Evening star., 1936-12-11

mayer TO Dc SpcCiuCs AiAo"o A01
q dancing, first, and melody, mirth.
ward. So. II you cannot md the thi
fault than M.-G.-M.s.
The well double 1t" formula Is
vixble In every other foot Of this flm
which brings Eleanor Powell to
briehter stardom. Let another crea-
ton, stage or screen, have four songs,
and Born to Dance" will give you
eight. Let 1t have one comic and
M-G.-M.is newest extravangza will
have three. Bigger and better, the
slogan which works out so often with
the emphasis upon the first adjective,
manages this time to divide the stress.
1t does 30 even at those moments
when 1t does not quite come OF Just
as its creators expected.
There are such moments. And, some
how or other Eleanor Powell. star Of
the piece, provides quite few Of them.
Miss Powell Is q dancer, not an
actress. To prove that point, no better
vehicle could have been contrived than
"Born to Dance"
It seems, however, to be the mistake
Of someone other than Miss Powell.
She Is asked to carry story which,
were 1t not for the theory that story
Is imperative, might almost as well be
left untold. 1t Is relatively unim-
portant, after all, but that definitely
Is not the case with Born to Dance"
Nothing so large, so mirthful, 30
musical and so ornate could be classed
as unimportsnt. So to spend so many
words on the point of the story Is
Just plain carping for which one
should be, and is, sorry.
ON THE ASSET side. on the con-
trary, one might take music.
Cole Porter wrote it. Frances Lang
ford, Virginia Bruce, several males
and various ensembles sing it. Miss
Powell and Buddy Ebsen dance it..
They are assisted by Una Merkel and
James Stewart, among others, and
both as dancers, manage to be most
amusing when they are least artistic.
And, don't think Miss Merkel and the
Stewart boy are fooling themselves
when they so obviously enjoy stepping
for your amusement in Born to
Dance" They were not born to dance
which makes their attempt in that
direction twice as funny. They get
paid for being funny.
Then, there is the comedy. When
the story, itself, does not appear to
be as humorous as it should be, Roy
Del Ruth who directed it, interpolates
something that really is. On one
such occasion, he inserts Reginald
Gardiner in an excruciating para
phrase Of q world-renowned orchestra
conductor. Somehow or other, Mr..
Gardiner who does the same thing on
. local stage this week, contrives to
Be more laughable In the screen
version.
At another moment when the story
seems to be tagging in laughter, there
Is injected telephone operator whose
reactions to duty and life are at
least two miles on the other side of
iudicrous.
The book" Of Born to Dance"
may suffer by the addition Of such
numbers. but the entertainment value
Of the film Is increased thereby.
THERE will be those who say that
Miss Powell does not dance as well
as IN her first big success, Broadway
Melody Of 1885," There will be others
who say she dances better. probably
more Of the latter than the former.
Certainly her specially moments in
the latest film are scaled up to far
greater proportions. The musical ac-
compartment and the ensemble as
sistance are the most lavish that have
yet been contrived on any screen. If
there are steps in which Miss Powell
appears somewhat less than graceful,
It should not be forgotten that her
style Of dancing does not derive direct
from the gazelle. It is more of
spectacular compromise for that fact.
James Stewart is the love interest
IN Miss Powelrs life as . talented
dancer trying to catch the eye of pro-
ducers who need talented dancers.
He gives one of his most convincing
performances-convincing and comic
-as q sailor who ends up by having
only one girl in one port, and nearly
losing her through circumstances over
which he has no control.
sRORN TO DANCE" brings Virginia
Bruce back to the films in the
part Of temperamental actress. To