Roland Petit Movies

The Opera National de Paris mounted this production of choreographer Roland Petit's ballet Proust: Or How the Heart Skips a Beat, adapted from Marcel Proust's A La Recherche du temps perdu. The production stars Eleonora Abbagnato, Hervé Moreau, Stéphane Bullion and Manuel Legris and features music by such composers as Beethoven, Debussy, Fauré and Franck. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

The personal and professional lives of famed French choreographer Roland Petit and his wife, prima ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire, are affectionately scrutinized in this half-hour documentary. Best remembered by American audiences for her performance in the 1952 Danny Kaye musical Hans Christian Andersen, Jeanmaire was a star in Europe as far back as the late 1940s--as vividly evidenced by clips from the 1949 ballet Carmen, staged by Petit. Though the ride hasn't always been easy for these two highly talented, highly strung artists, the results of collaborations have never been less than brillliant. An expanded, 60-minute version of Zizi Je T'Aime was first broadcast October 14, 1998, on PBS. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A theatrical performance done as a ballet. Performed by Baryshnikov and Jeanmaire, this production is set to Georges Bizet's classic music. ~ All Movie Guide

The U.S. Navy's Blue Angels are pilots who specialize in precision flying. They appear in numerous air shows each year. A young boy, Sean Harris, narrates this film in a way that should make a number of children gain added interest in the military. Find out what it's like for these pilots who are constantly on the go and working together as a team. The program discusses how these individuals train for positions and the level of commitment required of them. Exciting flying clips and historical information about this group are included. This film stresses the importance of setting high goals in life and how hard work and determination will lead to success for most people. ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide

The fancy footwork and star appeal of Gregory Hines as Raymond, an exiled American, and the powerful grace of Mikhail Baryshnikov as Nikolai, a defector, combine with a great production design to carry this otherwise thinly-stretched tale of intrigue. With a stellar supporting cast (Isabella Rossellini as Raymond's wife, Helen Mirren as Nikolai's lover, and Jerzy Skolimowski, the Polish director, as a wily KGB agent), the film has a few excellent moments. Nikolai has defected from the former USSR some time in the past. While on a trip, his plane spectacularly crashes on a runway in Siberia. Trapped in the country he had escaped, he is brought to stay with Raymond, an American who defected during the Vietnam war. Nikolai desperately wants to get out of the country, but the Russians have other plans. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Eddie Constantine stars as Bob, an American GI at large in Paris. After attending a performance of the fabled Folies-Bergere, Bob becomes convinced that one of the dancers, a feisty little number named Claudia (Zizi Jeanmaire), has stolen his wallet. When he confronts her with this accusation, she reacts in predictably volatile fashion--and before either one of them quite knows what has happened, Bob and Claudia are married! The remaining reels of Folies-Bergere chart the turbulent course of the marriage, as Bob becomes jealous that so many males get to see so much of Claudia on a nightly basis. Despite its come-hither title, Folies-Bergere is about as racy as a seed catalogue. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This last remake (thus far) of the Jean Webster novel Daddy Long Legs was extensively revised to accommodate the talents of Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron. Fragments of the basic plot remain: American millionaire Astaire is the unknown benefactor of French orphan girl Caron, financing the girl's education on the proviso that his identity never be revealed to her. Moved by Caron's letters of thanks, Astaire's secretary Thelma Ritter advises Astaire to go to France to visit the "child". When he arrives, he finds that his ward has grown up rather nicely, and the two fall in love--though Caron never knows until the very end who Astaire really is. The old story has been updated to allow for an elaborate "cowboy" number and a couple of Eisenhower jokes. Highlights include a solo ballet by Caron and a wonderful Astaire routine involving a set of drums. The score for Daddy Long Legs is unremarkable save for Johnny Mercer's hit "Something's Gotta Give". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Le Jeune Homme et la Mort was a ballet film, based on the Ballet de Champs-Elysées' production of Roland Petit's famous 1946 work, which was itself based on the eponymous poem by Jean Cocteau. Urged upon Kenneth Anger by Cocteau, the finished film was to be shot on 35 mm and in color. Anger shot a number of black-and-white test rolls in preparation for the larger project, which never got off the ground due to a lack of financing. Had it been made in 35 mm, Le Jeune Homme et la Mort would've been one of the first full-length ballet films in history. When it was eventually made into a film in 1966, it was still one of the first full-length ballet films in history! This version was directed by Roland Petit himself, with Rudolf Nureyev in the title role. The status of Anger's 16 mm black-and-white footage -- how long it may have run, who the dancers were, and if it still survives -- remains a mystery. The unfinished film would still be valuable, as it would provide a glimpse of one of the most influential European ballet productions of the immediate post-war era at a remove of only five years distance from the premiere. ~ David Lewis, All Movie Guide

Marlene Dietrich became an immediate international star on the strength of her performance as the temptress Lola Frohlich in Josef von Sternberg's classic tale of love and obsession. Professor Immanuel Rath (Emil Jannings) is a strict and humorless schoolmaster who is shocked when he discovers the boys in his class have been spending their time at a sleazy cabaret called The Blue Angel, where an entertainer named Lola (Dietrich) keeps the men in thrall and sells suggestive postcards of herself. Rath goes to the club in hopes of catching his students and giving them a severe dressing-down, but he instead finds himself entranced by the carefree atmosphere of the club, and is struck by Lola's earthy, sensual beauty. Rath finds himself strongly attracted to Lola, and she later entertains him in her dressing room. When word of Rath's infatuation with Lola spreads to his students, he is taunted mercilessly, and eventually Rath is dismissed from the school. While Lola agrees to marry Rath, she shows little affection for him and delights in humiliating him, making him her servant and forcing him to play a clown in her stage show. The Blue Angel was shot in both German and English language versions; the German is preferable, as most of the cast were obviously more expert in that tongue. Dietrich introduced her theme song, "Falling In Love Again", in this picture. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide