Born to Dance

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Born to Dance
Born to Dance - 1936- Poster.png
theatrical release poster
Directed by Roy Del Ruth
Screenplay by Jack McGowan
Sid Silvers
Story byJack McGowan
Sid Silvers
Buddy G. DeSylva
Produced by Jack Cummings
Starring Eleanor Powell
James Stewart
Virginia Bruce
Cinematography Ray June
Edited by Blanche Sewell
Music by Cole Porter
Production
company
Distributed by Loew's Inc.
Release date
November 27, 1936 (US)
Running time
106 minutes
CountryUnited States
Language English

Born to Dance is a 1936 American musical film directed by Roy Del Ruth and starring Eleanor Powell, James Stewart and Virginia Bruce. It was produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The score was composed by Cole Porter.

Contents

Plot

While on leave, sailor Ted Barker meets Nora Paige at the Lonely Hearts Club, which is owned by Jenny Saks, the wife of fellow sailor Gunny Saks. Ted instantly falls in love with Nora. [1] [2] [3]

Ted later meets Broadway star Lucy James aboard a submarine while she's on a publicity tour. Her Pekingese falls overboard, Ted rescues it, and Lucy falls in love with him. Though Ted has already scheduled a date with Nora, he is ordered by his captain, Dingby, to meet Lucy in a nightclub. [2] [3]

Nora, who lives with Jenny and her daughter, Sally, aspires to become a Broadway dancer. However, her newfound career is in serious jeopardy when she inadvertently comes between Lucy and her boss McKay. Nora distances herself from Ted after seeing pictures of him and Lucy in a newspaper the next morning. [1] [2] [3]

Lucy convinces McKay to stop the press campaign, threatening to leave the Broadway production if any more photos or articles about her and Ted are published. Nora becomes Lucy's understudy and thinks about her behavior towards Ted. Nora gets fired suddenly after McKay tells her to perform a dance that Lucy considers undanceable. But Ted knows exactly what to do after he's told the whole story. [2] [3]

Cast

Soundtrack

Unless otherwise noted, Information is taken from IMDb's soundtrack section for this movie. [5]

Production

The film's working title was This Time It's Love.

The film stars dancer Eleanor Powell and was a follow-up to her successful debut in Broadway Melody of 1936 . The film co-stars James Stewart as Powell's love interest and Virginia Bruce as the film's resident femme fatale and Powell's rival. Powell's Broadway Melody co-stars Buddy Ebsen and Frances Langford return to provide comedy and musical support. Highlights of the film include a rare musical number by Stewart (which the actor later poked fun at in the That's Entertainment! retrospective), and a bombastic finale called "Swingin' the Jinx Away". Set amidst a pre-Second World War naval backdrop, the Depression-era "feel good" number (which runs nearly 10 minutes) makes topical references to the economy and political leaders (with a "shout out" to Cab Calloway thrown in for good measure) sung by Powell, adds in an eccentric dance routine by Ebsen, and ends in a flurry of tap dancing by Powell culminating in a patriotic salute, and finally a blast of cannon fire. This finale was also lifted in its entirety and re-used in another Powell film, I Dood It , co-starring Red Skelton. Although considered one of Powell's (and MGM's) most memorable musical numbers, and often featured in retrospectives such as That's Entertainment!, musical director Roger Edens was often quoted as being embarrassed by the segment.

In 1936, a part was written for Judy Garland. Cole Porter wrote in his diary that It was his "great Joy" that he was writing for a film featuring Garland. However, her part was written out of the film before she could begin any work on the film

The film introduced the Porter standards "You'd Be So Easy to Love" (performed by Stewart and Marjorie Lane, dubbed for Powell) and "I've Got You Under My Skin" (performed by Bruce), which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song. It was the first film in which Stewart sang.

Some of the musical numbers were recorded in stereophonic sound, making this one of the first films to utilize multi-channel technology. Rhino Records included the stereo tracks in its soundtrack album, released on CD, including Jimmy Stewart's and Marjorie Lane's performance of "You'd Be So Easy to Love." [7]

Accolades

The film was nominated for two Academy Awards; Cole Porter was nominated for Best Song for "I've Got You Under My Skin," and Dave Gould was nominated for Best Dance Direction.

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Related Research Articles

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Rotten Tomatoes Staff. "Born to Dance (1936)". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Born to Dance (1936)". Hometowns to Hollywood. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Eichenberg, Stephan. "Born to Dance (1936): Plot Summary". IMDb . Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  4. George and Jalna Toregas (January 14, 2019). "I've Got You Under My Skin". YouTube: John LeGear.[ dead YouTube link ]
  5. Born to Dance (1936) – Soundtracks
  6. "Born to Dance (1936): Trivia". IMDb . Retrieved October 20, 2019.
  7. "Born to Dance (1936 Movie Soundtrack) (Rhino Handmade): Cole Porter, Eleanor Powell: Music". Amazon. Retrieved January 17, 2012.
  8. "AFI's 100 Years...100 Songs Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved July 30, 2016.