马克（卡尔亨兹·伯恩 Karlheinz Böhm 饰）是一名摄影师，热爱摄影的他随身都携带着他父亲留给他的一台手持摄影机。一起连环杀人案件在城中引起了恐慌，被害者均为女性，死去时，她们的脸上布满了极为恐惧的表情，而仪表堂堂的马克，就是犯下这些可怕罪行的真凶。原来，马克的父亲是一位研究儿童恐惧的心理学家，作为他的实验对象，从小马克就被各种各样突如其来的惊吓所包围，这样长久的恐惧和压抑导致了他扭曲的性格，也成为了一切惨剧的导火索。
一次偶然，马克被邻居海伦（安娜·玛西 Anna Massey 饰）的美貌所吸引，正当他准备对海伦下手时却犹豫了。海伦的天真美好暂时治愈了马克的童年创伤，但时常肆虐的疯狂却又让他陷入了与天性的自我纠葛中。接连犯案的马克引起了警方的注意，而在被捕之际，绝望的马克选择了自我毁灭。

佩吉（莫伊拉·希勒 Moira Shearer 饰）是一名很有天赋的芭蕾舞演员，她对芭蕾舞的热爱让她觉得她生来便是为了舞蹈。她参加了芭蕾舞剧《红菱艳》的演出，在剧中，她扮演那个穿上红鞋一直舞蹈到死的舞女，她的演出获得了业界的一致好评，她的演艺事业就此扶摇直上。之后，她结识了作曲家朱利安（马留斯·戈尔林 Marius Goring 饰）并且迅速坠入了爱河。为了所爱的人，佩吉放弃了自己的事业，但婚后平静的生活令她无法忍受，似乎总有一种魔力在召唤她穿上舞鞋翩然起舞。佩吉听从了内心的召唤，她离开了朱利安重新回到了舞台，但渐渐的，她想起了自己曾经扮演过的那个穿着红鞋的舞女，她觉得她们的身影正在慢慢重叠，不安的佩吉猛然醒悟，自己生命中最重要的并非舞蹈而是家庭，她冲出剧院想要重拾朱利安的爱情，但一辆火车从天而降，终结了她年轻的生命。
影片荣获1949年奥斯卡最佳配乐及最佳艺术指导奖。

本片根据歌剧“霍夫曼的故事”改编而来，然而它并不只是舞台上的表演，它戏剧化了将一位诗人的三个伟大的爱情故事。故事描述了艺术家在爱情与工作时间的斗争。最终，他虽然失去了每个他所心爱的女人，但取而代之的，他得到了作诗的灵感——把痛苦经历转化为艺术的能力。

Three loosely connected love stories. The first story: Paula is a talented dancer who cannot truly live unless she dances. But has a heart condition, which means she cannot live if she does. The second story: Tommy despises his French tutor, and hates being a child. He wants moxia.cc to be an adult so he can do what he wants. He gets his wish, being transformed into a handsome young man for one evening, and learns about whole new side of his French tutor. Third story: Pierre Narval is trapeze artist who gave it up when his partner died doing a dangerous stunt at his bidding. He rescues Nina, a beautiful young woman, after she throws herself into the Seine, and convinces her to become his new aerial partner. Her husband had been killed by the Nazis during the war, and she blames herself. They fall in love, which is tested when Nina must perform the stunt which killed Pierre's former partner.

Commissioned to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the painter L.S. Lowry in 1987, this BAFTA award-winning dramatic ballet celebrates the life and work of a unique memorable production performed by the Northern Ballet Theatre, led by ex-Royal Ballet stars Christopher Gable and Moira Shearer.

Act I
Cinderella, a young woman whose domineering stepmother forces her to act as a servant in her own home, helps her stepmother and two stepsisters to prepare for the Spring Ball, at which it is rumoured that the Prince will choose his bride-to-be. As the two stepsisters work together to produce a new shawl, they get into an argument over who will wear it, and end up tearing it in two through their bickering. The pair storm off, while the step-mother orders Cinderella to clear up the remnants and finish her chores, as her father returns home from business. Since her father's remarriage, Cinderella has had to sleep by the kitchen fireplace, leaving her nothing to wear but rags covered in ashes. Her father has never moved past the grief of his first wife's death, and though he is concerned for his only daughter Cinderella, he is just as much under the stepmother's control as Cinderella herself is. Their brief peace is interrupted, however, as the stepmother and the two stepsisters reenter and begin ordering them about. During supper, a beggar woman turns up, asking for shelter. The two stepisters and the stepmother try to chase her off, but Cinderella offers her a place by the kitchen fire and an old pair of slippers. The beggar thanks her for her kindness and departs, leaving the preparations for the ball to resume. After choosing dresses and a quick dancing lesson, the family finally sets off for the night with the father reluctantly in tow, leaving Cinderella behind.
Although lonely at first, she cheers herself up by dancing with her broom, imagining the Prince himself has asked her for a dance. She is surprised, however, when the old beggar woman appears out of nowhere, wishing to return the slippers with her thanks. To Cinderella's amazement, the shoes have been transformed into dancing slippers of glass. The old beggar woman throws off her disguise and reveals herself as Cinderella's fairy godmother, come to grant her wish of going to the ball. Summoning the fairies of Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter for assistance, she turns Cinderella's rags into a beautiful dress, a pumpkin and mice into a carriage and horses, and grasshoppers and dragonflies into a retinue of footmen. As she is about to leave, however, the fairy godmother warns her that the magic will only last until midnight, at which time the spell will break, and everything will revert to its original form. Only the glass slippers will remain as a gift for her kindness. She then summons twelve dwarfs, who will appear to repeat her message if she has not left by midnight. With this warning in mind, Cinderella departs for the ball.
Act II
The Spring Ball is in full swing, with guests arriving from all over the kingdom and beyond to dance and pay respect to the Prince. The two stepsisters attempt to win favour with the royal court by showing off their dancing skills, but have less than successful results, much to their mother's dismay. The Prince then joins the celebrations, but finding state events such as the Spring Ball dull, and being reluctant to enter a marriage without love, he declines any offers for a dance, particularly in the case of the obnoxious step-sisters.
At this point, Cinderella arrives at the palace, transformed beyond recognition into a beautifully dressed princess. The Prince, along with everyone else, is entranced by her beauty and charm, and for the first time, he asks for a dance. As the evening passes, the two become inseparable; Cinderella quickly becomes beloved by the entire court for her graciousness and charm, while the Prince is unusually enthusiastic and cheery in her company. When refreshments are served, he gives her the honour of taking one of three oranges, a delicacy imported to the kingdom from a far-off land. Cinderella offers the other two oranges to her two stepsisters, who are so flattered by the attention that they do not recognize the beautiful stranger as their stepsister Cinderella. The Prince takes Cinderella out to the royal gardens for an evening walk, where they dance and proclaim the love blossoming between them.
As they return to the ballroom for the next waltz, Cinderella has completely forgotten about the time in her happiness. However, at the first stroke of midnight, the twelve dwarfs spring from the great palace clock and remind Cinderella of her fairy godmother's warning. Terrified of being unmasked as a lowly servant in rags, she flees from the ballroom to the astonishment of the other guests. Though the Prince pursues her, she vanishes into the night moments before the spell breaks, losing one of her glass slippers in her haste and panic. The Prince is heartbroken at the thought of losing his love so soon after discovering her, but upon finding the lost slipper, he vows not to rest until he is once again reunited with her.
Act III
The morning after the ball, the Prince summons every shoemaker in the kingdom, in order to find out who the slipper was made for. However, none of them claim to have crafted the shoe, or sold it to anybody recently, and he concludes that the princess must be from a foreign land. His desperate search brings him first to the Mediterranean, then to the Orient, and lands further beyond. After travelling across the world and meeting various beautiful princesses with no success, the Prince begins to search his own kingdom, trying the slipper on every maiden who attended the ball.
Back at Cinderella's home, love has allowed the Prince to defy the laws of time and space; though she is only awakening the morning after the ball, he has already traveled the world and back again in search of his lost love. Upon waking, Cinderella initially believes that the events of the previous night were only a dream. As she relives some of the dances of the ball, she discovers the remaining glass slipper and realizes that it was all true. At breakfast, the two stepsisters reminisce about the ball, and argue about who made the greater impression on the Prince at the ball. Their fighting is interrupted when the father and the stepmother hurry in with the news that the Prince is on his way to their house, desperately trying a glass slipper on every girl he encounters. Upon his arrival, he tries the slipper on the two stepsisters, to no avail. The stepmother, however, demands to be given a chance and tries to force her foot into the shoe, ordering Cinderella to help her. As she bends down to assist, the remaining slipper falls from her pocket and the Prince finally recognizes Cinderella for who she is. As Cinderella successfully tries on both glass slippers, her stepfamily beg for her forgiveness, which she happily bestows upon them. Overjoyed to have rediscovered each other, Cinderella and the Prince are then transported away to a secret garden by the fairy godmother, where they confess their love for one another and are happily married.