The Red Shoes | |
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original movie poster
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Directed by |
Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger |
Produced by | Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger |
Written by | Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger Keith Winter (add'l dialogue) |
Based on |
The Red Shoes by Hans Christian Andersen |
Starring |
Moira Shearer Anton Walbrook Marius Goring |
Music by | Brian Easdale |
Cinematography | Jack Cardiff |
Edited by | Reginald Mills |
Distributed by |
General Film Distributors Eagle-Lion Films J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (West Germany) |
Release date
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6 September 1948 October 22, 1948 (US) |
(UK)
Running time
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133 minutes |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English French |
Budget | £505,581 |
Box office | $5 million (est. US/ Canada rentals) |
The Red Shoes is a 1948 British drama film written, directed and produced by the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, known collectively as The Archers. The film is about a ballerina who joins an established ballet company and becomes the lead dancer in a new ballet called The Red Shoes, itself based on the fairy tale "The Red Shoes" by Hans Christian Andersen.
The film stars Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook and Marius Goring and features Robert Helpmann, Léonide Massine and Ludmilla Tchérina, renowned dancers from the ballet world, as well as Esmond Knight and Albert Bassermann. It has original music by Brian Easdale and cinematography by Jack Cardiff, and is well regarded for its creative use of Technicolor.
At the 21st Academy Awards, The Red Shoes won awards for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction, as well as nominations for Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing. Today it is regarded as one of the best films of Powell and Pressburger's partnership and in 1999 was voted the 8th greatest British film of all time by the British Film Institute. Filmmakers such as Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese have named it one of their all-time favourite films.