Screening

About The Red Shoes

Year Released:

1948

Genres:

Comedy, Drama

Metadata:

Directed by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger

Weaving together the familiar narrative of a young artist finding her calling with the beautifully dizzying motion of ballet, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes is so much more than the sum of its dramatic parts. Vicky Page is a young ballerina who must choose between her dedication to ballet, as dictated by the ruthless leader of the company Boris Lermontov, and her new found love in the arms of young composer Julian Craster. The film questions how we divide our passions and how, ultimately, our passions come to define us. The film features some of the most beautiful color cinematography of all-time, which serves to frame this struggle over the meaning of art in a highly artistic manner, demonstrating the possibilities of cinema’s interaction with and enhancement of other art forms.

Introduction is being provided by James Paasche, PhD Candidate in the Department of Communication and Culture.

(35mm presentation) Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive, in association with the BFI, The Film Foundation, ITV Global Entertainment Ltd., and Janus Films. Restoration funding provided by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, The Film Foundation, and the Louis B. Mayer Foundation.