Born to Dance DVD (1936) Eleanor Powell/ James Stewart - Lady Be Good (1941) Double Feature DVD

It is a delight to watch Eleanor Powell tap dance. She was spectacular at it (probably the best of her generation, with the possible exception of Fred Astaire) and she combined elements of ballet every so often to make her style truly unique. Of the two, Born to Dance is the best movie as a whole. Simple plot but well executed though a bit formulaic. Nevertheless, this movie has a decent plot to center around Eleanor Powell. It was interesting to say the least to watch James Stewart try to tap dance and sing. Clearly, he was not Born to Dance, but I did not expect him to be. On Lady Be Good, I was disappointed to see that Eleanor was in a secondary role, but this movie is a treasure just to see her dance with a (very well) trained dog and the fascinating "Fascinating Rhythm" dance spectacular. BTW, when given the opportunity, Eleanor proves to be a competent actress and certainly is more than capable of handling these roles.

Disc was dirty and kept breaking up digitally. Have cleaned it and hope it plays better.

If you're buying this DVD because you're of fan of Red Skelton (as am I) or Eleanor Powell, then you might be disappointed. Red was still a supporting actor at this point in his career, and his role here is minor. Eleanor Powell's part in the film is almost nonexistent until the last 15 minutes, when she does two tremendous dance numbers...particularly interesting is a rather creative number done with a dog as her dancing partner...how they trained that dog that well, I'll never know.The real stars of the film are Robert Young (who though normally relegated to B movies could turn in a great leading man performance, as he does here) and Ann Southern. I had forgotten just how great Ann Southern was in her heyday, and this was apparently her first A film starring role...and she shines in it.The story is decent, as movie musicals go. While this doesn't rate as one of the great MGM musicals, it's very pleasant and I think you'll enjoy it.

Aside from Eleanor Ppowell's fabulous dancing, the movies are boring. I am still glad to have the DVD for the dancing.

For Born to Dance, it was truly a film that quickly became one in my top 25 films. A Cole Porter Musical loaded with tunes. Days after I saw it, I would wake yp singing the tunes.James Stewart, Buddy Ebsen and Sid Silvers (who co-write the film) back in America I don't want to spoil the film, all I'll say is if you like musicals, you'll love this film.As for Lady be good, Many may like it more then I did, It's not bad, I just did not care for the story.

I loved both movies, but "Lady Be Good" is probably the better of the two, particularly because of the doggy dance number. But there are also 2 unforgettable scenes in "Born to Dance". One is with Reginald Owen, who plays the Central Park policeman who morphs into an orchestra conductor. The other is the final dance number on the ship, Eleanor Powell is just unbelievable. She performs it effortlessly, and smiles all the way through it. I was relatively unfamiliar with her prior to seeing these movies, and I dare say she is one of the greatest dancers we'll ever see.

This is a great duo of two rather mediocre films--but they are great funnevertheless. If you ever wanted to hear Jimmy Stewart sing, or if you can't get enough of Elanor Powell's dancing, this is just right for you.And when Ann Sothern and Robert Young "write" the song Lady Be Good in the other movie, you'll wonder why the Gershwin brothers didn't sue themfor stealing. It's all in great fun and done with marvelous style. Have a ball and buy this video. It's wonderful for the older movies fan.

The best taps & the most wonderful smile of all the Hollywood legends. The legacy of Eleanor Powell is one of our national treasures. What an incredible dancer, athlete, artist....and how fortunate we are to have such a wealth of documentation of her greatness. Aside from Gene Kelly I really don't think any dancer ever performed so flawlessly and athletically from head to toe. These two movies are a lot of fun, and worth twice the price just for the dance routines with "Buttons" in Lady Be Good.