Inspired by a Hans Cristian Andersen fairy tale (take that, Film Aesthetics students!), this 1948 film, directed by Michael Powell and co-directed by Emeric Pressburger, who also wrote the screenplay, is one of the classic dance films. Anton Walbrook plays Boris, an authoritarian stager of ballets who turns his most talented protégés into stars – but at a price. Moira Shearer stars as Victoria, his latest find, whose embrace, then rejection, of her mentor’s attentions propel this story’s plot, as well as its lengthy, gorgeously filmed, color-saturated ballet sequences.