“THE RED SHOES”
Over the years, there have been several movies in which attempts have been made to capture the spirit and the beauty, the romance and the enchantment of the ballet. And, inevitably, in these pictures, ballets have been performed, a few times with charm and sincerity but more often—and unfortunately—without. However, there has never been a picture in which the ballet and its special, magic world have been so beautifully and dreamily presented as the new British film, "The Red Shoes."
This unrestricted romance, is a visual and emotional comprehension of all the grace and rhythm and power of the ballet. Here is the color and the excitement, the strange intoxication of the dancer's life. And here is the rapture and the heartbreak …show more content…
For not only is the story a frankly sentimental affair, true to the stanchest conventions of triumphal love and bitter tears, but it is played by a splendid cast of actors who have the grace and the pace of dancers themselves. Indeed, many of them are dancers, as is natural, and they frequently perform, so that the rhythm and movement of their dancing transmits easily into the dramatic scenes.
And, for that matter, the story—it being about an English girl who devotes herself to a famous ballet company, becomes its star and then falls in love—is a symbolic realization of the theme of the principal ballet, which is based on Hans Christian Andersen's fable of the little girl who is bewitched by her red dancing shoes.
If there is one objection to the picture, it is that the story plays too long, with much involvement and redundance in a comparatively simple plot. There is no need to have the impresario, even though he is a charming martinet, reiterate with such monotony that dancing and love don't mix. And despite the beauties of the settings and the fascinations of the theatre, it is wearying to see so much Monte Carlo and so much of the ebb-and-flow
Over the years, there have been several movies in which attempts have been made to capture the spirit and the beauty, the romance and the enchantment of the ballet. And, inevitably, in these pictures, ballets have been performed, a few times with charm and sincerity but more often—and unfortunately—without. However, there has never been a picture in which the ballet and its special, magic world have been so beautifully and dreamily presented as the new British film, "The Red Shoes."
This unrestricted romance, is a visual and emotional comprehension of all the grace and rhythm and power of the ballet. Here is the color and the excitement, the strange intoxication of the dancer's life. And here is the rapture and the heartbreak …show more content…
For not only is the story a frankly sentimental affair, true to the stanchest conventions of triumphal love and bitter tears, but it is played by a splendid cast of actors who have the grace and the pace of dancers themselves. Indeed, many of them are dancers, as is natural, and they frequently perform, so that the rhythm and movement of their dancing transmits easily into the dramatic scenes.
And, for that matter, the story—it being about an English girl who devotes herself to a famous ballet company, becomes its star and then falls in love—is a symbolic realization of the theme of the principal ballet, which is based on Hans Christian Andersen's fable of the little girl who is bewitched by her red dancing shoes.
If there is one objection to the picture, it is that the story plays too long, with much involvement and redundance in a comparatively simple plot. There is no need to have the impresario, even though he is a charming martinet, reiterate with such monotony that dancing and love don't mix. And despite the beauties of the settings and the fascinations of the theatre, it is wearying to see so much Monte Carlo and so much of the ebb-and-flow