Born to Dance (1936)

Sailor Ted meets at the Lonely Hearts Club of his friend Gunny's wife, Jenny, a girl, Nora Paige, and falls in love. Nora wants to become a dancer on Broadway. Ted rescues the Pekinese of ... See full summary »

Director:

Roy Del Ruth

Writers:

Jack McGowan (screen play), Sid Silvers (screen play),

Stars:

Eleanor Powell, James Stewart, Virginia Bruce

Nominated for 2 Oscars.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eleanor Powell	...	Nora Paige
James Stewart	...	Ted Barker
Virginia Bruce	...	Lucy James
Una Merkel	...	Jenny Saks
Sid Silvers	...	'Gunny' Saks
Frances Langford	...	'Peppy' Turner
Raymond Walburn	...	Captain Dingby
Alan Dinehart	...	McKay
Buddy Ebsen	...	'Mush' Tracy
Juanita Quigley	...	Sally Saks
Georges	...	Himself,
Jalna	...	Herself
Reginald Gardiner	...	Policeman
Barnett Parker	...	Floorwalker
J. Marshall Smith	...	Member of The Foursome

Storyline

Sailor Ted meets at the Lonely Hearts Club of his friend Gunny's wife, Jenny, a girl, Nora Paige, and falls in love. Nora wants to become a dancer on Broadway. Ted rescues the Pekinese of Lucy James, a Broadway star during a public relations campaign on his submarine. Lucy falls in love with Ted, and Ted is ordered by his Captain to meet her in a night club, in spite of the fact that he has a date with Nora. Nora, who lives with Jenny and her and Gunny's daughter, doesn't want to hear anything from Ted, after she spotted a picture of Ted and Lucy in the morning paper. Lucy convinces her manager Dinehart to stop the press campaign and tells him that she would leave the production, if another photo or article of her and Ted is published. Nora has become her understudy, and she begins to think her behaviour to Ted over. Suddenly she is fired after Dinehart told her to dance a number Lucy James called undanceable. But when Ted is told the whole story, he knows what to do.

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Plot Keywords:

sailor | dance | submarine | rescue | dancer | 

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Taglines:

M*G*M's successor to "THE GREAT ZIEGFELD"

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Genres:

Musical | Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 November 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

L'amiral mène la danse

Filming Locations:

Santa Catalina Island, Channel Islands, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The dress that Virginia Bruce throws on the floor and refuses to appear in is the same dress worn by Jeanette MacDonald in San Francisco, a few months earlier.

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Goofs

As the crew sings "Lucy James off the starboard beam", Lucy James approaches the port beam.

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Quotes

Jenny Saks: Can we visit the crows-nest?
Captain Dingby: No, under no circumstances. It's nesting season.

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Connections

Edited into I Dood It (1943)

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Soundtracks

"Easy to Love"
(1936) (uncredited)
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Played during the opening credits and as background music
Sung by Eleanor Powell and James Stewart, Frances Langford and danced by her and Buddy Ebsen
Reprised by the cast at the end
Eleanor Powell's vocals dubbed by Marjorie Lane

User Reviews

Cornball Fun With Jimmy, Eleanor, Una, Sid& Buddy

This is one of the all-time corny movies ever made, especially since it features Jimmy Stewart singing. How often have you seen/heard that? Actually, the "corn" is the fun of this film, and I enjoyed watching this more the second time knowing it was going to be so corny. Some of the lines in here are legitimately funny, particularly by cute Una Merkel, who could zing 'em with the best. She was fun, as was her husband in here, "Gunny Sacks," played by Sid Silvers. Those two, plus Buddy Ebsen and Eleanor Powell make for a likable cast. Both Powell and Ebsen were great dancers, too, with Powell, of course, being the more famous. This is just a nice, old- fashioned film, probably more for older folks, but who knows?