Born to Dance (1936): A Review

BORN TO DANCE

This review is part of the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon. Today's star is Eleanor Powell.

Hoofers don't come as big and bold as Eleanor Powell. Born to Dance is a curious confection of song and dance, a bit long and with some curious casting. Whatever its flaws, Born to Dance aims for nothing but fun and frolic and mostly succeeds. 

Nora Paige (Eleanor Powell) is a newcomer who wants to go on the stage. Entering the Lonely Hearts Club, she quickly finds a place to stay and a best friend, Jenny Saks (Una Merkel). Jenny is waiting for her husband, "Gunny" (Sid Silvers) to come back from the Navy.

Gunny gets a plumb role when he and his buddy "Mush" Tracy (Buddy Ebsen) are tasked to deliver a message to a rear admiral in Brooklyn. Going with them is Ted Baxter (James Stewart), another sailor instantly smitten with Nora. After a while, Nora herself is smitten, which Jenny can't say when she finally sees Gunny. Jenny finds herself stupefied as to how she married him at all. She's even less inclined to tell him he's a father to a four-year-old.

Into this mix comes Broadway superstar Lucy James (Virginia Bruce), who has boarded the naval ship for a publicity visit. Ted rescues her Pekinese which went overboard, and now she is overboard for him. Her agent McKay (Alan Dinehart) thinks this "Broadway diva falls for naval gob" story is perfect publicity for her new show, Great Guns, and she's somewhat willing to play along. Things get complicated when Lucy does fall for Ted, who still has Nora on his mind. More complications come when Nora ends up Lucy's understudy. Will the right people find each other Easy to Love? Which pair of lovers will end up being Under My Skin?

People unfamiliar with Born to Dance, with Eleanor Powell, or even with James Stewart might still remember some of the Cole Porter songs from the film. It looks like Easy to Love is the song most heavily promoted, as it appears not only in its own number but in the opening and closing of Born to Dance. However, it was Under My Skin that would up receiving the Oscar nomination for Best Original Song (losing to The Way You Look Tonight from Swing Time). As a side note, talk about an embarrassment of riches that year. I don't know if it lost because Under My Skin was sung to James Stewart. I also don't know if Easy to Love wasn't nominated because James Stewart sung it. 

Perhaps one of the most unique elements in Born to Dance is how James Stewart sang on film and Eleanor Powell didn't (dubbed by Marjorie Lane). Stewart was never known as a singer and Born to Dance demonstrates why he was not a new Nelson Eddy. He does not have a terrible voice, though it is rather high. The mix of this tall, lanky fellow and his near-falsetto warbling Cole Porter is surprising to say the least.

However, Born to Dance is a breezy musical, where the songs sound as if straight from Broadway. The film opens with a big musical number on the battleship deck, Rolling Home, which blends a Broadway presentation with a more cinematic style. Many Born to Dance numbers serve to express character emotion more than move the plot forward. We do have splashy numbers such as Hey, Babe, Hey, where our two lovebirds sing and dance. We also get more intimate numbers such as Under My Skin and Easy to Love. 

One that does not fit that standard is Entrance of Lucy James. However, it is an absolute delight, where we see the clearly besotted Captain Dingby (Raymond Walburn) look with awe as Miss James reaches starboard side. However, it has a lot of clever wordplay, and I would find it hard to cut. 

Perhaps the biggest number is the closing Swinging the Jinx Away, which is a showcase as to Powell's extraordinary talent. We see just how strong a dancer Powell is with Easy to Love and the Love Me, Love My Pekinese reprise. The former has Powell perform a mix of balletic and Broadway hoofer. The latter showcases her tap-dancing skills. Another number, Rap-Tap on Wood, astounds the viewer with how strong a tap dancer Powell is. Swinging the Jinx Away, however, metaphorically blows the roof off the joint. Taking place on a set that would be far too large for the Broadway show it is meant to be, Powell amazes with her high kicks. Her legs appear to almost go to her back. As the number builds, it makes sense to end it with cannons going off.

As an actress, Eleanor Powell does well as Nora, longing for a career and in and in-and-out romance with Ted. It is however as a dancer where Powell excels, becoming almost magical. Steward, curious singing aside, does well in his "aw-shucks" era as Ted, who finds himself an unwilling participant in a love triangle. 

Born to Dance is filled with clever quips, particularly with the subplot about Gunny and Jenny. Jenny had earlier recounted how they had rushed to get married after winning a dance marathon. "Well gee, dancing with the same guy for 672 hours, naturally I thought I was in love, but I was just tired," she tells Nora. Initially mistaking Ted for Gunny, she is startled to see what her husband actually looks like. "I couldn't have been that tired," she quips. When first given the instructions for the message, Gunny asks, "Where will we find the rear admiral?". Dingsby replies in a comical huff, "In the front office!". Later on, Dingsby asks Gunny if he was born in Brooklyn. "Yes, sir," he says. When asked, "What part?", a confused Gunny replies, "All of me". 

The Buddy Ebsen part is one of the weaker elements. It is not so much his dancing, which is very rubbery to elastic. It is his character. Initially given something of a love interest during the Hey, Babe, Hey number, he is never paired with anyone again. Moreover, he somehow is part of Great Guns sans explanation. The film, despite running under two hours, feels longer. I think that is due to two sections that in retrospect should have been cut. The first is a visit by Ted and Nora to a honeymoon cottage display that ran long and wasn't funny. The second was a comedy bit in the Easy to Love number where a cop begins conducting the music. It is a strange section that might have appealed to audiences of the time but now just feels long and dull.

One of the weakest parts was in director Roy Del Ruth's filming of the dance numbers. While Dave Gould's dance direction (which I figure is choreography) was excellent, Del Ruth opted to do closeups during some of the dance numbers. This robs the viewer of the full scope of the dancing, a terrible shame. 

Separate from that, Born to Dance is an unapologetic confection of corn. It's light, breezy, funny and exceptionally well-danced. Eleanor Powell was certainly Born to Dance.

DECISION: A-