 Casting the role of Vicky Page was a tough call for  Michael Powell (I) (qv) and Emeric Pressburger (qv). Ideally  they wanted a ballerina who could act and who also had to be  ravishingly beautiful. They were thrilled when they discovered  Moira Shearer (qv) who was second to Margot Fonteyn (qv) at the  famous Sadlers Wells Ballet, but she initially rebuffed them. In  the year it took to persuade her to come round, the directors were  forced to consider casting actresses like Ann Todd (I) (qv) and  Hazel Court (qv), and cheating with a real ballerina in the ballet  sequences.