The Red Shoes

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The Red Shoes

1948

2h 13m

Drama

Romance

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

98%

Tomatometer

65 Reviews

91%

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10,000+ Ratings

In this classic drama, Vicky Page (Moira Shearer) is an aspiring ballerina torn between her dedication to dance and her desire to love. While her imperious instructor, Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), urges her to forget anything but ballet, Vicky begins to fall for the charming young composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring). Eventually Vicky, under great emotional stress, must choose to pursue either her art or her romance, a decision that carries serious consequences.

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Critics Consensus

The Red Shoes is one of the best-looking movies ever, and blends multiple moods and styles with balletic grace.

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Sara Michelle Fetters

MovieFreak.com

11/16/2023

4/4

The Red Shoes showed me I could transcend who I was born as and become who I knew I was supposed to be.

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George Campbell Dixon

Daily Telegraph (UK)

03/09/2015

These faults, if faults they be, may well be outweighed by the beauty of the ballet sequences and music, by the skill with which Mr Powell always uses colour, and by Miss Shearer's endearing charm.

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TIME Magazine

03/09/2015

A lingering, calf-eyed look at backstage ballet's little world of overworked egos and underdone glands.

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Chance Solem-Pfeifer

Willamette Week

01/22/2025

The Red Shoes... remains a beguiling love story, a world-class use of color-as-storytelling and a touchstone film for any artist torn up inside about the enriching power of their art versus the destructive forces of perfectionism.

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Rich Cline

Shadows on the Wall

12/12/2023

5/5

Powell and Pressburger's films stand up because they tap into the human condition while pushing cinematic boundaries, and this is one of their most indelible fables.

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Victor Pineyro

Seventh Art Studio

04/08/2022

9/10

Black Swan wouldn't exist without The Red Shoes, a film about the most primitive human emotions, through the most exquisite forms of art. Powell-Pressburger were absolute masters of their craft. Incredible film. Full review in Spanish

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Ben W

@Username618 Mar 28

'How much worse, to have to copy, than be the one who is copied.' You'll get something out of its high production values, but there's a rather pointlessly dark fairytale at its heart.

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Jean R.

@Jeanieinabottle Mar 4

One of the most beautiful and haunting movies around the premise of an iconic and beautifully performed ballet. The cinematography is bar none to any other movie and the acting superb. Even if you are not a fan of ballet, I encourage you to watch it.

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Karen C

@jaysherman472 Dec 27

A movie with amazing Technicolor, cinematography, choreography and storytelling.

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Luca D

@JoeCamel7 04/26/2025

The acting was good enough not top tier, but what carries this movie is some of the best choreography I have ever seen, and great set designs accompanied by an amazing soundtrack. Overall a big creative melting pot that is a lot of fun to watch and listen to.

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Will G

@Wgoodeve 02/17/2025

A great film. It is about a ballet performance and they travel to France. The ballet is about a woman who can’t stop dancing when she wears these red shoes. Martin Scorsese owns the original red shoes.

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David K

@RT61474040 01/31/2025

This is a film I've watched multiple times but never really watched closely. However, re-watching as part of TCM's "The Art of Artifice" where they focus on Production Design in the pre-CGI era, I was mesmerized. I watch about 500-600 movies each year, and am so glad to have put this one in focus for the beauty of the production.

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Michael Powell

Director

Emeric Pressburger

Director

Moira Shearer

Victoria Page

Anton Walbrook

Boris Lermontov

Marius Goring

Julian Craster

Robert Helpmann

Ivan Boleslawsky

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Synopsis

In this classic drama, Vicky Page (Moira Shearer) is an aspiring ballerina torn between her dedication to dance and her desire to love. While her imperious instructor, Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), urges her to forget anything but ballet, Vicky begins to fall for the charming young composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring). Eventually Vicky, under great emotional stress, must choose to pursue either her art or her romance, a decision that carries serious consequences.

Director: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Producer: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Screenwriter: Hans Christian Andersen, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger, Keith Winter, Marius Goring
Distributor: MCA/Universal Pictures [us], Criterion Collection
Production Co: The Archers, Independent Producers
Genre: Drama, Romance
Original Language: British English
Release Date (Theaters): Sep 6, 1948, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 23, 2017
Runtime: 2h 13m
Sound Mix: Mono