Sunday, May 27, 2007
DANCE DANCE DANCE
Today's NYTimes Best 1176 Film was
Reputed to be the best dance film ever made, it tells the story of Hans Christian Anderson's story at two levels.
A dance company decides to produce the story as ballet and the story of making that ballet parallels the fable.
It is a beautifully produced story of back-stage life and, to that extent, is fascinating and enjoyable.
The color is luscious; Technicolor in the original three-strip process which connoisseurs agree is superior to the technically improved two-strip (1954 is the date of change). It is like the argument about LPs versus CDs but in this case the quality is obvious. I think because of the stagy nature of the scenes.
There is a 20 minute ballet.
It is pretty good.
I am glad that I saw it. Damning with faint praise I suppose.
I am probably not as interested in classical ballet as the modern and, to that extent, I didn't get deeply involved with the dancing work itself.
The casting is very good. I liked everyone.
Moira Shearer is the star.
The famed Massine is the dance master. He appears as a partner in all the ballet sequences.
This film has a high IMDb rating. I wish that I liked it more.
I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: best films
