The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, August 5-11
The Red Shoes (1948)
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Upon its release, this great film about the tragic tension between art and love—based on Hans Christian Andersen’s eponymous fairy tale about magic shoes that compel who wears them to dance, shot in sumptuous three-strip Technicolor that was digitally restored in 2006—did not sit especially well with downtrodden post-war British audiences. But it latterly acquired iconic status, not least because it is among Martin Scorsese’s favorite movies. While the affection of the maestro of dark motivations for a film concerning ballet may seem incongruous at first blush, it actually makes profound sense that he would dig a grim musical. At bottom, the movie is about the way an artist must obsessively conjure demons, often with the assistance of a willful mentor, to create transcendent art. These characters have become cinematic tropes partly on account of Moira Shearer’s penetratingly realistic performance as Vicky Page and Anton Walbrook’s equally authoritative turn as Boris Lermontov. Beyond that, The Red Shoes singularly achieves a primary objective of any moving picture: the integration of physical and emotional expression. Ignoring The Red Shoes risks underrating Scorsese; not a good idea. Jonathan Stevenson (August 7, 4:30pm; August 12, 8pm at MoMA’s “Scorsese Screens”)
