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	...	Capt. Dingby
Alan Dinehart	...	McKay
Buddy Ebsen	...	'Mush' Tracy
Juanita Quigley	...	Sally Saks
Georges	...	Georges
Jalna	...	Jalna
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:

dancing | tap dancing | dancer | new york city | rescue | 

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Taglines:

Screen's most amazing SPECTACLE

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Genres:

Musical | Comedy

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Certificate:

Passed

Did You Know?

Trivia

The submarine shown entering New York harbor toward the beginning of the film is in fact, the U.S.S. Pike. However, the P2 designation on the conning tower indicated that this was shot between December 1935 (when she was commissioned) and September 1938. The P2 is a class identifier and order number. In September of 1938 that would be replaced with Navy hull #173. She took part in World War II. Including directing bombers to Wake Island, where she was severely damaged by depth charges. She only sank one ship and damaged three others. At the time she was engaged the Navy was plagued with faulty torpedoes. By the middle of 1943 she was withdrawn and replaced by more advanced boats. She served out the rest of the war as a training boat. She was mothballed in 1945 and sold for scrap in 1957.

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Goofs

Mush Tracy and Peppy Turner swap sides as Mush sings his final few phrases at the Lonely Hearts Club (just before Peppy slaps him behind the curtain).

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Quotes

"Mush" Tracy: You know, I'm gettin' out of the service in two or three weeks.
"Peppy" Turner: Yeah. I was reading where they were going to strengthen the Navy.

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Crazy Credits

Opening credits are shown over a female figure tap-dancing on stage.

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Connections

Referenced in M-G-M Jubilee Overture (1954)

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Soundtracks

Rap, Tap on Wood
(1936) (uncredited)
(Also called "Rap-Tap on Wood")
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter
Sung and danced by Eleanor Powell and The Foursome
Eleanor Powell's vocals dubbed by Marjorie Lane
Also danced by Eleanor Powell at a rehearsal

User Reviews

The Navy Meets Broadway

With Born to Dance MGM succeeded in combining two musical types, the sailor story with the Broadway opening night story. Although the plot is down right silly, that hardly makes Born to Dance unique back in its day. What you take from it is the wonderful singing and dancing and the glossy production values of an MGM musical.

And of course Cole Porter's score. It contains two of his most beloved standards, Easy to Love and I've Got You Under My Skin. The rest of the score is serviceable for the plot. I particularly like Hey Babe Hey in which all the principals of the plot participate. How they got James Stewart to dance must have been a challenge.

Of course Born to Dance is famous for Easy to Love being introduced by James Stewart. Stewart had always maintained that the proof of Easy to Love being a great song is that it survived his singing of it to become a great popular standard. His singing is adequate, but for the life of me, I'll never understand why Allan Jones who was up for the part wasn't picked. Especially since I've heard Allan Jones's contemporary recording of Easy to Love. Stewart is all right, but the part isn't exactly a stretch for his thespian talents and for cryin' out loud, Jones was one of the best movie singers ever.

The other standard is introduced by Virginia Bruce, spoiled mantrap of a Broadway musical star who takes a shine to Stewart after he saves her Pekingese from drowning while Bruce is visiting his ship at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Bruce sings I've Got You Under My Skin directly to Stewart with a come hither glance to lure him from Eleanor Powell who is her show's understudy.

Borrowing from Hit the Deck with a plot of three sailors and three civilian women, Born to Dance pairs off Stewart with Powell, Buddy Ebsen with Frances Langford, and Sid Silvers with Una Merkel. Raymond Walburn is at his avuncular best as the ship's captain who keeps entrusting Silvers and Ebsen to deliver a message to the Admiral and they keep getting sidetracked by their women.

With Powell as the understudy to Bruce and them both vying for Stewart, you can readily guess how this story will resolve itself. Eleanor dances divinely, especially in the finale number Swinging the Jinx Away which Frances Langford sings and Buddy Ebsen also dances.

With all the talent involved and a plot which is a walking cliché, but easy to take, it's easy to love Born to Dance as I do.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 November 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

Born to Dance

Filming Locations:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios - 10202 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$941,774

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