A Dança Inacabada

In all my years as a film buff, my only exposure to THE UNFINISHED DANCE (1947) was a black-and-white still image from it in a publication I don't recall. It never ran on television when I was growing up, it never played at revival theaters, and no one ever wrote about it or called attention to it in any of the thousands of articles and book chapters on classic Hollywood cinema I've read over the decades. So when I finally watched it, after recording it off TCM on October 8, 2013, I was astounded at how good it was. Why had no one remarked on this film before? Why is this not touted as, perhaps, Hollywood's greatest film about ballet? Everyone talks about Powell & Pressburger's THE RED SHOES (1948), made in England a year later, but no one mentions this film. Granted, THE RED SHOES is some kind of artistic milestone, when judged by its cinematography, sets, costumes, choreography and prestige cast, but it always left me a bit cold emotionally. It depicts a rarefied world with characters that seem more literary creations than drawn from real life. THE UNFINISHED DANCE operates on a much more expressive emotional plane and its characters seem much more real to me. These characters are truly passionate about dance and they live and breathe it every waking moment the way so many dancers in real life do. The young girls in the film who attend the ballet school come out of working-class New York and we can feel the hunger and the energy these characters bring to their chosen art. And the dance numbers, while not quite as long or lavish as those in THE RED SHOES, are all beautifully shot, staged and orchestrated, all in glorious MGM Technicolor.

What fuels this whole film, of course, is the intensity of Margaret O'Brien's central performance as Meg Merlin, a struggling ballet student who worships the company's prima ballerina, Ariane Bouchet (Cyd Charisse), and would, it turns out, do anything to propel her rise to stardom. When a visiting ballet star, La Darina (Karin Booth), is seen as a rival, Meg commits a surreptitious act that injures La Darina and threatens to end her ballet career forever. Meg's guilt drives the rest of the film, going so far as to ruin her close friendship with fellow student Josie (Mary Eleanor Donahue), and possibly derail her future in ballet. Eventually, she reaches out to La Darina and begins the journey to forgiveness and redemption. It's quite a stirring and emotional spectacle and showcases some wonderful actresses who dominate the narrative.

O'Brien, who was all of ten when she made this, gave closeups steeped in feeling like no other child actress. Every emotion that arises during the film plays out on her face. I don't know that I've ever seen another performance by a child star in Hollywood that comes close. One can make a case for Peggy Ann Garner's performances in JANE EYRE (1943) and A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN (1945), and even O'Brien's earlier performance in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944), but I think THE UNFINISHED DANCE has them all beat. Cyd Charisse and Karin Booth merely have to react to O'Brien to give fine performances. I've seen Booth in other films, but I don't know why she didn't have a more substantial career. She's quite good here, especially in closeup where her striking features are best appreciated, and more than adequate in those dance scenes where she's seen up close. She was, however, doubled in the long shots. As for Charisse, I've seen a number of her MGM musicals, but I've never seen her do the kind of furious ballet dancing she does here. It's quite breathtaking and I wish she'd had more opportunities to display this side of her talent.

Interestingly, the largest male role in the film goes to a then-newcomer who was "introduced" in this film, none other than future sitcom star Danny Thomas. He plays a Greek immigrant shopowner named Paneros who runs a clock store and is the sometime boyfriend of Meg's aunt, who's seen only briefly before heading off on a vaudeville tour and leaving Meg in the care of Paneros, an arrangement that would raise plenty of eyebrows if depicted in a film today. Thomas is certainly charming, but his accented performance is much more self-consciously "folksy" than it would have been if played by one of Hollywood's more skilled character actors at the time. Still, as someone who watched his sitcom ("Make Room for Daddy") as a child, I found his presence here quite comforting and it gave the film added resonance. Another future sitcom star on hand is Elinor Donahue (billed as Mary Eleanor Donahue). I had no idea she'd started as a child performer and it's a fun challenge to imagine how Josie, who knows Meg's secret and holds it over her like a dagger, leading to some vicious behavior, would morph into Robert Young's beloved and level-headed "Princess" on "Father Knows Best." Who knew? She's quite good here and I wonder what other good parts she had as a child.

I'm pleased to see that this film has other positive reviews here. I just wish it were better known and more widely seen. There is a DVD out from the Warner Archive, but it has no extras, not even an audio commentary. It would be great to get one from Margaret O'Brien while she's still with us.

When Cyd Charisse made THE UNFINISHED DANCE (1947) she was still a young starlet in the MGM stable, before her rise to stardom in 1950s Arthur Freed musicals like SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952), THE BAND WAGON (1953), BRIGADOON (1954), and SILK STOCKINGS (1957). (You can tell it's from her "early years" by the way her face is made-up.)

Fans and admirers of Charisse will want to check out this film for a chance to see her at home in the world of ballet. Many dancers in Hollywood were tap dancers, but Cyd Charisse came from a ballet background. The ballet influence is evident in her work in things like BRIGADOON, for instance, but in THE UNFINISHED DANCE we get to see Cyd Charisse do some real ballet, in a tutu and everything.

The real focus of the movie, however is Margaret O'Brien, MGM's child actress extraordinaire. THE UNFINISHED DANCE is a Hollywood remake of a fascinating French film LA MORT DU CYGNE (a.k.a. "BALLERINA") (1937). It concerns the girls of a dance academy and a sort of tragic mistake. O'Brien is a young dancer who idolizes ballerina Charisse and perceives a visiting prima ballerina (Karin Booth) as a threat. With her idol's best interests at heart, O'Brien sabotages Booth's performance. Booth suffers a career-altering injury and O'Brien is haunted by her guilt, even as Booth becomes a mentor for her at the academy.

Margaret O'Brien was a major child star in the 1940s and MGM adapted LA MORT DU CYGNE as a vehicle for their young actress. What's impressive is that MGM got ten-year-old Margaret O'Brien to actually learn ballet. O'Brien had never been known as a dancer, but she does her own dancing here and is convincing enough. Karin Booth, too, seems to do her own dancing on camera.

MGM adds Hollywood gloss to the plot from the original French film. The tragedy isn't quite so tragic. The irony not quite so defined. While it's a darker role than some would expect from Margaret O'Brien, it's not *too* dark. Danny Thomas plays O'Brien's gentle, vaguely ethnic, de facto guardian and sings a couple of cutesy tunes. The ballet sequences are staged in glorious Technicolor.

The plot is probably good enough for those who haven't seen the French film, although I personally feel the remake suffers by comparison. I prefer the French film for aesthetic and thematic reasons. I would highly recommend checking out LA MORT DU CYGNE ("BALLERINA") if the opportunity arises. It seems to be rather obscure but I caught it on Turner Classic Movies a few years back.

I have to give this film 7 out of 10 stars for originality (yes, I saw it was a remake of a 1938 French film, but it is still quite original). It's always great to see Cyd Charisse dance or do anything in a movie, and she is certainly showcased in this film as an alluring but slightly shallow prima ballerina. The real draw, though, is Margaret O'Brien as Meg, a frighteningly intense little girl who idolizes Charisse as the resident ballet star. Meg's rather shocking actions are equally shockingly glossed over in the end. The would-be feel-good coda is not the least bit convincing! What a high price Meg's victim had to pay, despite the faraway look of goodness in La Darina's glamorous eyes! But O'Brien specialized in intense, scary little girls, didn't she? Her crime in this film and the way in which she is haunted by it remind me of her hysterical confession to "murder" in "Meet Me in St. Louis." She was a strange and very talented little girl, and she is an impressive dancer in this film, too. You can't fudge dancing "en pointe," or you couldn't in 1947, anyway, with the camera focused simultaneously on your face and feet. This is not your everyday forties movie ...

Even if it had turned out very badly, "The Unfinished Dance" would have been an extraordinary film. Back in the late 1940's, making a large budget film was actually a more corporate decision than it is today. Which makes you wonder how something that is a weird mix of "The Red Shoes" and a pre-teen "Crime & Punishment" was ever approved for production.

Fortunately things turned out very well and for today's viewers the film's uniqueness is not the only reason to watch it. Most likely it was intended as a vehicle to showcase nine year old Margaret O'Brien's acting and dancing talents. O'Brien was an extremely hard working and motivated child actress, and "The Unfinished Dance" is the most accomplished of her many solid performances. She really gets to demonstrate her range, moving between her standard self-parodying cuteness and a convincing demonic side that should be quite a nice surprise to first-time viewers.

There are some extremely slick ballet scenes, with Cyd Charisse and Karin Booth (if it is not Booth's actual dancing they did a seamless job of matching close-ups and master shots). The Swan Lake scene is especially effective with the stage floor covered in mirrors to simulate the surface of the lake.

Little Meg Merlin (O'Brien) worships the featured dancer Ariane Bouchet (Charisse) at her ballet school. When guest dancer La Daria (Booth) displaces her for the season, Meg and her friend Josie (a very young Elinor Donahue) conspire to sabotage her performance by turning off the stage lights in mid-dance. Things go horribly wrong when Meg throws the wrong switch. La Daria suffers a career ending injury. Meg and Josie promise to keep Meg's involvement a secret.

This gives O'Brien the whole second half of the film to play the Raskolnikov role, as she is torn between satisfaction that her idol has reclaimed the top spot in the company and guilt because of the unintended consequences of her actions. The guilt becomes too much to bear when La Daria becomes her instructor and demonstrates far more interest in Meg's dancing than her idol Bouchet ever did.

"The Unfinished Dance" has a more contemporary shot selection than the standard 1940's-50's film. The story benefits from many close-ups of O'Brien's face, with the use of reaction shots more frequently than I can recall in any other film from this time period. O'Brien's expressiveness is nicely showcased and she is certainly up to the challenge.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Oh, I was so thrilled when I saw a Margaret O'Brien film on the TCM slate for today!!! And then when it came on in COLOR!!! My daughters were in dance lessons most of their lives and one continued to dance even after becoming a mom and a teacher. They would love to see this old movie. Since I am watching the movie currently, I can't comment on the overall, but I am thrilled to see such a young Danny Thomas! He looks a little like Mandy Patinkin. Just watching makes me smile and think of my own childhood, dancing, dreaming. Just know out there, that you can still find this movie on TCM. The Technicolor is vibrant and the values are old-fashioned and lovely. The blacker elements are still to come -- hang in there and watch it with me...all the way to the end!!!