Word: helpmann
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This accurate study of backstage ballet life is possible because the producers hit upon the idea of employing real ballet dancers to play the parts. Robert Helpmann, who is not only the biggest attraction in British ballet but also a Shakespearean actor, is given a featured role. Ludmilla Teherina plays herself, a temperamental but very luscious prima ballerina...
Except for pretty, red-haired Moira Shearer, the film is not very fortunate in its performers. Miss Shearer, a ballet dancer appearing in her first movie, is an attractive actress who looks wonderful in tights. The dancing, featuring Leonide Massine and Robert Helpmann as both choreographers and performers, is proficient. But, during the longest ballet sequence, the badly inflamed Technicolor will not make the picture any more exciting to balletomanes. People who don't much care for the ballet to begin with may conclude from The Red Shoes that ballet folk are a more tiresome lot of exhibitionists offstage...