The “most glowingly ambitious attempt ever made to recreate classical opera upon the motion-picture screen” (New York Times), Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's follow-up to their enormously successful ballet film, The Red Shoes, is in many ways a better film, with more imagination and story structure, though, being more intellectual, appealing to a more limited audience. Lush color, Offenbach's magnificent score (performed by the Royal Philharmonic, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham), and impressive dancing by Moira Shearer and Ludmilla Tcherina among others highlight the three connected tales of a poet's amorous adventures.