Born to Dance

Born to Dance is a 1936 musical comedy from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A sailor named Ted Barker, on shore leave with his submarine crewmates, falls for Nora Paige, a young woman hoping to make it as a Broadway dancer. Their romance is complicated by Lucy James, an established Broadway star who also takes an interest in Ted, and whose publicity stunt on his submarine pulls him into her orbit against his wishes. The film follows the resulting tangle of ambition, attraction and misunderstanding, set around the club where Ted's friend Gunny introduces him to Nora.

Roy Del Ruth directed, working from a screenplay by Jack McGowan and Sid Silvers, with Jack Cummings producing. It sits between Kid Millions and My Lucky Star among the ten Del Ruth titles listed here, arriving after his earlier work on Conquest, Blonde Crazy, The Maltese Falcon, Lady Killer and Kid Millions. Eleanor Powell plays Nora, James Stewart plays Ted, and Virginia Bruce is Lucy, with Una Merkel, Sid Silvers and Frances Langford in supporting roles across a credited cast of 27.

The film runs 105 minutes and was released in late November 1936. On TMDB it holds a rating of 6.1 out of 10 from 31 votes, indicating a modest but persistent level of viewer interest rather than broad acclaim.