The Red Shoes (1948) is a British feature film about a
ballet dancer, written, directed and produced by the team of
Michael Powell and
Emeric Pressburger, known collectively as
The Archers. The movie employs the
story within a story device, being about a young ballerina who joins an established ballet company and becomes the lead dancer in a new ballet called
The Red Shoes, itself based on the fairy tale "
The Red Shoes" by
Hans Christian Andersen. The film stars
Moira Shearer,
Anton Walbrook and
Marius Goring and features
Robert Helpmann,
Léonide Massine and
Ludmilla Tchérina, renowned dancers from the ballet world, as well as
Esmond Knight and
Albert Bassermann. It has original music by
Brian Easdale and cinematography by
Jack Cardiff, and is well regarded for its creative use of
Technicolor. Filmmakers such as
Brian De Palma and
Martin Scorsese have named it one of their all time favourite films.