Born to Dance
Born to Dance is an American musical film starring Eleanor Powell and James Stewart, directed by Roy Del Ruth and released in 1936 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The score was composed by Cole Porter. Plot summary. While on leave, sailor Ted Barker (played by James Stewart) meets Nora Paige (Eleanor Powell) at the Lonely Hearts Club, which is owned by Jenny Saks (Una Merkel), the wife of fellow sailor Gunny Saks (Sid Silvers). Ted instantly falls in love with Nora. Ted later meets Broadway star Lucy James (Virginia Bruce) 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 (Raymond Walburn), to meet Lucy in a nightclub. Nora, who lives with Jenny and her daughter, Sally (Juanita Quigley), aspires to become a Broadway dancer. However, her newfound career is in serious jeopardy when she inadvertently comes between Lucy and her boss McKay (Alan Dinehart). Nora distances herself from Ted after seeing pictures of him and Lucy in a newspaper the next morning. 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. Soundtrack. Unless otherwise noted, Information is taken from IMDb's soundtrack section for this movie. 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." 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: