Quartile rating: 8/10 · 1 rating
A fledgling ballerina falls in love with a brilliant composer, but the jealous head of the ballet company plots to drive them apart.
Powell and Pressburger's masterpiece earns top marks for its ravishing Technicolor cinematography — Jack Cardiff's work remains among the most beautiful ever committed to film. The 17-minute ballet sequence is a singular achievement in cinematic fantasy that has never truly been replicated, earning exceptional Novelty. The ending is devastating and genuinely operatic in its fatalism. The plot itself is relatively conventional melodrama, and while the performances are committed and Moira Shearer is magnetic, the acting is more of its era than transcendent — both categories land solidly above average but not exceptional.