The Red Shoes (1948) Dance onto the Criterion Collection

The Criterion Collection released The Red Shoes to Blu-ray on July 20, 2010. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger directed the film starring Anton Walbrook, Marius Goring, and Moira Shearer.

‘The Red Shoes’ Movie Synopsis

The Red Shoes, the singular fantasia from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, is cinema’s quintessential backstage drama, as well as one of the most glorious Technicolor feasts ever concocted for the screen. Moira Shearer is a rising star ballerina torn between an idealistic composer and a ruthless impresario intent on perfection. Featuring outstanding performances, blazingly beautiful cinematography by Jack Cardiff, Oscar-winning sets and music, and an unforgettable, hallucinatory central dance sequence, this beloved classic, now dazzlingly restored, stands as an enthralling tribute to the life of the artist.

The Red Shoes was restored by the 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.

Read the full summary, listen to our Golden Age of the Silver Screen episode, and our Criterion Critics episode.

Special Features

• New high-definition master from the award-winning 2009 digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
• Introductory restoration demonstration with filmmaker Martin Scorsese
• Audio commentary by film historian Ian Christie, featuring interviews with stars Marius Goring and Moira Shearer, cinematographer Jack Cardiff, composer Brian Easdale, and Scorsese
• Profile of “The Red Shoes,” a documentary on the making of the film, featuring interviews with members of the production team
• Video interview with director Michael Powell’s widow, Thelma Schoonmaker Powell, from the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, in which she discusses Powell, the film, and the restoration
• Audio recording of actor Jeremy Irons reading excerpts from Powell and Pressburger’s novelization of The Red Shoes
• Collection of rare publicity stills and behind-the-scenes photos
• Gallery of items from Scorsese’s personal collection of The Red Shoes memorabilia
• The “Red Shoes” Sketches, an animated film of Hein Heckroth’s painted storyboards, with the Red Shoes ballet as an alternate angle
• Audio recording of Irons reading the original Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale “The Red Shoes”
• Theatrical trailer
• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by critic David Ehrenstein and a description of the restoration by UCLA film archivist Robert Gitt

New cover by F. Ron Miller