Ballet Shoes (film) - Plot

Plot

The story revolves around three adopted sisters, Pauline, Petrova and Posy Fossil. They live in near poverty with Sylvia Brown and Nana. Sylvia is the niece of "Gum" (Great Uncle Matthew), a somewhat wealthy paleontologist who leaves for an expedition and does not return, leaving the girls to fend for themselves. They have to sell some of his fossils in order to clear rooms for boarders — the friendly, learned Dr. Jakes and Dr. Smith, the helpful dance instructor Thea Danes, and handsome John Simpson. The story eventually focuses on the various talents of the girls: acting, machinery and ballet.

Pauline has a talent for acting and auditions for the role of Alice in Alice in Wonderland. After landing the role, she allows her growing accomplishments to inflate her ego, and she begins acting rudely and bossing around her sisters. Finally, her pride and constant rule-breaking lead to her losing the part to her jealous rival Winifred, teaching her an important lesson in humility. She tries film acting and finds it very difficult, exasperating the well-meaning director Mr. Sholsky. At the end of the movie she is offered a contract from a studio in the United States, but only decides to go after realizing how the extra money could benefit her family.

Posy thinks about becoming a ballet dancer. After showcasing her amazing talent for ballet to one of the boarders, also a dancer, she begins attending a stage school in order to be taught ballet. The ballet school's mistress, Madame Fidolia, is able to see instantly that Posy possesses considerable talent and begins to teach her privately so that she may learn more advanced techniques. When Madame Fidolia suddenly suffers a stroke while watching a ballet with Posy, Posy is more upset over her own lost career opportunities than in the welfare of her beloved teacher. Deciding that she cannot give up on her abilities, she sneaks into a practice of a famous Russian ballet. After being caught, and after the initial dislike from the teacher for not being Russian herself, she impresses him with her ability to dance and is offered a part in the company, though she is required to move to Prague.

Petrova is Russian, though she does not speak any Russian, having been brought up in England. She wants to work with mechanisms, such as cars and motors. Her biggest wish is to fly, but Pauline convinces her to join a stage production; Petrova later warns her sister to cease prolonging this ordeal. At the end of the movie, Pauline and Posy promise to make their sister go down in history, and not themselves, since they already have achieved their dreams. At the end of the film, when Gum has returned, Petrova flies off in an airplane above the place of Sylvia's wedding with John Simpson, with whom Sylvia had fallen in love.