Our Favorite…..
Ballet Movies
- La Mort Du Cygne movie—A young student at the Paris Royal Opera becomes angry when she thinks a new dancer is about to replace her favorite ballerina. In her anger, the young student plots revenge. How this story plays out is intense, astonishing and strangely beautiful. This black and white French movie stars Yvette Chauvire and Mia Slavenska, two famous dancers of the 30s and 40s, but the movie itself does not have that much dancing. It’s all the incredible story yet it’s also all ballet. Unfortunately, it’s not available on either DVD or VHS. It plays occasionally at art houses, colleges and museums. Watch for it.
- Red Shoes
 —Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger this remarkable English film stars Moira Shearer and includes a lot of remarkable dancing, as well as an engrossing story. It’s in glorious Technicolor and is available in both VHS and DVD. Don’t worry what it’s about. It’s about the ballet. Just go see it.
- Hans Christian Andersen—Danny Kaye stars as Hans Christian Andersen. While the movie has very little to do with the life of the real Hans Christian Andersen, it spins a charming tale of a writer/cobbler who falls in love with a beautiful ballerina. The movie includes wonderful songs, beautiful dance segments and ends with a seventeen minute ballet based on Hans Christian Andersen’s story, The Little Mermaid. Roland Petit both dances in and choreographs the movie. His wife, Zizi Jeanmarie, is the ballerina Kaye falls in love with. Available in VHS and DVD. A must see.
- Center Stage—Twelve dancers want to become professional dancers. Who’s going to make it? Who isn’t? It’s fun, there’s lot’s of great dancing and the DVD is full of interesting extras, most notably the complete dance numbers and a commentary by the director, Nicholas Hytner. It’s a very popular movie and deservedly so.
- Turning Point—A ballet teacher’s daughter becomes a professional dancer, reviving memories for the ballet teacher of her decision to end her dance career. The movie stars Shirley MacLaine and Anne Bancroft with Leslie Browne as the daughter and Mikhail Baryshnikov as dancer/lothario who swoops in on the lovely Leslie Browne. Good story, good acting and great dance sequences with Baryshnikov and Browne. How can it miss? It doesn’t. Available in VHS and DVD.
- Invitation to the Dance—This is an odd but remarkable movie directed by Gene Kelly as his ode to ballet. It is not one of his usual musicals but rather a collection of three story ballets. The first two use professional ballet dancers with Kelly choreographing and taking small roles. The last story is part animation/part Kelly. If you are a fan of Gene Kelly you should check this movie out. It is definitely worth a view. At the moment, it is only available on VHS and even that is hard to find.
- The Company—Robert Altman directed this movie starring Neve Campbell. It’s about a ballet company modeled after the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. It’s done in mock documentary style with actors playing the major roles and members of the ballet company playing the rest. The dance numbers are fantastic; the movie is far less so. The commentary on the DVD with Neve Campbell and Robert Altman is more interesting than the movie but if you like modern ballet this is a good movie to see.
Musicals
- Singing in the Rain—Great dancing, great music, great acting, great directing, great script, great fun. In Technicolor. Available on DVD and VHS. If you haven’t seen it yet, what are you waiting for?
- Top Hat—This movie has the most romantic dance number ever put on film: Cheek to Cheek with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. If the entire movie was bad except for that dance number, it would be worth watching but the movie is fun throughout, filled with great dance sequences and a wonderful supporting cast. It is all ably directed by Mark Sandrich, the most underrated director in Hollywood. It’s available on DVD and VHS and is a pure delight from beginning to end.
- Swing Time—Another Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers vehicle, this time directed by George Stevens who was early in his directing career. Near the end of his career, Stevens directed the greatest western movie of all time: Shane. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies all follow a similar pattern. They usually start out hating each other, fall in love, due to some confusion fall out of love, and by the end of the picture, straighten everything out and fall back in love. Swing Time follows this pattern but spices it with great dance numbers and great songs. Available on DVD and VHS.
- Shall We Dance—It’s Fred and Ginger again, and as mentioned above, it’s practically the same story except they’re so much fun to watch, who cares. Available on DVD and VHS.
- The Gay Divorcee—Ditto. Just be happy they made four great movies. Available on DVD and VHS.
- American in Paris—Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron fall in love in Paris. It’s all done to a Gershwin score and has a long ballet dance sequence at the end which is worth watching the movie for. Available on DVD and VHS in glorious Technicolor.
- Bandwagon—Fred Astaire with Cyd Charisse instead of Ginger Rogers. It’s a very clever movie with lots of good dance numbers and two very funny supporting actors in Oscar Levant and Nanette Fabray. However, the gem of the movie is a brilliant dance sequence in Central Park between Astaire and Charisse. The movie’s directed by Vincente Minelli (Yes, he’s Liza Minelli’s father and Judy Garland’s husband). Available on DVD and VHS. In color.
- Holiday Inn—This movie probably has more hit songs in it than any other movie ever made, including the largest selling single of all time: White Christmas. It stars Fred Astaire, Bing Crosby and Marjorie Reynolds. The plot basically revolves around who will marry Marjorie Reynolds: Bing Crosby, the singer, or Fred Astaire, the dancer. It’s also directed by Mark Sandrich. The score is by Irving Berlin. If you don’t recognize any of these names, you’d better rent the movie and find out what a great musical is all about. Available on DVD and VHS. In Black and White.
- Brigadoon—OK. There’s this little village in Scotland and the people in it are awake for one day every hundred years. Gene Kelly has to decide whether he will give up his modern life in New York or live with Cyd Charisse in the little village in Scotland. Guess which he chooses. It’s musical; it’s mystical and the wonderful songs are by Lerner and Loewe. Available on DVD and VHS. In color.
- Footlight Parade—James Cagney, Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. This black and white musical was made at Warner Brothers which was a studio not known for its musicals. However, they had Busby Berkeley to direct the dance numbers and the dance numbers in Footlight Parade are incredible. The movie ends with three long dance numbers: Honeymoon Hotel, By a Waterfall and Shanghai Lil which are all great, particularly the number By a Waterfall. Busby Berkeley pioneered the overhead shot where the dancers move in patterns like a kaleidoscope. Let me be clear, the number, By a Waterfall is ASTONISHING! Available on DVD and VHS. In Black and White.
- 42nd Street—Another vehicle to spotlight Busby Berkeley’s dance direction with Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler. The plot is about putting on a Broadway show but that doesn’t really matter. It’s fast paced and entertaining and this movie pretty much started it all in terms of dance musicals. Ginger Rogers has a small part in the movie. Black and white and available on DVD and VHS.
- Anchors Away—Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra star in this movie about a couple of sailors trying to get dates. There’s lots of good dance numbers and it includes the famous duo with Gene Kelly dancing with Jerry Mouse of Tom and Jerry cartoon fame. It’s a fantastic number and worth getting the movie for. Available on DVD and VHS. In color.
- Seven Brides for Seven Brothers—This movie probably couldn’t get made today since the plot concerns seven brothers in an old western town who decide to get over their loneliness by kidnapping seven girls. Of course, it ends with everyone getting married but the seven brothers really can dance. One of the brothers-Ephriam- is Jacques D’Amboise who was a famous ballet dancer with the New York City Ballet. The choreography is by Michael Kidd. The movie is directed by Stanley Donen who also directed Singin’ in the Rain. In color and available on DVD and VHS.
Ballet Books
- Dancing on my Grave—Gelsey Kirkland wrote this autobiography and it ranks as the steamiest, most interesting book written by a ballet dancer ever. She was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and the ABT in the 1970s and a long time dance partner (as well as lover) of Mikhail Baryshnikov. Although the book near the end becomes somewhat like a journey into The Bell Jar when Kirkland has a mental breakdown, it does make for wild reading. This is sex, drugs and ballet.
- Winter Season: A Dancer’s Journal—A beautifully written book by dancer Toni Bentley describing a year with the New York City Ballet and Ballanchine. It’s the kind of book you always wished a ballet dancer would write and here it is.
- Holding on to the Air - An autobiography by Suzanne Farrell and Toni Bentley. Suzanne Farrell is one of the greatest dancers of all times and Toni Bentley is one of the greatest writers of ballet books, so it has a lot going for it but it does bog down a little near the end. Still it’s a very fine read.
- Ballet Stories-Red Hot Reads—This book is a collection stories and is intended for girls 9-14. Many of the stories are excerpts from novels and two are from chapters from the autobiographies of Margot Fonteyn and Lynn Seymour, so anyone reading the book should find something in it to love.
- Once a Dancer—Allegra Kent details her dance career with lots of anecdotes about herself and other well-known dancers with the New York City Ballet. Like many autobiographies it entertains and bores in equal parts. You can buy a used copy on Amazon for as little as $3.45.
Soldiers of Beauty—OK, we published it but if you like poetry and you like the ballet and you like art, you will like this book.
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