The Red Shoes (1948 film)



The Red Shoes is a 1948 movie about a ballerina named Victoria Page. She becomes famous after dancing in a ballet based on Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Red Shoes, and the head of the ballet company, Boris Lermontov, is determined to make her into the greatest dancer the world has ever seen. Lermontov is furious to find out that she has fallen in love with Julian Craster, the composer of the ballet, because he feels that it will interfere with her ability to dance. She is torn between her love of dancing and of Julian, and finds herself unable to wholly devote herself to either.

The film is also notable for the surrealistic sequence depicting the ballet itself. Watch It Stoned.

Tropes appearing in this film include:

 * Ambition Is Evil
 * Ballet
 * Career Versus Man: When Victoria chooses Julian, her dancing career grinds to a halt.
 * Disney Acid Sequence: The ballet scene. How exactly did they manage to perform that live?
 * Driven to Madness:
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Fiery Redhead: Victoria
 * Pimped Out Dress: Many.
 * Plagiarism in Fiction: Julian attends a performance of Heart of Fire only to realize that he had written all the music for it.
 * Sleeping Single: Even after they're married.
 * Talent Double: Deliberately averted. Instead of casting actors who could perform a little ballet, or use talent doubles, actual ballet dancers were cast who could act in a film.
 * Time Passes Montage: Used to show the progress of Victoria's career as she moves into principal roles and more prestigious venues.