lmspear Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 I just came across Hans Christian Andersen on the Hulu sight: which made me wonder if it had been discussed as a ballet film here. I don't think I've seen it since I was a child and was wondering what people's views of it were. Between Roland Petit, Jeanmaire, and Erik Bruhn there's certainly major talent from the legitimate ballet world participating. I remember a lot of screen time being spent on the creation of The Little Mermaid Ballet and it's premiere. So how does it rate as a depiction of the ballet world and how does it compare to other recent films? If I remember correctly the ballerina had a flamboyant, manipulative personality, but she was sane as opposed to so many other film ballerinas. Link to comment
Mel Johnson Posted January 9, 2011 Share Posted January 9, 2011 As a depiction of the ballet world, it's better than The Black Swan, but errs in the other direction. Made in the 50s, there wasn't much more they could do with a story like that, what with the Motion Picture Production Code (the legendary "Hays Office") in place, so they more or less scrapped Andersen's real life, not that it was scandalous, and put in place a rewrite of The Tales of Hoffman. Still the ballet scenes are good to have for documentary purposes. Link to comment
lmspear Posted January 10, 2011 Author Share Posted January 10, 2011 Thank you, Mel. I had always thought of it as a children's film. I appreciate looking at it from a different point of view. Link to comment
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