It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Very beautiful and inspiring film. I'm very impressed by the choreography and music and a great acting game.

Victoria Page is an up-and-coming young ballet dancer, seemingly headed for superstardom. She has just landed a great role, in the ballet The Red Shoes, a role that gets even better when the lead ballerina leaves and she replaces her. However, things get complicated when she falls in love with the composer of The Red Shoes. This does not sit well with the ballet's director...I really don't know what all the fuss was about. Maybe it's because I am not a huge fan of ballet, or just found all the goings-on rather pretentious, and over-dramatic, but this movie was OK, not great. Plot is pretty conventional, though drawn out. Direction is good though, for its time. Acting is like something out of a soap opera. The only plus in the casting is the beauty of Moira Shearer.

The technicolour cinematography was outstanding.My only complaint would be that the performance of The Red Shoes in the middle went on too long, and as someone who isn't too big on ballet I got bored during this scene.Characters were really well developed and the performances were great. Extremely well written film. The ending was quite shocking to be honest, didn't really see coming. It felt very modern for a film made in 1948 as well, not dated at all.I'd easily give this a 9/10, and perhaps on a rewatch maybe a RARE tg-esque 10/10!

'The Red Shoes' directed and written by the legendary British filmmaking duo Powell-Pressburger is very often called the greatest ballet film or even the greatest dance film of all time. After watching this, I can understand why. The screenplay written by Emeric Pressburger takes inspiration from the fairy tale of the same name written by Hans Christian Andersen and it employs the story within the story technique. The storyline of the film is pretty simple but effective. We are introduced to three principal characters namely Victoria 'Vicky' Page, Boris Lermontov and Julian Craster played by Moira Shearer, Anton Walbrook and Marius Goring respectively. The film can be in a basic sense described as a love triangle between the three with the seductive ghost of dancing hovering over all of them. In a way it is a horror film too, because the central theme is something that many artists have or will face in their real lives. What do you choose between your personal life and your art? This is the question that this film asks. Even if you choose one over the other, the option that you abandon will continue to haunt you. This particular issue is beautifully conveyed visually in a long uninterrupted shot of Victoria and Julian in their bedroom towards the end of the film.The acting is good from everyone. Moira Shearer's performance off the stage when she isn't dancing is good, but when she is dancing on stage, she just becomes this almost heavenly figure with unending grace, elegance and charisma. Marius Goring is also good as this talented young composer who is eager to make his mark and won't stop till he gets what he wants. But for me the stand-out performance comes from Anton Walbrook as Lermontov. He could have easily played the role in a very generic way to make the character a standard villain in the context of the film. But the depth, charm and pathos that Walbrook brings to the character elevates him from being a generic villain to a complex, interesting human being. The issue as to why Lermontov became so adamant about what choices Victoria should make has been analysed by many critics and viewers. Roger Ebert compared Lermontov to Mephistopheles since he is willing to help Victoria all the way to make her a great dancer as long as she gives him complete and unflinching obedience in return. This analogy does make complete sense from a symbolic point of view. But for me Lermontov is a human being who is lonely and has no real connection with any human being. He hides behind his mansions and flamboyant housecoats. His ballet group is his only connection with others and his family. He loves dancing and considers it his religion. He develops an intimate relationship in his heart and mind with these dancers. He became intimate with Victoria too after discovering her talent. But this intimacy is not a romantic one as far as I am concerned. He loves them as his creations. But once he accepts them, he expects these dancers to be singularly dedicated to him and his ballet with no other distractions. This is where Lermontov's comment about dance being a religion becomes a bit of an irony in itself. He calls dancing as his religion but instead he expects the dancers to take him as their god and any semblance of 'disobedience' is blasphemy. Michael Powell's direction is absolutely unflinchingly operatic. He takes Pressburger's script and conveys it in the most dramatic manner. The film's narrative comes to a halt temporarily at a point and the famous ballet sequence starts and what follows is absolutely other-worldly. Powell dissolves the distinction between cinema and ballet. Shearer is absolutely spellbinding. The ballet itself tells you everything you have to know about how the rest of the film will move along. Powell adds some dream-like elements to the ballet sequence which doesn't make it realistic, but they do make it a form of psychedelic storytelling.This is one of the most influential films of all time and I can refer to few films that were heavily influenced by 'The Red Shoes'. 'Black Swan' is a film that owes a whole lot to Powell-Pressburger's style. When it comes to the theme, a heavy resemblance can be seen in 'Whiplash' which also deals with the dilemma of how much sacrifice is someone willing to make in his/her own personal life to pursue perfection in an art-form.My favourite Powell-Pressburger film is still 'The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp', but even then I consider 'The Red Shoes' to be a masterpiece and a breathtaking exploration of the life struggles of an artist. A must-see for film lovers.