Review #1,197: 'The Tales of Hoffmann' (1951)

Michael Powell, the great underappreciated British film director mainly recognised for his work alongside Hungarian Emeric Pressburger, spent most of his early career working towards the perfect marriage of the power of operatic music and the visual splendour of cinema. This can be glimpsed in the masterpieces Black Narcissus (1947), The Red Shoes (1948), and to a certain degree, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1949), but it wasn't until 1951 that he completed his ultimate goal. With The Tales of Hoffmann, an adaptation of Jacques Offenbach's flamboyant opera, Powell and Pressburger achieved what no other film has succeeded in doing since: bringing the opera to life on screen and infusing it with all the colour and vibrancy of cinema. Martin Scorsese, an lifelong admirer of P & P, recently oversaw a 4K remastering of the movie; the perfect medium to take in this lavish picture.

Staying true to the structure of Offenbach's vision, The Tales of Hoffmann comes with a prologue, epilogue, and three central acts all centred around the past loves of man-of-the-world Hoffmann (Robert Rounseville). As a stage performance featuring his current love plays out in the background, Hoffmann tells an eager group of friends of three women he has loved and lost. The first act, which is the brightest and most farcical, sees him duped into loving an automaton called Olympia (played by the beautiful Moira Shearer) by a pair of magical glasses that seemingly bring inanimate objects to life. The second act takes place in a hellish Venice, where an evil magician promises his courtesan Giulietta (Ludmilla Tcherina) expensive jewellery in exchange for her seduction of Hoffmann and the theft of his shadow. In the third and final act, Hoffmann falls for Antonia (Ann Ayars), a soprano suffering from a mysterious illness that forbids her to sing.

The disregard for traditional cinematic narrative structure means that The Tales of Hoffmann is certainly an acquired taste, but there is also nothing else quite like it. Backed by a thumping score from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Sir Thomas Beecham and brought to life with ravishing set and costume design by Hein Heckroth (who was Oscar nominated twice for the film), Hoffmann is a treat for all the senses. It's particularly adored by filmmakers, with Cecil DeMille voicing his admiration for the film, and George A. Romero stating it to be his favourite movie of all time and the reason he wanted to become a director. There are also fine performances throughout, in particular Moira Shearer, who I fell head over heels for in The Red Shoes, and Robert Helpmann, the Child Catcher himself, who plays Hoffmann's nemesis in all the stories. Only Rounseville and Ayars perform their own vocals, but the film is graceful enough to reward the vocalists by a credits sequence that sees both singers and performers take a bow.


Directed by: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Starring: Robert Rounseville, Robert Helpmann, Moira Shearer, Ludmilla Tchérina, Ann Ayars
Country: UK

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #53: 'The Red Shoes' (1948)

Cited by many directors and critics as one of the greatest films ever made, The Red Shoes was recently remastered under the care of Martin Scorsese. Directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, whilst having made many truly brilliant films, are still not held in a high enough regard. Their films were always awash with Technicolor masterstrokes, and their is no finer example of it than in this film. I truly believe that this is the most beautiful film ever made, and that you could freeze frame any second and hold it up as a work of art.

Telling a story within a story, The Red Shoes focuses on two young, aspiring artists - one is Vicky Paige (Moira Shearer), a beautiful young ballet dancer who makes an impression on ruthless producer Boris Lermonotov (Anton Walbrook). When he asks her the ultimate question - why do you want to dance? - she instantly responds 'why do you want to live?'. The second is Julian Craster (Marius Goring), an ambitious and talented composer whose ability to create great scores gains him the honour of re-writing the score for a new production of Hans Christian Andersen fairytale The Red Shoes. Vicky is cast as the lead, playing a girl seduced by a pair of red shoes that will not stop dancing as much as she tries to stop. Vicky and Julian work closely together, and then inevitably fall in love, much to the jealousy and rage of Lermonotov.

What stuck in mind the most about the film was the fact that my eyes were never allowed to rest as the film progressed. Even during the solemn moments, I found my brain struggling to absorb all the visual magic on display. As the camera pans through a busy rehearsal session, the frame is full of moving characters, colourful costumes, highly detailed sets and complex mise-en-scene. Legendary cinematographer Jack Cardiff, who worked on The African Queen (1951), as well as Powell/Pressbuger masterpieces Black Narcissus (1947) and A Matter Of Life And Death (1946), deserves every award available for his work here. The centrepiece performance of The Red Shoes which lasts for around 15 minutes, is as imaginative and as breathtaking a set-piece as in any film I've ever seen. Cardiff was given an Honorary Oscar in 2001 for his contribution to cinema.

Not to say the rest of the film is lacking. Pressburger's original script includes some fantastic lines. The complexity of Lermonotov's jealousy and anger when Vicky leaves the stage to be with her love is summed up in a great scene - Lermonotov and Julian stand in Vicky's dressing room, as Vicky is torn between her love of dance and to her husband. Julian simply accuses 'you're jealous of her', to which Lermonotov replies 'yes, I am. But in a way you'll never understand.' It's brilliance lies in it's simplicity.

The Red Shoes' legacy is it's influences of many filmmakers and cinematographers, cementing it's place as one of the greatest films of all time, and the pinnacle of the body of work produced by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film was practically remade recently with Black Swan (2010), which shared much of the films style and plot, but little of its intrigue and importance. Genuine cinematic magic.


Directed by: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Starring: Moira Shearer, Marius Goring, Anton Walbrook
Country: UK

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie