Red Shoes, The

Date: 1948
Director: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
Production Company: The Archers, Independent Producers

Stars: Marius Goring, Anton Walbrook, Moira Shearer, Robert Helpmann
Location(s): London, Monte Carlo (Monaco), Paris (France)

Region(s): , ,

Storyline:

Hans Christian Anderson tale, about bewitched red ballet shoes, which doesn’t end well.

Additional Information:

Jimmy Snow, special effects technician, for whom we have a fulsome summary of his career written by his granddaughter Brigitte, together with her memories of him, worked on this film. All that she has shared with us can be read here.

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We are aware that there are films on the site that were added when the criteria for the inclusion of locations was very different from today and, as a result, there may be scenes missing from some productions. Please do not forward additional screen captures to us but bring the detail to our attention, for we do, and are, 're-addressing' these older entries as time allows.

Covent Garden Theatre, Drury Lane, London WC2, Whoops, no, the Floral Hall, next door and in Bow Street as corrected by Adrian Grepnold.

From ground level. THe Floral Hall is now known as Paul Hamlyn Hall. SJ

Covent Garden Theatre, Drury Lane . . . actually on Bow Street explains Edward Venner.

The same location now by Peter.

Covent Garden Theatre, Drury Lane . . . Edward Venner again points out that the address to Bow Street WC2.

Peter captured the same window which has been promoted to a door over the years!

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Old Covent Garden Market, now much gentrified

And probably the same place.

Peter took this shot of the view looking from the old stage door of the Royal Opera House in Floral Street towards Zara, which has replaced Fredrick Warnes.

Mart Street says the street sign, back of the theatre.

Closer to the ground and a longer shot for this now image sent in by Peter.

Mart Street says the street sign, back of the theatre.

Altered since the extensions in the 80s and later, so this may not be quite the right place in Floral Street but the architecture is similar. SJ

Mart Street says the street sign, back of the theatre.

Hmmm ... as above. SJ

Mercury Theatre. Was this off Sloane Street in Chelsea? No, says Adrian Grepnold, Ladbroke Road, Notting Hill... The faded sign is still there as it closed only in 1987. SJ

There's the faded sign behind the tree. A lot of fenestral alteration to the old theatre. SJ

Paris, L'Opera, Galleries Lafayette in the background

Now. SJ

Paris, L'Opera, Galleries Lafayette in the background

Now. SJ

Paris, Galleries Lafayette in the background

Unchanged. SJ

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Monte Carlo, top of a lift. Manuel Gurtner tells us, more accurately, that we see the then Ascenseur de la Gare by the eastern corner of the large terrace in front of the opera house and the Casino to the then railway station beneath. In the background the exclusive Monte Carlo Beach Hotel can be recognised.(RL)

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Monte Carlo, top of a lift.

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Monte Carlo, top of a lift.

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Probably the, then, best hotel in Monte Carlo. Andrew Taft knows it well, he goes there every year....for a 'cuppa', Hotel de Paris, Place du Casino. (RL)

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Probably the, then, best hotel in Monte Carlo, Hotel de Paris.

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Outside Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo. Manuel confirms that Lermontov’s 1937 Cadillac leaves the then and still today best hotel in Monte Carlo. (RL)

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Looking from Hotel de Paris in Monte Carlo. Here, Manuel tells us that the car is rounding the Fontaine du Casino in the middle of the Place du Casino, while in the background the Casino Café de Paris can be recognised. (RL)

Having out stood since the film was uploaded in 2010 Steve Randall has finally resolved this one for us. Boulevard du Jardin Exotique, Monaco. (RL)

Steve provides this Google Earth View. The building covered in scaffolding and net is Monac'Art, an auction house at No 42 and the more exotic building next door is Villa Ispahan, once known as Villa Danichgah and built for a Persian Prince. (RL)

Here Manuel advises us, the Cadillac reaches the entrance to Lermontov's villa. Actually we see the lower entrance at the Avenue Léopold II to the famous Villa Leopolda, located in Villefranche-sur-Mer in the Alpes-Maritimes department. (RL)

Ole Kofoed provides his own shot to replace Manuel's Google Earth View. Obviously, the stairs and the entrance portal look more splendid nowadays than in the late 1940s. (RL)

The villa. At that time, Manuel tells us, it was owned by the American architect Ogden Codman Jr., who built the huge mansion from 1929 to 1931 on a former estate by King Leopold II of Belgium. (RL)

Another accurate comparative shot from Ole. (RL)

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The villa, once again, with Codman Jr. dying four years after filming Manuel advises, and later acquired by Gianni Agnelli, head of FIAT and the richest man in modern Italian history. (RL)

Moira Shearer as Victoria Page on the way up to Lermontov’s Villa. The staircase has a total length of about 100m Manuel reveals. (RL)

The gates were shut during Ole's visit, par for the course for a shot required for Reelstreets. (RL)

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Monte Carlo station, not to be confused with Carnforth, from Brief Encounter, they’ve both got clocks

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Monte Carlo station, not to be confused with Carnforth, from Brief Encounter, they’ve both got clocks. Of course it's Monte-Carlo station Manuel confirms, particularly not to be confused with Monaco station, which was located nearby Monaco-Ville with the Prince's Palace of the Grimaldi's. Towards the western end of the platform, he adds, the tower of the lower access to the then pedestrian bridge across the tracks can be recognised. (RL)

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Monte Carlo station, but this railway station was closed in 1964 after an underground bypass had been opened and the former Monaco station was modernised, then renamed as Monaco – Monte-Carlo station. In the late 1960s, the abandoned railway facilities were demolished and the whole area was overbuilt with a large complex, which opened in 1975 as Loews Hotel Monte Carlo. Manuel Gurtner is a mine of information! (RL)

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A hotel, supposedly in Monte Carlo. Manuel provides a more accurate assessment following further research; Julian Craster’s “Room with a View” shows the pier of the Monaco harbour. In the background the shore where the commercial quay of Port Hercule can be recognised.(RL)

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The 1946 Isobloc type bus of the Compagnie des Autobus de Monaco drives along the waterfront towards Monte Carlo. The two carriages are waiting in front of the hotel at the corner of Boulevard de la Condamine and Rue Antoinette, today Boulevard Albert 1er and Rue Princesse Antoinette. (RL)

La Condamine district in Monaco says Manuel. Sometime in the first half of the 1950s the so Belle Epoque style hotel was replaced by a newly built and higher Art Deco style apartment building, called Palais Hirondelle. (RL)

Manuel provides this Google Earth View of the current replacement building. (RL)

Paris, Arc de Triomphe. One of the city’s famous landmarks, located in the center of the then Place de l'Étoile. Ludmilla Tchérina as Lermontov's former Prima ballerina Irina Boronskaja on the way to the fashion show of Jacques Fath. At that time one of the dominant French fashion designers, who also made the costumes for Moira Shearer in this film. (RL)

Whilst we do not normally use Google Earth Views to support already identified locations this exception is shown to support the additional information provided by Manuel to the screen capture as well as this "now" shot. Facing from Avenue Foch to the Arc the Triomphe in the middle of the square, renamed Place Charles de Gaulle since 1970.(RL)

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Manuel explains all - Anton Walbrook as Lermontov, the man in the white hat, is waiting on Platform 2, as the express train towards Ventimiglia (Italy) with Vicky aboard the sleeping car pulls into Cannes station. On the right edge the Boulevard d’Alsace can be recognised. The train shed and the pedestrian bridge in the background disappeard, as Cannes station was modernised in the 1960s. Nowadays, the entire station facility is covered by the Boulevard de la 1ère Division Française Libre. (RL)

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Monte Carlo Station, “Train approaching platform……”, On moving on to train information, Manuel advises that the express train with an American built Mikado loco of the SNCF class 141R comes from Nice and can be seen in the stretch of the later Boulevard du Larvotto. (RL)

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Julian (Marius Goring) runs along the platform as Victoria (Moira Shearer) approaches the railings of the terrace above before she falls to the ground in front of him. (RL)

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By the western end of Monte-Carlo station the staircase nearby the Opéra de Monte-Carlo to the upper access of the pedestrian bridge across the tracks can be seen. In the background above the harbour the district Monaco-Ville with the Monegasque princely palace. Thanks you Manuel. (RL)