I noticed how positive some of the comments here were and I was struck by how many people writing comments stated they were not real big ballet fans or knew much about ballet history. I am a big fan of the ballet and of ballet history and while I liked this film very much, I am afraid it was a bit shaky in some aspects of authentic ballet history. First, the history of the original Ballet Russes as formed by Diaghliev and which starred such immortals as Nijinsky, Pavlova, Karasvina, etc was given short shrift and I was really surprised the film focused only on the companies called Ballet Russes after 1922. Any serious discussion of the history of the Ballet Russes and it role in inventing modern Ballet has to include a discussion of the Diagliev years--his company, not the copycat versions of De Basil and Denham, was the actual source of what we know as modern Ballet in the 20th century. Be Basil and Denham were only trying to preserve what Diaghliev had started. If you watched this film you would not know that Massine was the choreographer for Diaghliev's Ballet Russe after Nijinsky or that Nijinska or Balanchine were also first employed by Diaghliev.
You would also leave the film thinking that Freddy Franklin was Markova's principal partner but that was not true--Anton Dolin was her main partner for years and he also was discovered by Diaghliev. Anton Dolin and Markova both taught for years and years and they were some of the people instrumental in founding the Ballet Society which grew to become the American Ballet theater(ABT) in New York. Dolin's omission and that of ABT were particularly curious in a film on ballet history.
While the film tried to portray New York City(NYC) ballet as the main rival in New York, it was the ABT that posed the biggest rival to the Ballet Russe company. The ABT still maintained the star system(and still does to this day)--particularly foreign stars--and NYC did not. The ABT did some of the classical ballets--NYC did not as a rule--the NYC specialized in the abstract ballets of Balanchine. The ABT toured and NYC did not as a rule. Many of the stars of the Ballet Russe defected to ABT over time.
Another big reason for the decline of the Ballet russes that was not discussed in the film was the competition Sol Hurok began to bring over in the form of foreign tours like the Royal Ballet and the Bolshoi in the late 40's and 50's. These foreign companies brought over full length ballets that neither ABT or NYC or the Ballet Russes were doing at the time and this further contributed to the decline of the Ballet Russe. However, this was not mentioned and you could leave the film thinking the touring tradition for ballet companies died with the Ballet Russe--which was far from the case.
Another very curious omission was showing some of the Hollywood films the Ballet russe starred in and not mentioning the Red shoes!! This was a seminal work about the ballet and was widely seen in the 40's and starred Massine and other members of the Ballet Russe like Toumanova as well. The Red shoes also starred some dancers from one of the rival companies challenging the Ballet Russe listed above--Moira Shearer and Robert Helpmann from England's Royal Ballet.
I could go on and on about other omisions and subtle distortions of ballet history but I do not want to nitpick. This film is great on its own merits as cinema and hopefully, people who see the film might look up the real history of the ballet on their own--most of the books on ballet history have a lot of the intrigue and personality conflicts only alluded to in this film.
You would also leave the film thinking that Freddy Franklin was Markova's principal partner but that was not true--Anton Dolin was her main partner for years and he also was discovered by Diaghliev. Anton Dolin and Markova both taught for years and years and they were some of the people instrumental in founding the Ballet Society which grew to become the American Ballet theater(ABT) in New York. Dolin's omission and that of ABT were particularly curious in a film on ballet history.
While the film tried to portray New York City(NYC) ballet as the main rival in New York, it was the ABT that posed the biggest rival to the Ballet Russe company. The ABT still maintained the star system(and still does to this day)--particularly foreign stars--and NYC did not. The ABT did some of the classical ballets--NYC did not as a rule--the NYC specialized in the abstract ballets of Balanchine. The ABT toured and NYC did not as a rule. Many of the stars of the Ballet Russe defected to ABT over time.
Another big reason for the decline of the Ballet russes that was not discussed in the film was the competition Sol Hurok began to bring over in the form of foreign tours like the Royal Ballet and the Bolshoi in the late 40's and 50's. These foreign companies brought over full length ballets that neither ABT or NYC or the Ballet Russes were doing at the time and this further contributed to the decline of the Ballet Russe. However, this was not mentioned and you could leave the film thinking the touring tradition for ballet companies died with the Ballet Russe--which was far from the case.
Another very curious omission was showing some of the Hollywood films the Ballet russe starred in and not mentioning the Red shoes!! This was a seminal work about the ballet and was widely seen in the 40's and starred Massine and other members of the Ballet Russe like Toumanova as well. The Red shoes also starred some dancers from one of the rival companies challenging the Ballet Russe listed above--Moira Shearer and Robert Helpmann from England's Royal Ballet.
I could go on and on about other omisions and subtle distortions of ballet history but I do not want to nitpick. This film is great on its own merits as cinema and hopefully, people who see the film might look up the real history of the ballet on their own--most of the books on ballet history have a lot of the intrigue and personality conflicts only alluded to in this film.