Still considered by many to be the best ballet film ever made, The Red Shoes won Oscars for art direction, set decoration and musical score. Moira Shearer made her debut as a famous ballerina who must choose between her art and her private life. Svengali-like, Anton Wolbrook plays the ballet mentor whose mania for dedication destroys his star pupil. The denouement of the film is the ballet "The Red Shoes," based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale about a little girl whose shoes cannot stop dancing. Staged in its entirety, the ballet illumines the wonderful skills of Shearer, Leonide Massine and Robert Helpmann. Apart from the memorable dancing, Jack Cardiff's brilliantly evocative color photography adds significantly to the film's lush staging. Also noteworthy is Hein Heckroth's design. Director Powell has commented: "It was, I think, the first time that a painter had been given a chance to design a film, including the titles. For the ballet alone he made six hundred sketches." For all its visual flair, the film never strays from its subject, the sometimes tragic pursuit of art. David Thomson writes: "The artist's dedication is close to destructiveness: his vision is never more romantic than when it refuses to yield to real obstacles; he is most tender and wounded when he cannot share the sentiments of other people. For all its rainbow dazzle, and despite the frenzy of backstage collaboration, The Red Shoes glorifies the pained but magnificent isolation of the artist."