The Little Ballerina

I haven I last saw this film in the early 50s but any wisecrack film researcher out there should revive this gem for ballet nostalgia of the loveliest kind..wistful, black & white images of the long-lost halls where we went to practise in our little ballet shoes & the echoes of the plunking piano music.. acute fears of failure, wild visions of success..how relevant for the Russian ballet-lovers as well as us in England or America. It is a wonderful memory of childhood heart-stop in the excitement of a chance of dancing in the future that transformed our deary reality into sparkling hopes. A good Christmas film for TV that grannies & granddaughters will really love.

Watched this in the mid to late sixties on German TV and was always trying to find a copy. Is there anybody out there who has one and would be willing to make a copy for me? I'm looking for this one for more than 40 years. This would be a dream come true! My e-mail address is waldenpond88@hotmail.com.

The British Children's Film Foundation (CFF) produced lots of very good and very thrilling movies for kids in the fifties and until the mid sixties. Everything that has been made after 1966 is unfortunately not nearly as good as the early black & white films.

Rank Screen Services and Rayant Pictures were among the movie production companies who made movies for CFF.

I remember one scene where the little ballerina got locked in a room at the dance school by a jealous girl to keep her from performing in front of a jury.

The CFF has been founded by Mary Field.

This is only the second ballet film that I have ever watched,the other being Billy Elliott.

This was made for Ranks Children Cinema Clubs,which was the precursor of the Children's Film Foundation which came into being in 1951 as a result of the creation of the Eady levy.

This film has a marvelous cast. Young Anthony Newly is the leading male player. Martita Hunt is a teacher. Gilberts brother in law, Sidney Tafler is a stage doorman. That stalwart of John Baxter's films,George Carnet is there to give encouragement to Yvonne Marshall,the aspiring ballerina.

Also on view is Leslie Dwyer as an antique shop owner,plus Beatrice Barley and Elliot Markham. Worthy of an A feature.

Yvonne Marsh sees Margot Fonteyn dancing on a television in a shop and is entranced. She determines to become a ballet dancer, and everyone supports her. Yet ballet school is expensive, and barriers arise. Can she overcome them?

It's a mild little story concocted to fill the Saturday matinee children's slot by Rank's organization. They had already set up the Saturday Morning Cinema Club during the War, and the continued popularity impelled production of this mild and amiable movie. It's most interesting as an opportunity to see Miss Fonteyn during her prime; she had one earlier screen appearance in 1935 as part of the corps de ballet, while her few BBC appearances are presumably lost to the ages.

Miss Marsh was the sister of the better known Jean Marsh. She died at the age of 84 in 2017.