The Red Shoes (1948)

Hi!  We're back from our vacation.  We had a really great time.  And now we are back reviewing films.  Today's film is The Red Shoes.  I am especially looking forward to watching this because I love ballet films.

The film is inspired by the ballet of the Red Shoes, which is loosely based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Anderson.  When I say "fairy tale", I don't mean a cute bedtime story for kids.  I mean a cautionary tale where the main character dies.  Moira Shearer plays the star ballerina, Victoria Page.  She is fantastically beautiful.  The director of the ballet troupe, Lermontov, sees great promise in her and helps her to become the very best dancer she can be.  You can tell he has feelings for her but I don't know if Victoria sees that.

The actual ballet in this film is amazing and beautiful.  The backdrops are painted and there's a combination of the stage, the fields, and the ocean that is mixed nicely.  The ballet took over 6 weeks to film.  I think that even people who are not fans of ballet will enjoy this particular scene.

Vicki falls in love with the ballet's composer, Julian Craster.  Lermontov gets jealous of him and kicks him out.  Unfortunately, Vicki goes with Julian and marries him.  I think Julian is jealous of Vicki's artistic talent.  She was a great ballerina star and he was just a composer that was known for writing her first ballet.  That's it.  Vicki goes back to Lermontov's ballet troupe and begs to dance again.  Of course he's going to let her because he still likes her.  But jealous Julian can't have that.   He refuses to let her dance in any ballet and blackmails her feelings by telling her that if she dances, she doesn't really love him and he'll leave.  What kind of asshole does that?  Vicki wants to be able to pursue her dream, because it is just as valid as Julian's dream to be a composer.  But she just cannot handle it and leaps from a balcony, wearing her red shoes.  The symbolism of the red shoes in the ballet has shown itself again in Vicki's death.  I thoroughly enjoyed this film, not just for the ballet, but for the jealousy, the drama, and the art.  I will give it an 8/10.

Suspiria (1977)

Today's film is Suspiria.  *Yawn*.  I don't know what I was expecting, but not this.  It's not a bad movie, but it's not great either.  Also, before I got sick I studied dance very seriously, so maybe I had too high expectations on this.  Dance, especially ballet, and horror films are like two of my favorite things.

The editing is really bad in this film.  In the beginning, the main star Suzy is shown leaving the school at night.  Then, it jumps to another girl talking about how she left the school.  The girl has the same hair and clothes style as Suzy, so I just assumed it was the same person because nothing told me otherwise.  Then, she gets killed and the next day, Suzy returns to the school!  Oh, they are different people.  The shift in narrative was so jarring there was no telling who was who.

The creepy electronic music gives a nice atmospheric horror touch to the film.  Otherwise, it is a very colorful film for a horror.  In fact, the director told the cinematographer to study Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to match the color scheme.

For a movie about a dangerous witch coven, only three people die, and for stupid reasons.  One was killed because his seeing eye dog supposedly bit that creepy child, and another one got expelled.  She's already gone, leave her alone.  All of the deaths are gruesome and not badly done.

Suzy figures out where the coven is holding its meetings and kills the old gypsy witch leader.  Then, everything starts collapsing around her and as she runs out, the building is engulfed in flames.  Are we forgetting all the other students that lived there?  This movie is so frustrating.  I will give it a 5/10.