ludmilla Tchérina
Irina Boronskaja
Esmond Knight
Livy

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Michael Powell
Writers: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Hans Christian Andersen
Languages: Russian, English, French
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $10M — a 20.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

78 years old — a genuine piece of film history.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Russian, English, French.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Michael Powell, shot by Jack Cardiff. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Brian Easdale. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Reginald Mills shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Anton Walbrook and Marius Goring and Moira Shearer carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Michael Powell directs. Jack Cardiff behind the camera. Brian Easdale scores. Reginald Mills cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in Russian, English, French.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $10M — a 20.0× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
378 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
4Dialogue crosses 3 languages: Russian, English, French.
5Directed by Michael Powell, shot by Jack Cardiff. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Brian Easdale. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Reginald Mills shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Anton Walbrook and Marius Goring and Moira Shearer carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Dance she did, and dance she must…Between her two loves!".
10IMDB entry: tt0040725 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 10 themes, including "dance", "new love", "london, england", "dance performance".
12Released under 11 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Jack Cardiff
Original score: Brian Easdale
Editing: Reginald Mills
Production design: Hein Heckroth
Costume design: Hein Heckroth
Makeup / hair: George Blackler
Sound: Charles Poulton
Runtime: 133 min · 2h 13m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $500,000
Box office: $10,000,000
Return: 2000% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): NR
IMDB: The Red Shoes (1948)

Awards

Academy Award for Best Original Dramatic or Comedy Score
Academy Award for Best Art Direction, Color
National Board of Review: Top Ten Films

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

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Michael Powell

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Community reviews

What people are saying

CinemaSerf2022-09-07
★ 8/10
Moira Shearer is just excellent in this fine example of the cinematographer and choreographer's arts - all under the able and inspired direction of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. She is the aspiring ballet dancer "Victoria" who must train under the positively brutal rule of acclaimed tutor "Lermontov" (Anton Walbrook). This maestro, however, expects undiluted devotion and so when this young woman also falls in love - with composer "Craster" (Marius Goring) she finds herself out of favour. Facing the toughest of choices, she chooses love - but even married, she is still torn. When she returns a few years later to visit - her new husband having now completed the eponymous ballet - the imposing "Lermontov" proves he can still pull her strings and she faces an heart-rending choice. P&P have created a masterpiece of rich and colourful cinema. They have turned a relatively simple Hans Christian Anderson story into a maelstrom of love, ambition, power, control - you name it, it features here somewhere. Emotions run high, cruelty runs rife and all under the baton of Brian Easdale who has created his own "Ballet of the Red Shoes" score. Both Walbrook and Goring were underestimated actors, in my view. They had an adaptability that demonstrated a surety of foot as their characters illustrate traits that at best celebrate humanity, at worst denigrate it badly. The dancing is frequently mesmerising with the media of theatre and cinema merged seamlessly to give us a really breathtaking experience. I felt vested in the fate of this young woman, I felt vested in the nasty Lermontov - which would I have chosen? This is a great film, marrying the vivid imagination of a timeless creative source with a visionary and highly entertaining ensemble adaptation. Recently staged by the Sadler's Wells Company of Sir Matthew Bourne, but good as that was - this still knocked spots off it.

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