In 1940, during Balanchine’s “Hollywood Era” he choreographed a version of Swan Lake Act II in the film “I Was an Adventuress” which starred his then-wife, Vera Zorina. I will post multiple clips from this ballet scene today with accompanying explanations from Zorina’s autobiography. One thing to note, in both the rehearsal scene, and performance scenes shown in this clip, the conductor of the orchestra is actually played by Balanchine, and we get to hear him say a few lines! What a cool cameo.
Zorina: “George had decided to base the ballet for the Adventuress on the second act of Swan Lake, using Tchaikovsky’s music. I was the Black Swan, with my faithful partner Charles Laskey dancing the villain. Lew Christensen, who was unusually tall for a dancer, looked even more resplendent as a knight in armor. The set was beautiful, with intertwining trees forming a kind of arch in the background, a black floor shiny as a mirror (but hell to dance on), and a real moat, water and all, with a miniature castle at the end which was to appear in the distance shrouded in mist. George became very busy with camerawork and was using a “boom” for the first time, going up and down on the crane trying out all kinds of new shots. It may have looked interesting, but it was twice as hard for us dancers, because the camerawork was so tricky and the timing so difficult.
"In 1940 during Balanchine’s “Hollywood Era” he choreographed a version of Swan Lake Act II in the film “I Was an Adventuress” which starred his then-wife, Vera Zorina. The following text come’s from Zorina’s autobiography.
Zorina and Lew Christensen on set
“George also created some very difficult choreography for us, which Lew Christensen, Charles Lackey, and I rehearsed obsessively. We finally were ready to film it, but it took many, many takes. Either the crew made mistakes or we did, but finally it went perfectly for everybody. As we were all rejoicing, a script girl came up and said, “I’m sorry, but a feather flew off Miss Zorina’s costume.” I did not swear in those days, but my meaning was clear—no retake and the floating feather remained.
“In the end I don’t think the ballet came off very well. Some thought that Balanchine intended it as a satire on Swan Lake, but that is not so. His rich fantasy and marvelous imagination simply did not materialize-that can happen. Also, Zanuck came on the set one day in full riding outfit, beating his crop against his shiny boots, and made it clear that no unnecessary time be wasted for ‘experiments’—hardly the right climate in which to do something different. Toward the end of the ballet, there was a trick shot where Lew Christensen holds me in his arms and watches me disappear in front of his eyes. [Seen at the end of this clip] He slowly turns, enters the moat, and, in full armor, wades in two inches of water toward the ‘distant’ castle. Cinematically it was totally out of proportion and made Lew look like Frankenstein. This was hardly what George intended. Yes, things can go wrong."
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