Lesley Collier Movies
- 2000
BBC Opus Arte presents Tchaikovsky's holiday classic The Nutcracker, performed by the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden. Score performed by the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, under the direction of conductor Evgenii Svetlanov. Starring Sir Anthony Dowell as Drosselmeyer. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi
Some of the great moments of contemporary ballet are captured on film for this performance video. Highlights from Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Giselle, and others are performed by a number of the world's great dancers, among them Mikhail Baryshnikov, Irina Kolpakova, Wayne Eagling, and Darcy Bussell. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
The Royal Ballet's interpretation of Franz Liszt's Mayerling arrives on home video in this performance featuring Irek Mukhamedov, Viviana Durante, and Lesley Collier in the lead roles and featuring The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House conducted by Barry Wordsworth. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Irek Mukhamedov, Viviana Durante, (more)
This production of The Nutcracker ballet was directed by Peter Wright. He has taken elements from what experts have deemed to be the original staging of the production with more timely choreography and effects. The storyline remains faithful to Hoffmann's original, and also presents Tchaikovsky's timeless score. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi
- 1984
- G
- Add Faerie Tale Theatre: Dancing Princesses to QueueAdd Faerie Tale Theatre: Dancing Princesses to top of Queue
This made-for-TV children's film (from the Faerie Tale Theatre) concerns five princesses who wear out the soles of their shoes each day. The King promises a fortune to the person who can figure out the reason for the problem. ~ John Bush, Rovi
- 1981
This performance of the ballet La Fille Mal Gardée features the choreography of Frederick Ashton. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Lesley Collier, Michael Coleman, (more)
- 1979
Set in present-day London, this uneven children's film from director Christine Edzard is divided into three different stories. In the first tale the kitchen utensils and objects come alive and have their own discussion when the occupants of the house are gone. In the second, the Little Match Girl suffers an impecunious existence in London's East End. And in the last story, a love of dancing is embodied in the performances of two dancers from the Royal Ballet (Lesley Collier as a princess, and Graham Fletcher as Prince Potato). Other dancers take on the roles of garden variety vegetables in undoubtedly one of their more unusually costumed performances. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, Rovi
- Starring:
- Murray Melvin, Ann Firbank, (more)
The Royal Ballet Company brings Squirrel Nutkin, Tom Thumb, Hunca Munca, Jemima Puddle-Duck, Jeremy Fisher, Pigling Bland, and Pigwig to the screen doing pirouettes and pas de deux in this filmed ballet production directed by Reginald Mills. The film more properly belongs, however, to choreographer Frederick Ashmore, composer John Lanchbery, and costume designer Rostislav Douboujinsky. This literal adaptation concerns the shy Beatrix Potter and how, when all of the toy animals in her room come to life, she emerges from her shell and begins to enjoy life. Sequences include a rowdy dance with Tom Thumb and Hunca Munca destroying a collection of plaster food, a midnight pas de deux between Pigling Bland and Pigwig, and a corps de ballet of dancing mice. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Starring:
- Frederick Ashton, Alexander Grant, (more)
- 1926
This so-so comedy starring Edward Everett Horton is notable because his co-star, Mae Busch, plays a domineering wife -- the type of role she would become known for in the 1930s when she was foil to Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Horatio Slipaway (Horton) is your classic hen-pecked husband who doesn't fare any better at the office. True to his name, he slips away from his home but before he can get very far, he is hit by a streetcar. He is given 500 dollars to settle his case, and he pretends to have lost his memory so he can use the money to start life all over again. He takes the name Pete Peters (of Peru), wins big in the stock market, and sets himself up in a new apartment. His wife, Martha (Busch), discovers him after believing he was dead. She decides she wants him back and does everything she can to make him return, including buying a new wardrobe with the insurance money she received upon his "death." Horatio, however, refuses to admit he is anyone but Pete Peters of Peru until Martha has him kidnapped. Pete is faced with a group of surgeons determined to bring him back to his senses, so he finally agrees that yes, he is Horatio, and the couple are reunited. ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi
