Black Tights (1-2-3-4 ou Les Collants noirs) is a 1961 French anthology film featuring four ballet segments shot in Technirama and directed by Terence Young.
The dances in the film were abridged versions of ballets created for the stage by the dancer and choreographer Roland Petit, who appears in the three of the four sequences along with his wife, the ballerina Zizi Jeanmaire.
Along the Champs-Élysées, a wealthy man (Hans van Manen) accompanies his wife (Cyd Charisse) on a shopping trip to buy a dress.
In the Lillas Pastia scene, the ballet troupe sings l'amour est enfant de bohème in a half-sung/half-spoken fashion.
La Croqueuse de diamants Cyrano de Bergerac Deuil en 24 heures Carmen Black Tights received the Biennale Special Golden Award at the Venice Film Festival and the European Grand Prix by film critics in Europe.
"[2] New York Daily News critic Wanda Hale awarded the film four stars and called it "a most unusual ballet picture, artistic, beautiful, saucy and naughty.
"[3] The Boston Globe, while praising Black Tights an "intriguing picture to watch" and "rare entertainment," said that there are "occasional dull spots which slow up its pace and deaden its magic.
"[8] Three dancers who appear in the film—Dirk Sanders, Hans van Manen, and Gerard Lemaitre—went on to form the Netherlands Dance Theater.