Powell-Pressburger Writing/Producing/Directing Team Made History from 1946-48

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Produced Three Classics in Three Years

The films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger are among the most beautiful and amazing movies ever made. The credits for their films are unique in that both men are given credit for writing, directing and producing. In fact, Pressburger wrote them, Powell directed them and only the producing job was actually shared. Under the production company known as The Archers this particularly fecund partnership produced some of the most memorable films of the '40s, but the three picture output they produced between 1946 and 1948 has to rank as one of the unparalleled rolls in cinema history.

They are perhaps best known for the last movie to come out of this incredibly fertile period, the 1948 ballet-based fantasy The Red Shoes. Based loosely upon Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale, this movie is truly one of a kind. Don't be fooled by the fairy tale background or the fragile concept. The Red Shoes is not really about the ballet, or even magic, at all. It's really about the eternal clash between love and art. A ballet dancer and the impresario who makes her a star are both at heart choosing between what they love more. For the ballet dancer it's a choice between love for another man or her dancing. For the impresario, it's between the ballet dancer and what steps he will go to create everlasting art from her.

Moira Shearer is the typical redhead star in this film and she's simply amazing. But Anton Walbrook's Lermontov is the real acting masterpiece here. The cruelty on his face is enough for any talented actor to bring up, but Walbrook goes further by showing you not only the cruelty but also the reason behind it, the positive reason for destroying his creation.

Even if you aren't a ballet fan--and I'm not--you will enjoy the ballet sequences, especially the centerpiece title sequence. Rarely mentioned among the discussions of great dance scenes in movies, the Red Shoes ballet which is at the heart of this film is something that could only be done on film. Any attempt to recreate what you will see in this movie on the stage would be impossible. Ultimately, the movie is the story of self-destruction of the artist.