Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The Red Shoes (1948)

This is the first time I've ever participated in a blog-a-thon and hopefully my contribution meets the preliminary expectations. There one taking place at Beyond the Valley of the Cinephiles if you so happen to be interested and I would recommend checking out this film blog because there is a lot of fascinating intellectual criticism by the lovely lady behind the site.

The Red Shoes was my first introduction to Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger's prodiguous film canon and it's with great reverence that I proclaim them to be nothing short of masterful artisans of the highest order. Their creative story techniques are thematically compelling whilst taking full advantage of technicolor to form a lush tapestry of vibrant color schemes emphasizing the grandiose sets, costumes and choreography. Gushing praise aside, the primary focus of this review will pertain to analyzing two aspects that interest me a great deal which include the ambiguous life imitating art debate and the prestigous mise-en-scene where both run parallel to transform this film into a breathtaking piece of cinema.

To be continued...

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're a little early as of yet, but it's good to get a head start on these things.I'm happy that so far your comments are positive, especially your note on the Technicolor as the inventors of this particular form of Technicolor said this was the single film that best exemplified it's capabilities. I hope you are encouraged to go out and see some of their other films! Remind me come December and I'll post up your link with the official post thing! Maybe I'll get lucky and you'll see more of thei films during that span :D

Jason said...

I figured since I have a bit of time today that it would be best to at least write a little bit since procrastination happens to be my middle name. Thanks for incredibly fast feedback even though the introduction is all I have done. :p

I've got Colonel Blimp at my disposal and it will likely be the next film I watch.