Reel 90a: At the Ballet, Pt.1

In today's episode we're going to have a look at a couple of films made several decades apart that look at the goings-on behind the scenes in ballet companies.

In this half of the episode, we're reviewing THE RED SHOES (1948), directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. We have impresario-type behavior, composers with big egos, love triangles, and all of it rather thinly overlaid on a Hans Christian Andersen story. But that's not a bad thing, even though there's at least one sticking point where Sean and I disagree. (It's minor, but we're each staying to our own side of the street on this one.)

In Part 2 we jump into this century for a Robert Altman film.