The film Martin Scorsese called “one of the very greatest ever made”
With 71 Oscar nominations, 20 wins, and most of his 25 films featured on countless ‘greatest films’ listings, Martin Scorsese is cinema gold. The director’s contributions to cinema run deep, providing some of the most innovative and artistic visions to the big screen.
Ask any regular cinephile for their top films, and Scorsese’s work will most likely feature in their answers. Ranging from his dark exploration of gritty environments seen in Mean Streets to the rise and downfall of the gangster lifestyle in Goodfellas, Scorsese masters telling a story through visual art.
To have one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers rank one of your films in their personal top ten must be a great honour. Ten directors were given this exact tribute by the legendary director Martin Scorsese, as he ranked his ten favourite films of all time.
The director shared his personal top ten with The Criterion Collection in 2014. The list featured Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard, and Jean Renoir as recipients of Scorsese’s praise. Scorsese’s preferred genres range from fantasy romance to film adaptations of drama novels.
The second entry on Scorsese’s list is one he shows endless love for. The Taxi Driver director praises the film as a visually stunning exploration of its subject matter, claiming it to be one of the best films ever made.
“I’ve said and written so much about this picture over the years; for me it’s always been one of the very greatest ever made,” Scorsese declared. “Every time I go back to look at it—about once a year—it’s new: it reveals another side, another level, and it goes deeper”.
When asked to explain what is unique about his second favourite film, the director references the stylistic art direction. “Of course, it’s beautiful, one of the most beautiful Technicolor films ever made; it has such an extraordinary sense of magic”.
The film Scorsese refers to is The Red Shoes, a classic British drama directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They both co-wrote the story and released it in 1948. The film is about an aspiring ballerina (Moira Shearer) torn between her dedication to dance and her desire to love. Her relentless instructor, (Anton Walbrook), urges her to focus on nothing but ballet.
However, Vicky begins to fall for the charming composer Julian (Marius Goring). The weight of the dilemma is heavy, as she is forced to choose between her art and her romance. This is a decision that has consequences no matter her path.
Scorsese references Vicky’s life-changing dilemma as one of the film’s strengths. He says: “There’s no other picture that dramatises and visualises the overwhelming obsession of art, the way it can take over your life. But on a deeper level, in the movement and energy of the filmmaking itself, is a deep and abiding love of art, a belief in art as a genuinely transcendent state”.
He situates Powell and Pressburger’s visuals as a utopian image. He advises viewers to “look again at the scene where Moira Shearer is walking up the steps to Anton Walbrook’s villa, especially in the new restoration: it seems like she’s floating on currents of sparkling light and air”.
The Red Shoes won the 1949 Academy Award for Best Art Direction, as well as Best Original Score, as further evidence of its strong use of film style.