Director: Roy Del Ruth
Year:  1936
Rating: 7.0

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The title of the film is clearly meant for Eleanor Powell. She really was born to dance. She was brought up by a poor mother after her husband did a vanishing act when Powell was two years old. Eleanor was told that her father had died so imagine her surprise when he showed up about twenty years later. Her mother scrimped enough to have Eleanor attend dancing classes when she was four. A good investment. By the time she was twelve she was appearing in clubs and revues making $70 a week and supporting the family. Somewhere along the way, she took a few lessons in tap dancing - not something she really found aesthetically pleasing - but again it turned into a good investment. By the time she was twenty, she was appearing in Broadway and gaining a reputation as a fine dancer. She was invited to go out to Hollywood to do a specialty number in George White's 1935 Scandals which she did but she didn't enjoy the experience and wanted to get back to Broadway. MGM saw the clip from the film and thought otherwise. She declined their offer and said thinking they would refuse that she would do it for $1,200 a week. They accepted. Huge money back then. Especially for someone who had just one film to their name.


The film they put her in was Broadway Melody of 1936. Initially, just as one of their young talents to be featured - Robert Taylor, Buddy Ebsen, and Frances Langford being the other three. But as the film was moving forward her role kept getting bigger until she was the lead. It was a huge hit and basically she stayed in Hollywood for the next ten years until she retired and married Glenn Ford. Her output though was frugal to say the least - about one film a year. But in that period she was considered the best female dancer in the business. Her ability to dance every style - though tap dancing was her money pitch - and her trademark lean way back and kick her leg as high as the sky - left all contenders in the dust.


In fact, a problem that MGM had was pairing her off with a male partner because only one person could keep up with her. That was of course Fred Astaire but they only made Broadway Melody of 1940 together. People thought they danced too much alike and fans always thought of Astaire and Rogers as the perfect match though their run of films had come to an end in 1939 with only The Barkley's of Broadway being made ten years later. So MGM instead chose non-dancing actors for her and allowed her to dance solo at times in the films. This time around they picked another actor that they had hope for but didn't really know what to do with him - he couldn't sing (as this film will testify), was an awful dancer (same), had a funny slow laid back delivery that was so different from most of the male actors at the time who could deliver patter at the sound of speed and at six foot 4 inches he was too tall for a lot of leading ladies and gawky to boot. He had been in a few films but nothing had really jumped out. This was of course Jimmy Stewart.



To try and ensure a repeat of the success of Broadway Melody they bring on some of the same cast with Powell - Una Merkel, Sid Silvers and Ebsen, who had a dance act in vaudeville with his sister before going into film. His dancing is the oddest thing ever. And MGM brings on Cole Porter to compose the music with a couple classics I've Got You Under My Skin and Easy to Love in the mix. One problem is that some of the songs get less than they deserve - Stewart sings a few but there is a reason he didn't get into musicals and Powell for all her dancing talent apparently was a terrible singer and so is dubbed (as she is in all her films) - and the other singers are ok but nothing to sing home about. And honestly, in this film Powell's acting is a bit wooden - but boy can she dance.


The film's plot is pretty simple - three navy boys are on leave and Stewart takes one look at Powell in a Lonely Hearts Club and falls in love and she soon with him. Of course, complications rear their expected head and there is no smooth sailing for our boys. But it is filled with music and more to my surprise with comedy. There are some very amusing moments in the film with crackerjack dialogue - and the filmmakers two times just hand the film over to characters who come out of nowhere to deliver their bit and disappear - Reginald Gardner as a cop in Central Park manically conducting an imaginary orchestra and Helen Troy doing a solo three minute phone operator conversation that cracked me up more than a few times.



In a way this film reminded me of the Japanese Yakuza films of the 1960's where much of the action is put on hold like a Sting orgasm until the final scene where all hell breaks out. This has a lot of musical numbers but they save the big dance from Powell until the finale - a fabulous dance in a show where she slides down a pole on an art-deco battleship and dances among the enlisted men and a big patriotic salute with huge phallic naval guns behind her. It made her iconic.

Info on Eleanor Powell from the terrific book, The Star Machine by Jeanine Basinger