'The Red Shoes'

One of the best films I've seen in a long time. Or in a while and definitely one of the top 10 or so I've seen of the 350 films I've seen during this little excursion.

For one, three cheers for Technicolor. However they decided to use color in film at the made an awesome choice in this regard because the color makes the film -- from the dance setting, Moira Shearer's vivacious red hair and, of course, the shoes. It's well-everythinged. Directed. Acted. Written.

I'm not a patron of the ballet, but I very well could be. I have a hell of a lot of respect for dancers, choreographers and directors because it takes a lot of vision and work to make that work right. Especially the dancing. The gruelling practices and years of work to get to a level of performance a vast majority of people can not understand. I loved all the dance scenes in the film.

Finally, I want to throw a bone to the British. In two of three posts, I've remarked upon two British movies, both of which were made in the 1940s. I could very well be wrong, but this appears to be the peak in British filmmaking (so to speak), during a time when Nazi bombers were making nightly runs over London or when they were simply trying to rebuild. "The Red Shoes" will not be the last reviewed upon on this blog from 1940s England.