Cheapskate's Guide to the Finer Things in Life
In tough times, embrace the magic of classic movies
As the recession drags on and unemployment rates remain high, the “latest news” is really just one more replay of the same worrisome old news, day after day. For an escape, I much prefer watching classic movies, either on the Turner Classic Movie cable channel or on the big screen a the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
As an MFAH member, I paid $75 for my one-year Film Buffs pass, which entitles me to view classics (including great foreign films) and some sneak previews of major new films on a big screen at the spotlessly clean state-of-the-art Brown Auditorium. (Non-MFAH members pay $85; if you don't have a pass it's only $7 a movie for adults, with discounts for MFAH members, students and seniors). It's one of the best bargains in town.
Friday night I saw the 1948 Technicolor classic, “The Red Shoes,” in a restored print. (It's also shown tonight at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 5 p.m.) The film is often billed as the best ballet film ever made, but that’s shorting it considerably. Ballet is simply the vehicle used to present the story of how the creative arts become a must-have --and then a must-have more-of. You see yourself right up there on the big screen with all the principals, including the beautiful Moira Shearer, who stars in the film as aspiring young ballerina Victoria Page. I love the great quotes, in particular.
“Why do you want to dance?” Victoria is asked early in the film by ballet company director Boris Lermontov (played by Anton Walbrook.)
“Why do you want to live?” she responds.
Enchanted, Lermontov takes the young dancer into his company, and the enraptured Victoria works diligently to perfect her technique under his wing. Soon, however, Victoria is forced to make a choice between her promising career as a prima ballerina and her budding romance with a young composer.
I was enchanted, too, and practically danced all the way home.