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Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is a delightfully campy melodrama that delights in its often unintentionally funny script by Ben Hecht. It also features one of the mist delightfully bad performances from its sexy but shamefully rotten leading man, Ivan Kirov, who gets to say lines such as "I'd like pick you up right now and hold you until you were tattooed on me" while sounding like Jack Nicholson. Leading lady Viola Essen isn't much better, but she's a reactor to his character's madness, and doesn't get the chance to speak such outlandish lines.Coming two years before the classic ballet movie, "The Red Shoes", this deals with a sensitive yet masterful ballet dancer (Kirov) who may or may not have killed his wife before a performance of "The Spectre of the Rose" ballet. Imperious ballet instructor Judith Anderson, once a great ballet star herself, warns Essen of the danger, but she refuses to listen. When Kirov dances (especially shirtless), he has everybody's attention, but perhaps he should have kept his mouth closed.Top billed Anderson gets many showy moments, but while her lines are often very funny, she delivers them masterfully. On the cusp of her great theatrical triumph in "Medea", this film is as close to her stage work as she got, even as the notorious Mrs. Danvers in "Rebecca". Another great performance comes from Michael Chekhov as a hanger on who becomes Anderson's confidante. Lionel Stander gets some great lines as well, making the real star of this art house film its script. This ranks as one of Republic pictures great artistic films, showing what it could do on an A budget.

When my mother took me to see this film in 1946 at the Leland Theater in Taft, Texas, I was 7 years old. This movie set a standard ,for me,of motion picture excellence and expectation that has never wavered. I am not saying that this is the greatest movie ever made, I am just expressing or rather trying to convey the power of this film over the rather naive mind of a young boy. Judith Anderson became my role model of female intuition and cohesiveness. Every time I watch a movie (and I have watched literally thousands over the years), I communicate with her and wait for her voice to put it into perspective. She was a remarkable actress whose theatrical actions were a combination of dance and music that revealed hidden truths and subtle whispers about life, death and our invisible role within it.

This is the 6th viewing of Spectre of The Rose ( I see this every 10 years or so. Aside from some Ballet scenes, this is primarily a love story centered around a male Dancer & the death of his first wife. Ivan Dixon plays the Dance with grace (he cant act) Viola Essen is the ballerina he falls in love with, ( she also dances gracefully) but cant act. The main reason to see this film is for LIONEL STANDER as a sardonic writer.(he could play this type role in his sleep),He should have been nominated for best supporting actor. Mikail Chekov plays an effeminate producer quite well. The magnificent Judith Anderson is the bitter dance teacher. & of course she is superb,Reccomended for ballet loves & fans of Lionel Stander.rating only **1/2 78 points 6 on IMDb

This seldom seen film produced, written and directed by Ben Hecht, brings some terrific dancing, namely from the two leads, Ivan Kirov [with a gorgeous physique, and doing fantastic leaps and bounds] and Viola Essen [another fine ballet dancer]whom I had the pleasure of auditioning with back in the 50s for "Dead End" [roles of Baby Face Martin and his ex-girl friend Francie] we didn't get cast, unfortunately. They bring some wonderful moments of dance in spite of a somewhat hard to believe plot and corny lines. Appearing as La Sylph, who sits around knitting, while the dancers go through their paces is none other than Dame Judith Anderson, the queen of film noir [such as "Laura"]. She does manage to keep herself out of the mire of this melodramatic piece with her presence. Add to this another great actor, Michael Chekhov, from Russia's Stanislavski Moscow Theatre, giving a silly performance of a foppish manager of the dance troupe. He did more realistic acting in the such of "Spellbound" and "Rhapsody". Hard to believe from this performance he was the great acting teacher of the time along with Sanford Meisner. Then there's comedian Lionel Stander being realistic as a sort of serious suitor to our leading lady. The choreography was done by none other than Tamara Geva, once married to George Balanchine, and star of Broadway's "On Your Toes" starring Ray Bolger where she initiated the "Slaughter On Seventh Avenue" ballet. [Later brought to film by Gene Kelly and Vera Ellen in "Words & Music"] In spite of a twisted plot and sketchy dialogue, you become fascinated with this gem of a movie. Watching the lovers dance is worth the price of admission.