Malhas Negras

Maurice Chevalier introduces 4 ballets performed (and originally premiered, I believe) by Roland Petit's Les Ballets de Champs Elysees. Excellent productions in vivid Technicolor with all-star credits in every category: Cyd Charisse, Moira Shearer and Zizi Jeanmarie in leading roles, costumes by Yves Saint-Laurent and Christian Dior and music by Jean-Michel Damase, among others. Fans of ballet and all things French will delight.

Two of them are comedies, while the second and fourth are great tragedies. Everyone of them is perfect in choreography, dancing performances, impersonations, color and direction - nothing can be said against any of them. The music is originally mixed, it is both modern and classical, the most modern is in the second "Cyrano de Bergerac", while the best is in the third, "Widow for 24 Hours", which also presents the best solo ballet performance by Cyd Charisse, a very original comedy ballet, offering all kinds of typical Parisian delights, like both can-can, tango, strip tease and perhaps the best music of the whole. The fourth, "Carmen" is all Bizet. All four of them present excellent pas-de-deux, while "Cyrano de Bergerac", the second and the longest of the four, even presents a spectacular pas-de-trois, as Cyrano and Christian de Neuvillette, Roxane's two lovers, partner her expertly letting her believe them to be only the handsome Christian, while they perform this treat in marvelous communion, Cyrano always taking her over from behind, while she only sees Christian. It's a gripping and great drama, probably all made up by Edmond Rostand, but as a story it is immortal, and this ballet is a great illustration of it. Roland Petit is the choreographer and leading dancer in all four of them except the first, where Dirk Sanders makes the most impressing performance. Moira Shearer as Roxane, which is interesting to note, made this film in the same year as she made the ill-fated and unjustly notorious "Peeping Tom" with Michael Powell, who launched her in the greatest of all ballet films, "The Red Shoes" of 1948. Zizi Jeanmaire, leading in the first and last segment, is impressing as a dancer with very striking legs, but with her forced sensuality she makes almost a vulgar impression. An important detail is the great Danish dancer Henning Kronstam's short but striking appearance as Escamillo In the "Carmen" ballet. Cyd Charisse though is the jewel in the crown here, while perhaps the greatest surprise is, that the director was Terence Young, later world famous for launching the James Bond films.

Really can't add much to the knowledgeable original comment, but wanted to say what a handsome looking film this is, with striking, stylized sets and lighting. Even the slight fading of the Technicolor hues (at least in the print I saw) seemed more an asset than a failing. (And of course one has to give beauty marks to any film featuring the gorgeous Cyd Charisse!)-- Overall, just lovely to look at, especially the "Cyrano de Bergerac" sequence.

I bought this movie on VHS "at the dawn on the home video age" and, curiously, never got around to watching it until I watched the 2005 National Film Museum version on TCM this afternoon. To compare, I hauled out my bought copy, Video Arts International's VAI-15, which is also the 126-minute U.S. version released theatrically in 1962. (Neither this title nor any title in this format is any longer in VAI's catalog.) The following comments refer to the version seen today on TV.

All in all, I found the performances, the choreography, the staging, and the technical elements surrounding them quite intriguing and enjoyable. Two of the technical elements, in particular, bear mentioning.

The color photography is luscious, but not what one typically thinks of when the movie is shot in Technicolor. Although the colors themselves are brilliant and distinct, there are no shades of gray in evidence. Grays come out black, detracting from some of the more darkly-lit pieces, and making the overall appearance one of high contrast. Additionally, some of the skin tones tend more toward "white" than toward "flesh-colored," aggravated no doubt by the contrast between dark and light.

Secondly, a feature that I consider a giant plus is that this movie of set ballet pieces was filmed before the arrival of the short attention span of the MTV Generation, when popular music videos corrupted the video style of even live performances, including many found on PBS. Here, although different camera angles are employed to good effect, they don't switch every five seconds making the viewer dizzy and disoriented. In short, one can actually watch and enjoy this performance instead of having one's concentration constantly distracted by helter-skelter random shots of the action.

In summary, this film of four ballets provides a fascinating "Roland Petit retrospective" nearly a half-century later.

Lovely movie that I had heard about. Was crushed last year when Moira Shearer passed away. This movie includes Moira, Cyd and Zizi. Zizi I had heard about, but never seen. All were a delight. To me, Moira and Cyd seemed a little past their prime, since I was so spoiled by having seen their earlier dance films "The Red Shoes" and "Brigadoon", plus Cyd in "The Harvey Girls". But, alas, we all get older. I was finally able to see Zizi for the first time, and it was very nice. I have studied ballet, and feel that Roland Petit is well respected. Chevalier was good to see in this movie. The town square/vegetable market scene reminded me of "My Fair Lady". Just musings and reflections on my part. Perhaps the print and color were rather fuzzy, but they can be reminiscent of water color paintings. 9/10