Comments on: Beware of The Unfinished Dance (1947)

By: Cindy

Cindy — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:04:43 +0000

I first saw the Unfinished Dance as an 8 year old, and immediately fell in love with Margaret O’Brien and ballet dancing! This movie prompted me to start taking ballet lessons, and instilled in me a desire to become a ballerina. I took ballet lessons for a number of years and danced with a few small (non-professional) companies. This movie gave me a lifelong love of dance, and especially of ballet.

By: sitting pugs

sitting pugs — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:07:43 +0000

I love Margaret O’Brien, but that first image of her….yikes! What she up to?!

By: Pat

Pat — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 06:34:10 +0000

Thanks, Moira. It’s nice to know others appreciate this rare movie. I first saw “The Unfinished Dance” a few years ago, but I think I had to watch it two or three times before I could get past the shock of seeing O’Brien in such a disturbing role. It’s now one of my favorites of hers, a great performance that truly showed her range as an actress.

By: ziggy 6708

ziggy 6708 — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 01:20:59 +0000

I guess what bugged me the most was the lack of a deserved ‘comeuppance’ to the O’Brian character for destroying the career and nearly the life of La Darina. I thought with ‘the code’ in place no rotten deed could go unpunished. Geez, she almost got away with unintended murder.
But thanks for an excellent & thoughtful review on an unusual O’Brian performance in a little known film.

By: Jacqueline T Lynch

Jacqueline T Lynch — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:47:58 +0000

I had to set the recorder based on your excellent essay. Fascinating. I think I have to watch this one a couple more times to be able to really mull it over. One the elements that really keeps the viewer off balance is the way a dramatic scene is ended with offbeat humor, or conversely, something silly then suddenly shifts to something heavy. What an unusual movie. Thanks for the heads-up.

By: Patricia

Patricia — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 14:14:39 +0000

“The Unfinished Dance” was such a surprise. I didn’t expect such an honest portrayal of loneliness.

By: Lerema

Lerema — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:00:22 +0000

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE “The Unfinished Dance” and am so glad to finally catch it again after so long. When I a high-school Air Force brat in Germany, there were four things that made me a TCM fan forever: 1) Anything Joan; 2) Anything Bette; 3) Anything Bogie and 4) The Unfinished Dance.

It made me an instant and lifelong fan of both Cyd Charisse (who danced circles around anyone she shared the screen with) and Margaret O’Brien (who could reduce me to tears like no other) lots of X’s and O’s to TCM for airing it. If it were not for DVR, I would be tempted to skip work on Friday, too.

By: suzidoll

suzidoll — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 21:57:15 +0000

THE UNFINISHED DANCE sounds terrific. You would never see a film like that get made today. How sad for little girls of today, who don’t seem to be allowed the luxury of being little girls.

I always get the willies during the scene in MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS in which Tootie and her pals get so excited about “killing” Mr. Braukoff. You never know what little kids really have on their minds!!!