Born to Dance | Eleanor Powell, James Stewart

Born to Dance | Eleanor Powell, James Stewart | DVD NOW!!

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Born to Dance

	Born to Dance Eleanor Powell, James Stewart MGM (Warner), 1995 average customer review:based on 13 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Amazing. . .

This movie is just great fun. True, it is typical Depression-era escapism, but it has a certain pre-WWII innocence, and a certain Gilbert-and-Sullivan flavor to it.

It's interesting to hear Jimmy Steward singing. Most of the time he's not bad, but he couldn't quite pull off "Easy to love." That's actually not surprising; that's not an easy song. And if you don't believe me, you try singing it sometime. What's amazing is that Eleanor Powell did so well with it--in addition to being an amazing dancer, she was quite a good singer, although it's true that she did sound a little ragged in some of her later pictures.

Anyway, it's a great example of the MGM movie-musical, and Powell was an absolutely amazing dancer. So watch it and enjoy!

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DVD NOW!!

Eleanor Powell can do no wrong, and she does all right in 'Born To Dance'.
A Terrific Musical from the magical MGM Musicals factory.
The VHS tape is OK and the laserdisc is fine, but this should be on DVD by now.
Hurry Up Warners!

Eleanor Powell's dancing is outstanding!

Just burned this movie to DVD off the TCM channel - had not seen the film in a number of years. Out of curiosity I was reading the Amazon reviews, and must protest against the one written by Maliejandra - please ignore this post - Powell was a sensational dancer (and one of the best female 'hoofers' in the movies of the time, if not all time?) - don't miss her movies (not that many were made); of course, in the Depression era of the '30s, the reasons for making movies were quite different from now, so avoid trying to get involved in 'stories & plots' - enjoy the music, dancing, and the entertainment - that's what these were made for at that time - if you cannot 'beam back' to the 1930s, then just avoid these films.

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ANYTHING WITH ELEANOR POWELL NEEDS TO BE ON DVD!

Why are we not allowed to see the great ELEANOR pOWELL ON A RE-MASTERED dvd OF THIS OR ANY MOVIE SHES IN.?????

A Singing Jimmy Stewart and a Wisecracking Una Merkel Don't Save It

This film is standard musical fare. A woman (Eleanor Powell) goes to the city to make it big on Broadway. She meets a wisecracking friend (Una Merkel) who inadvertently introduces her to the man of her dreams (Jimmy Stewart) who as part of a publicity stunt, dates the star of the Broadway musical Powell is understudying for.

The music in this film is obviously dubbed and lip-synched to. The actors ham it up; adding to the cheesiness is the fact that they just randomly burst into song unprovoked. This cuts all ties with reality. This is purely escapism. Most of the songs are forgettable, especially the opening song. The finale is incredibly long and dragged out. However, the "I'm nuts about you" number is layered well and benefits from a catchy melody.

Eleanor Powell is not a great actress, but she has a beautiful smile. She sings with an operatic vibrato and dances as if she came from vaudeville. As a result, she comes off as gawky and not the least elegant despite her flowing feminine costumes. She is comical, not romantic. Her dance numbers are often accompanied by a gaping mouth and overt stepping.

Jimmy Stewart is not the sort of actor you might expect to see in a musical, especially not one in which he sings and dances. The funny thing is that he isn't bad at all; his charm masks his awkward dancing and his imperfect voice only accentuates his likeability.

Una Merkel is wonderful, and the bright spot in this film. She is a staple of musicals, always in supporting parts. She has a great comic delivery that saves this film. Her wisecracks always come through and she is a lot of fun to watch.

This Cole Porter musical has several resemblances to the more successful Anything Goes. The sailors out to see pretty girls are loosely indicative. More obvious is the use of the song "Easy to Love" and the dog named Cheeky which accompanies a high strung passenger and falls overboard.

Overall, this film is mediocre despite the cast.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3

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