History Film / TheRedShoes1948

* AmbiguouslyGay: Since it takes place in a Ballet Company, every male character that isn't Julian. Not bad for a movie made in the forties.
* AmbitionIsEvil: This is played with. Boris Lermontov is not pleasant to be around but his drive and desire for excellence is legitimate and something shared by all artists, he's also honest about the demands this requires and himself lives alone.

* BenevolentBoss: Lermontov plays with this trope. He is cold and aloof, yet he listens to his collaborators, offers opportunities to young talent and makes no demands on others that he would not follow on himself. However, if you cross him in any way or go against his beliefs, then prepare for epic snubbing, passive aggressive sniping and dirty tricks.

* DisneyAcidSequence: The Red Shoes Ballet. At first it makes sense as a literal ballet and reflection of Victoria's inner turmoil, and then she grand jetés into surreal land.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Victoria, unable to chose between her love and her career, throws herself off a balcony in front of a train. The ballet carries on with an empty spotlight in her place]].

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Victoria leaps from a balcony and falls in front of an approaching train, which hits her]].
* EmotionalTorque: The finale is a good example of this. Dramatically, the theme of the film that art-and-life is inseparable the parallel between the ShowWithinTheShow and the offscreen drama of Vicky Page means that her death at the end, seemingly possessed by her dancing red shoes or a sudden act of madness leading to her death makes sense. However, logically, Vicky Page was in the dressing room and not yet ready for the show, the red shoes are not costume, but props in the drama, so she shouldn't actually be wearing it ''before'' the show begins, yet emotionally and dramatically it was necessary that she wear those shoes and dance to her death.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Lermontov's beliefs that art requires commitments and sacrifices is this, you need to work hard, practise daily or your talent will become stunted, and you need to dedicate yourself to the crew and group in order to succeed.
* MauriceChevalierAccent: Some of the cast speak actual French lines, other speak English with a grotesque French accent.
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: It's left ambiguous as to whether [[spoiler:Victoria tries to kill herself voluntarily or if she's under the influence of the Red Shoes]].

* {{Novelization}}: Powell and Pressburger collaborated again thirty years after finishing this film to produce a novelization in 1978. The action of the novel is set in the 1920s.

* ShoutOut: The Mercury Theatre that Vicki performs Theatre/SwanLake in is named for Orson Welles' radio show.
* TheShowMustGoOn: Shortly after [[spoiler:Vicky's suicide, a shaken Lermontov appears before the audience to announce that, "Miss Page is unable to dance tonight--nor indeed any other night". As a mark of respect, the company performs ''The Ballet of the Red Shoes'' with a spotlight on the empty space where Vicky would have been.]]

* TakeAThirdOption: Victoria is forced to choose between Julian, the man she loves, and dancing ballet, which she considers as important as living. At one point, she has a relationship with him but keeps it a secret. When they are discovered, things get more complicated, and in the end [[spoiler:she decides to commit suicide by throwing herself in front of a moving train]].

* DoingItForTheArt: [[invoked]] Boris Lermontov to the point of fanaticism, he indeed asserts art being like religion for him. As per WordOfGod this was the theme of the film, after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and years of being told to die for country and ideology, he wanted to make a movie about [[spoiler: dying for your art,]] with Boris representing this belief.

Boris Lermontov (Creator/AntonWalbrook) is a demanding and highly respected ballet impressario whose company is hampered when its main prima ballerina (Ludmilla Tcherina) opts out for marriage, much to his displeasure. A talented dancer Victoria Page (Moira Shearer) and composer Julian Craster (Marius Goring) are signed on to his company, and he engages them as key collaborators in a new ballet based on the fairy tale ''The Red Shoes''. Lermontov believes that this will be his masterpiece, and that Victoria Page could become his greatest dancer. However, his domineering nature and fear of losing another dancer, gets confirmed when he learns of Victoria's romance with Julian, creating conflict in the company, with Vicky being forced to choose between her career as an artist or her personal happiness with Julian, and finds herself unable to wholly devote herself to either.

The film was notable for having an {{ensemble cast}} of actual ballet performers and choreographers, including famous veterans of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, namely Leonide Massine and Ludmilla Tcherina, as well as Moira Shearer, who had made a name for herself at the Royal Ballet School.

* BenevolentBoss: Lermontov plays with this trope. He is cold and aloof, yet he listens to his collaborators, offers opportunities to young talent and makes no demands on others that he would not follow on himself. However, if you cross him in any way or go against his beliefs, then prepare for epic snubbing, passive agressive sniping and dirty tricks.

** The film was adapted as a ballet choreographed by Matthew Bourne and premiered in December 2016 in London. The production used music by Music/BernardHerrmann, including ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'', in place of Brian Easdale’s Oscar-winning score.

* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Boris Lermontov is based on the famous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sergei_Diaghilev Sergei Diaghilev]] impressario of Ballet Russes, noted for his domineering personality, his MuseAbuse relationship with Nijinsky and his genius. Some of the Ballet Russes dancers, such as Leonid Massine (who plays Grischa in the film) appear in this film as well.

* SceneryPorn: The cinematography and Technicolor makes the film absolutely sumptuous to the eyes.

* TheShowMustGoOn: . Shortly after [[spoiler:Vicky's suicide, a shaken Lermontov appears before the audience to announce that, "Miss Page is unable to dance tonight—nor indeed any other night". As a mark of respect, the company performs ''The Ballet of the Red Shoes'' with a spotlight on the empty space where Vicky would have been.]]

* TakeAThirdOption: Victoria is forced to choose between Julian, the man she loves, and dancing ballet, which she considers as important as living. At one point, she has a relationship with him, but keeps it a secret. When they are discovered, things get more complicated and in the end [[spoiler:she decides to commit suicide by throwing herself in front of a moving train]].

The 1948 film was notable for having an ensemble cast of actual ballet performers and choreographers, including famous veterans of Sergei Diaghilev's Ballet Russes, namely Leonide Massine and Ludmilla Tcherina, as well as Moira Shearer, who had made a name for herself at the Royal Ballet School.

[[quoteright:220:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The_Red_Shoes_1054.jpg]]

''The Red Shoes'' is a 1948 movie directed by Creator/MichaelPowell and Emeric Pressburger, whose title and general motif derives from Creator/HansChristianAndersen's [[Literature/TheRedShoes tale of the same name]].

* TheShowMustGoOn: . Shortly after [[spoiler:Vicky's suicide]], a shaken Lermontov appears before the audience to announce that, "Miss Page is unable to dance tonight—nor indeed any other night". As a mark of respect, the company performs ''The Ballet of the Red Shoes'' with a spotlight on the empty space where Vicky would have been.

* DisneyAcidSequence: The ballet scene. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint How exactly did they manage to perform that live]]?

* DrivenToSuicide: Victoria

* FlamingDevil: Boris Lermontov is a ''human'' example.

* SleepingSingle: Even after they're married.
* ScreenToStageAdaptation: This was the basis for an unsuccessful (12 performances) Broadway musical in 1993, [[ProductionNickname nicknamed]] "The Pink Slips" because so many actors were fired.

''The Red Shoes'' is a 1948 movie directed by Creator/MichaelPowell and Emeric Pressburger, whose title and general motif derives from Creator/HansChristianAndersen's tale of the same name.