1h 41min | Comedy, Drama, Musical* | 19 September 1947 | Color
Director: Henry Koster
Stars: Margaret O'Brien, Cyd Charisse, Karin Booth, Danny Thomas.
David Lichine ... dance director
Watched online, good print.
Just noticed that this is not tagged music/al. That is crazy. I'll submit an addition.
First of 9 films for Danny Thomas ('47-'79); 5 are music/als. He plays MO's ersatz guardian while her aunt (a chorus girl?) works out of town for the entire film.
Karin Booth has been in 11 music/als in this quest already; I never noticed her. This is her 34th of 52 films ('41-'59); 16 are music/als. She is quite beautiful and acts well. I can't imagine why she didn't become more prominent. (I thought she was dancing herself, perhaps not; nice form, good leaps. The Soundtracks page lists no performers.)
CC gets to dance a lot of ballet, as does MO (b. '37), though she is still an amateur, and looks younger than 11-12.
Elinor Donahue (b. '37), the future Betty Anderson on Father Knows Best ('54-'60), is MO's friend/betrayer.
MO plays a troubled child here, so she's not as moving as in her best films.
The plot's ok. The in-performance costumes are colorful. I'm not a huge fan of ballet, but this is enjoyable.
MGM, dir. Koster; 6+
