"Freely adapted from a story by Hans Christian Andersen. It’s a must for anyone interested in the art of
 film. It always seems to me a work of true madness about a descent into madness. Original and timeless, it’s also a glorious celebration of classical
 ballet and the pain and effort it takes to make it. The matchless beauty of 
Moira Shearer is captured by the cinematography of Jack Cardiff, and Anton
 Walbrook (as the impresario of the ballet company) gives an unforgettable 
performance, one that alone is worth the price of admission. The film is a
 transcendent experience, and the Criterion Blu-ray gives new luster to
 the imagery and sound. You need to see this, unless, like me, you’ve
 already watched it endlessly."

"I would say… It’s a really hard question to answer, first of all, because there are so many great films, and it’s hard to pick just a few. But certainly, Bonnie and Clyde is one. It’s perfectly cast, beautifully shot, and that ballet of death at the end was something unlike anything I’d ever seen before. [Everyone in the cast] were incredible. Estelle Parsons, oh my gosh."

"The fifteen-minute ballet sequence is so unforgettable. The cinematography is rich in a painterly, reddish-hued Technicolor. I resisted seeing this movie for years, thinking I wouldn’t be into it, but ended up completely absorbed and fascinated. Now I’ve seen it many times and still can’t get over how amazing it is. The ballerina played by Moira Shearer is torn between two men, and strangely, it’s the villain who I find myself rooting for."

"Powell and Pressburger’s ballet-oriented film of Offenbach’s opera of Hoffmann’s tales . . . as rich and strange a confection as the cinema ever produced, with astonishing work from Moira Shearer as the dancing automaton Olympia (whose absurd demise,with broken springs coiling out of her severed head, I always find shocking and sad) and Robert Helpmann as Hoffmann’s multifaced archenemy. With effects technique that could have been used by Méliès and gorgeous color art direction, costuming, and cinematography."

"This is the finest movie ever made about art and the romantic choices made by artists. I blame it only for the total crap it’s spawned on the same subject, some very recent. It’s almost too beautiful and too heartbreaking to think about, which only makes me want to stop typing and see it again. I know nothing about ballet or cinematography, but even I can tell when a movie is not merely a movie but an indelible imagination tattoo."