BORN TO DANCE/LADY BE GOOD (MGM 1936/41) Warner Home Video

By the mid-1930’s, no tap dancer – save Fred Astaire - was as securely ensconced in their film stardom as Eleanor Powell. Her willowy physical beauty, hearty and robust athleticism on the dance floor – doing back flips and arching her back to touch the floor with her hand over her head - seemed as effortless to Ms. Powell as breathing for the rest of us, and, it made Powell MGM’s foremost equal to Astaire’s agility and prowess. Astaire, whose most famous dancing partner would always remain Ginger Rogers at RKO, nevertheless challenged Powell’s agility and grace when, in 1940, MGM paired Astaire with Powell for the first and only time in their final installment of the highly lucrative Broadway Melody film franchise. Although Powell’s terpsichorean talents were indisputable, occasionally they were also heavy-handedly mismanaged under MGM’s studio edict of providing lavishly appointed spectacles. Such is the case with Roy Del Ruth’s Born to Dance (1936), an overblown bon-bon, suffering from studio elephantiasis. Billed by MGM’s publicity as the valiant successor to their Oscar-winning The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Born to Dance is actually a paired down entertainment, afforded some fairly plush musical numbers but precious little else. And seemingly, not to have learned their lessons here, MGM would again foist the spoils of their storehouses on yet another Powell extravaganza - 1937’s Rosalie (infinitely more entertaining than Born to Dance). MGM lavished so much glitz on Born to Dance, it cannot help but become a piece of over-inflated super-kitsch, despite its rather slender screenplay by Jack McGowan and Sid Silvers.

Powell headlines as Nora Paige, a winsome ingénue whom sailor, Ted Barker (James Stewart) first encounters at a ‘lonely hearts’ club run by friends, Gunny (Sid Silver) and Jenny Sacks (Una Merkel). Ted’s rescue of a wayward dog belonging to Broadway sensation, Lucy James (Virginia Bruce) leads to a PR stint for the Navy with Lucy falling passionately for her canine’s hero. Ordered by his superior, Captain Percival Dingby (Raymond Walburn) to go on a date with the starlet, Ted defers a pressing engagement with Nora – thereby also breaking her heart. As sublime revenge, Nora becomes Lucy’s understudy. However, when Nora proves more adept at a dance routine than the star, Lucy predictably has Nora fired. Big on music, short on plot, but ultimately blindingly all-star, particularly in its gargantuan ‘Swingin’ The Jinx Away’ finale - that has, among its many over-stuffed attributes, Powell sliding down a pole and tap-dancing across an art deco main deck of a patriotic battleship - Born to Dance delivers the sort of mindlessly appealing fluff and nonsense that – despite its obvious affectations – continues to delight for its sheer and mind-boggling size and spectacle. MGM may not have always produced the most thought-provoking movies, but it certainly created many that continue to entertain us. The title says it all. Born to Dance - and Ms. Powell certainly was!

The same cannot be said for Norman Z. Leonard’s Lady Be Good (1941) – a lugubrious adaptation of the long-running Broadway smash. It should be pointed out that much of the chagrin, angst and musical ‘comedy’ offered up in the screenplay by Jack McGowan, Kay Van Riper and John McClain is stifled by a fairly literal adaptation of that original Broadway show. The plot is thus more episodic than cohesive with characters floating in and out of flashback vignettes that merely substitute for an otherwise disjointed narrative structure. Our story opens in the courtroom of sympathetic magistrate, Judge Murdock (Lionel Barrymore) where Dixie Donegan (Ann Sothern) is attempting to plead her case of irreconcilable differences in the divorce of her husband, songwriter Edward Crane (Robert Young). Dixie’s good friend, Marilyn Marsh (Eleanor Powell) appears in court as Dixie’s support to offer her own testimony. From here, the narrative regresses into a series of flashbacks clumsily strung together. We chart Dixie and Edward’s love affair: its ‘cute meet’, success in the music business, their lamentable waning of mutual interests, and, finally, disillusion of their marital and professional partnerships.

The wrinkle: Dixie continues to harbor full-blown ardor for Edward almost from the moment the ink on her divorce decree is finalized. Thereafter, Dixie plots how to win Edward back – or, is it Marilyn who plots on Dixie’s behalf and Dixie just goes along for the ride? The central problem with the script – apart from providing nonsensical reasons for the couple’s split in the first place – is its central characters are not terribly engaged, but moved about as backdrop, only occasionally to bump into each other, until that suitable moment when they can predictably be reunited in merriment and song. The story loses our interest and respect almost immediately - especially when the musical offerings, that otherwise might have sprung naturally from these subplots, are instead suppressed at every conceivable turn. As example: it takes forever for Dixie and Edward to compose their first hit tune – ‘Lady Be Good.’ MGM – a studio generally known for its ability to mine musical talent to perfection – squanders most of its opportunities herein. As example; apart from Eleanor Powell’s ‘Fascinating Rhythm’ finale – lavishly staged by Busby Berkeley - the Queen of Taps only appears in one other bizarre musical sequence - brief and uninspired, and, with a hyper dog jumping through her legs and over her arms no less. The best song here is not even title tune, but The Last Time I Saw Paris – poignantly sung with a residual note of sadness by Ann Sothern, tragically deflated by MGM’s superbly garish glamour treatment. In the final analysis, Lady Be Good does not live up to our expectations on so many levels that it proves a huge disappointment instead.

Warner Home Video’s DVD is fairly impressive. The B&W image on both films has been given a considerable upgrade – particularly Born to Dance. Lady Be Good contains a hint more age-related dirt and slightly lower contrast levels with a very subtle hint of edge enhancement and shimmering of fine details. Contrast levels are nicely realized. Blacks are deep and solid. Whites are pristine. Fine detail seems more evident throughout on Born to Dance than Lady Be Good. The audio is Dolby Digital 1.0 mono, restored with minimal hiss. Extras are limited to a few short subjects and theatrical trailers. Bottom line: For Eleanor Powell completionists only.

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

Born To Dance 3.5

Lady Be Good 2.5

VIDEO/AUDIO

Born to Dance 3.5

Lady Be Good 3

EXTRAS

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