Released 60 years ago this month, inspired by the work of a beloved tale-spinner and a great impresario, it raised the profile of a certain profession and excited a generation of young girls -- and perhaps some young boys, too. What is it, and who were the tale-spinner and the impresario? And just to keep you on your toes, what is the famous "error" that it contains?

queproblema

While pirouetting around the site, I came across this question, and can hardly stop dancing long enough to say this must be "The Red Shoes," based on a Hans Christian Andersen tale and starring Moria Shearer, a real life ballerina, who I'm supposing to be the impresario. (Alternate ending: Anton Walbrook, in the role of Boris Lermontov, may be the impresario.) "Many ballet dancers have cited 'The Red Shoes' as their original inspiration to pursue the art form,..." http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=7167 As to an "error," that could be the fact that the heroine was incongruously, but necessarily, wearing the red shoes when she leapt to her death. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Red_Shoes_(film) Sep 01 08, 8:36 PM

lanfranco

Well, that's close enough, qp. No, Shearer was not the impresario in question; she was the dancer. However, Lermontov was supposedly inspired by the great Sergei Diaghilev of the Ballet Russes. You get a pair of silver dancing slippers. The vault contains no red shoes -- they are far too dangerous. Here is Alastair Macaulay's quite interesting piece on the film, published in the New York Times over the weekend: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/31/arts/dance/31maca.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Sep 01 08, 8:52 PM