Film
The Red Shoes
Thursday, Oct 1, 2009
7 p.m.
Additional Info
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1948, 133 min., new 35mm print
Image: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, The Red Shoes (still), 1948; photo: courtesy Photofest/NYC
The Red Shoes has been 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.
A Technicolor classic based on Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of magic ballet slippers whose wearer cannot stop dancing, The Red Shoes tracks a ballerina’s rise to the lead role in a ballet version of the well-known story. As Powell noted of the film’s role in a post–World War II free world, “For 10 years we had all been told to go out and die for freedom and democracy; but now the war was over, The Red Shoes told us to go out and die for art.” This new 35mm print debuted at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.