FAQ for
Ballet Shoes (2007) (TV) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Ballet Shoes can be found here.

Yes. Ballet Shoes is a 1936 novel by English author Noel Streatfeild. It was adapted for the screen by English playwright Heidi Thomas.

Author Noel Streatfeild wrote a number of children's books to which she gave various titles named after shoes, the first being Ballet Shoes (1936). This was followed by Tennis Shoes (1937), Skating Shoes [aka White Boots], Dancing Shoes [aka Wintle's Wonders] (1957), and Ballet Shoes for Anna (1972). One possibility as to why Streatfeild chose to name her books after shoes is that, since she wrote mostly about children working (often in show business) and they all needed shoes to do these jobs, the idea of naming the books after the shoes inspired her. Another possibility is that she felt it was a good way to group her books together so that they were recognisable.

Those who have both seen the movie and read the book report that, like most movies adapted from books, many things were changed and/or omitted completely. One of the biggest complaints is that Winifred (Heather Nicol), a sympathetic character in the book, became a bad-tempered and jealous sort in the movie. Another complaint was changing the nature of the relationship between Sylvia Brown (Emilia Fox) and Mr Simpson (Marc Warren) into a romance. On the plus side, the movie maintains all three Fossil sisters and their hopes for their future...Pauline (Emma Watson) to become an actress, Petrova (Yasmin Paige) a pilot, and Posy (Lucy Boynton) a ballerina.

In the book, the story starts out with Pauline being @11 or 12, Petrova 10, and Posy around seven or eight. Emma Watson was about 17 when the movie was filmed, Yasmin Paige was 16, and Lucy Boynton was 13. However, the story spans about four years. Thus, by the end of the movie, the girls are close to their actual ages.

No. There is one scene showing Emma in a bathtub with another girl. However, we only see both girls from the neck up. The water level covers the rest of their bodies.

A Pretty Girl Is Just Like A Melody, music and lyrics: Irving Berlin; premiered 1946 (Interestingly, nearly fifteen years after the year the audition supposedly takes place.). Lyrics: I have an ear for music / And I have an eye for a maid / I like a pretty girlie / With each pretty tune that's played. / They go together / Like sunny weather goes with the month of May / I've studied girls and music / So I'm qualified to say Chorus: A pretty girl is like a melody / That haunts you night and day / Just like the strain of a haunting refrain / She'll start up-on a marathon / And run around your brain. / You can't escape she's in your memory / By morning night and noon / She will leave you and then come back again / A pretty girl is just like a pretty tune.

The "wrap" refers to a cotton overall or wrap that actors must wear over their stage costumes when offstage so that the costumes don't get stained or damaged. Pauline was making a fuss about wearing it, an indication that she was becoming a starry-eyed Diva. That is how she ended up losing the part of Alice to the understudy, as punishment for getting "too big for her boots".

According to Emma Watson's official website, scenes with her half-sisters, Nina Watson and Lucy Watson playing 2-year old Pauline, were filmed for the movie, but those scenes were cut for the broadcast version. Those viewers who have seen the DVD report that one of the deleted scenes shows a close up for a quick second of one of the twin's faces.

The novel is very ambiguous on whether or not Dr Jakes (Gemma Jones) and Dr Smith (Harriet Walter) were lovers. If so, they discretely rented two rooms instead of sleeping together at the boarding house, so there is no clue there. In short, it's up to each viewer to decide for themselves the nature of the relationship between the two lady doctors as, whatever the nature of their relationship, it is not important to the story.

Pauline is given the opportunity to go to Hollywood for five years. They worry that they don't have enough money again. Then, Uncle Gum (Richard Griffiths) comes back. Petrova gets flying lessons, and Sylvia and Mr Simpson get married.

My DVD included overview type headings:

* 01 = 00:00:00 - ballet shoes - * 02 = 00:11:08 - the academy - * 03 = 00:19:39 - the audition - * 04 = 00:31:42 - alice in wonderland - * 05 = 00:39:58 - amen - * 06 = 00:49:55 - the smell - * 07 = 00:58:38 - Pauline in a motion picture - * 08 = 01:10:06 - the bride and the groom -

This feature is an adaption of the novel that bothers about tone rather than word, so a set of headings linked to the chapter headings in the novel still can have a partial validity. It just is not a one to one correspondence.

The book chapters are: * Great Uncle Matthew and his fossils - * the boarders - * the fossil family make a vow - * Madame Fidolia and the dancing class - * the children's academy of dancing - * Petrova has influenza and makes a friend - * Maeterlinck's 'Blue Bird' - * the matinee - * Pauline wants a new frock - * the audition - * Pauline learns a lesson - * August - * the clothes problem again - * 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' - * independence at fourteen - * 'Richard The Third' - * making a picture - * Posy - * Gum comes back -

A fairly detailed set of headings, with the corresponding parts of the book highlighted, is as follows. Note that the natural flow of acts and scenes in the adaptation has a different flow:

* 01 = 00:00:00 - 1-1 > Great Uncle Matthew and his fossils - * 02 = 00:01:33 - 1-2 return with Pauline Fossil - * 03 = 00:03:09 - 1-3 Petrova Fossil - * 04 = 00:04:01 - 1-4 Posy Fossil - * 05 = 00:04:54 - 2-1 > the boarders - * 06 = 00:05:37 - 2-2 rooms to let - * 07 = 00:07:52 - 2-3 > the fossil family make a vow - * 08 = 00:10:00 - 3-1 > Madame Fidolia and the dancing class - * 09 = 00:13:23 - 3-2 the academy - * 10 = 00:15:38 - 3-3 I think Polka - * 11 = 00:16:36 - 3-4 > the children's academy of dancing - * 12 = 00:17:10 - 3-5 > Petrova . . . makes a friend - * 13 = 00:18:01 - 3-6 Theo babe - * 14 = 00:18:53 - 3-7 dance at the academy - * 15 = 00:19:34 - 3-8 routine maintenance - * 16 = 00:21:01 - 4-1 looking to the audition - * 17 = 00:22:19 - 4-2 a word about an audition - * 18 = 00:23:34 - 4-3 a new timetable for Posy - * 19 = 00:24:23 - 4-4 > Pauline wants a new frock - * 20 = 00:27:04 - 4-5 > the audition - * 21 = 00:30:14 - 4-6 > Pauline learns a lesson - * 22 = 00:32:26 - 5-1 Alice In Wonderland - * 23 = 00:34:25 - 5-2 Posy falls asleep - * 24 = 00:36:38 - 5-3 the medical letter re guardian, garnian, Garnie - * 25 = 00:37:37 - 5-4 curtain call and a reversal - * 26 = 00:38:32 - 5-5 crying in the bath - * 27 = 00:39:58 - 6-1 Posy in class - * 28 = 00:40:55 - 7-1 > August {vow with an amen} - * 29 = 00:41:52 - 7-2 news of an audition - * 30 = 00:43:48 - 7-3 > the clothes problem again - * 31 = 00:45:52 - 7-4 conscience, Petrova v Posy - * 32 = 00:46:57 - 7-5 > 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' {flying on stage) - * 33 = 00:49:55 - 7-6 being in character - * 34 = 00:51:04 - 7-7 A Midsummer Night's Dream - * 35 = 00:51:28 - 7-8 > 'Richard The Third' - * 36 = 00:52:41 - 8-1 perm gone wrong - * 37 = 00:55:10 - 8-2 newsreel - * 38 = 00:55:54 - 8-3 > making a picture {camping and news of a screen test} - * 39 = 00:58:38 - 8-4 screen test - * 40 = 00:59:42 - 8-5 on set - * 41 = 01:01:59 - 9-1 Garnie, a matter of the heart - * 42 = 01:03:48 - 9-2 the shoes fit now - * 43 = 01:04:46 - 9-3 in class - * 44 = 01:04:59 - 9-4 Pauline's Cinderella, Petrova as a jumping bean - * 45 = 01:06:03 - 10-1 news of Pauline's premiere and Posy's box - * 46 = 01:06:55 - 10-2 the house eats money - * 47 = 01:08:52 - 10-3 a disaster for Posy and Pauline gets scared - * 48 = 01:10:44 - 10-4 > Posy {dealing with behaviour} - * 49 = 01:12:06 - 10-5 Premiere - * 50 = 01:13:17 - 10-6 Posy - * 51 = 01:15:07 - 10-7 > Gum comes back {an offer for Pauline and another for Posy} - * 52 = 01:16:02 - 10-8 Posy did not get a lifebelt, only ballet shoes - * 53 = 01:17:53 - 11-1 G.U.M. - * 54 = 01:19:01 - 11-2 a proposal in the fossil room - * 55 = 01:21:51 - 11-3 babe gets a proposal - * 56 = 01:22:37 - 11-4 a vow with an amen - * 57 = 01:23:15 - 11-5 a wedding and a flying lesson - * 58 = 01:23:51 - end credits - * 59 = 01:24:21 - end -

These are best viewed edited so as to show one chapter per line, if using this for search. There is a copy showing this in the Message board, which is only accessible when logged in. That also includes an OGG version, if there are players that can work from an external OGG chapters file.