Broadway Melody Of 1936 (1935)

An aspiring dancer (Eleanor Powell) arrives in New York and attempts to contact an old flame (Robert Taylor), now a big time Broadway producer, in the hopes he'll get her in a show. But he refuses to help her and insists she go back home to Albany, New York. However, she and the producer's secretary (the always welcome Una Merkel) concoct a plan to get her in the show. As always with these BROADWAY MELODY musicals (there's also 1929, 1938, 1940), the thin story is just something to fill up the spaces between the musical numbers. Luckily for us, the songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed are a superior bunch: among them You Are My Lucky Star, Broadway Rhythm and the irresistible I Got A Feelin' You're Foolin'. They make up for some the ill advised comic bits like the guy (Robert Wildhack) who does snore imitations (I kid you not!) who is given not one but two whole segments. Top billed is Jack Benny as an unsavory tabloid columnist, who does smarmy quite nicely. Powell is, of course, pure bliss when she dances. Directed by Roy Del Ruth. With Buddy Ebsen (whose dancing is an acquired taste) and his sister Vilma, Frances Langford, Sid Silvers (who helped write the screenplay) and the lovely June Knight who's quite likable playing unlikable.