Orchestra Wives (1942)

Well Deserved Praise

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

After the unexpected success of Sun Valley Serenade in 1941, 20th Century Fox tried the next year with the same formula, a romantic comedy with Glenn Miller's music and the great jazz man himself in a speaking part as the leader of a traveling jazz band touring small town America. The film is less fluffy, we have no Sonja Henie here, and a more serious script, yet the film is not as successful, in my opinion. The best part, naturally, are the musical numbers. I've got a gal in Kalamazoo closes the film but there are many others (At Last, People like you and me).The story of the trumpet player (George Montgomery) marrying an ingénue (the sweet Ann Rutherford) he met as his fan in some small town and the reactions and jealousy this causes in other members of the band is interesting up to a point. Amusingly, the scene of the seduction of the ingénue, with the trumpet guy basically forcing a kiss from her, would never be shown today in a contemporary film, unless the guy was a clear villain. Archie Mayo directed. Also with Cesar Romero, Tex Beneke, the luminous Marion Hutton and Lynn Bari.

Accidentally erased my review again. Have to be succinct. Mesmerizing footage of the Glenn Miller orchestra. I watched this movie for the great Cesar Romero--didn't know I'd stumbled upon treasure beyond wildest dreams. Horn sections, drummer, the sax and trumpet solos, a French horn! Danced to Glenn Miller records in the junior high gym, but i wasn't hip to what i was listening to. So, taking the corny plot and script for what they are, I live for Cesar Romero delivering his lines, and then whoa! It's young Jackie Gleason and Harry Morgan--two more smart, cool actors. (George Montgomery not so bad either--given the silly plot.) And the music keeps coming--until, when I can hardly stand any more heat, The Nicholas Brothers!!!! Where did these guys come from? Where have I been all my life? So I said "8 stars" instead of 7. Just for these two gentlemen who get pulled out at the end--like magic.

Ann Rutherford was a bright, vivacious actress, who found her niche playing snooty Polly Benedict in the Andy Hardy series. She also went on to play Red Skelton's harassed fiancé in his comedy mystery series starting with "Whistling in the Dark".This super little film is a showcase for Glenn Miller and his Orchestra, opening with a patriotic song "People Like You and Me", featuring vocalist Ray Eberle. Jeannie (Lynn Bari) is the singing "diva" who sashays in late as usual and after a few wisecracks - "I'm the girl who knows all the answers" - announces the news that they are going on tour. Gene Morrison (Glenn Miller - it helps to have the same initials) has to convince them that it is a good idea - the married musicians are not keen. He wants to tour America's heartland - to give concerts to the kids that buy the records.During the tour Bill Ablet (George Montgomery) star trumpet player meets star struck Connie (Ann Rutherford). After a whirlwind courtship (24 hours!!!) they get married and Connie becomes an "orchestra wife". Many of them are mean and catty - especially Bill's ex flame Jeannie and also Natalie (Carole Landis). The one friend Connie has is "Becksey" (Tamara Geva), wife of Ben Beck (Jackie Gleason, in an early role). They are an old married couple and she takes Connie under her wing.Jeannie is on a mission to win Bill back and she tries by becoming Connie's best friend. During a game of bridge when the wives are left behind, Connie hears that Jeannie had been going with Bill for a year before he married Connie. So she decides to pay a midnight visit to her husband who is playing in another city. Of course the girls ring Jeannie to tell her the news - so she sets a scheme of her own going. She entices Bill to her room so Connie will find them together. She does and there is a scene - Connie then loses Bill's trust. Connie then turns the tables, telling bits of gossip she has heard about the other girls. There is a huge cat fight and the band breaks up. Connie goes back to her hometown and the remains of the band try to carry on. She (in cahoots with "Sinjin" Smith (Cesare Romero) then sends telegrams to every band member and they settle their differences, still not knowing who got them together.There are some wonderful songs, "At Last", "Serenade in Blue" but the highlight for me are the fabulous Nicholas Brothers. They perform "I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo" and with splits, leaps and walking up walls they are just fantastic.Highly Recommended.

This movie combines the excellent Big Band music of Glenn Miller and his Orchestra with a plot straight out of "Desperate Housewives." One hopes that Glenn Miller and the members of his orchestra didn't have these kinds of problems with their wives in real life when they went on tour.The story: Connie Ward (Ann Rutherford) a naive, small-town girl, falls in love with Bill Abbott (George Montgomery), a trumpet player with The Gene Morrison Band, after hearing his trumpet-playing on a jukebox record. When the band plays a dance at a local park, Connie goes to see them, and is entranced by Bill Abbott's trumpet playing.After the dance, Connie meets Abbott behind the bandstand. Abbott is a self-described "big bad trumpet player." Without bothering to even read her the Miranda Rights, he instantly drags Connie into a nearby car and tries to make out with her. Never mind that it's *not even his car!* It belongs to somebody else! When the car's real owner shows up and says, "Hey, what are you doing in my car?", Abbott nearly punches him out! He's such a world-class a--hole you wonder why Connie doesn't kick him in the groin and leave.But the very next night, they are married. Abbott proposes to Connie, mostly out of lust, when she is about to get on a bus to go home. He doesn't even know her name when he proposes to her. It's a mystery why Connie accepts.Connie joins the band's coast-to-coast tour, traveling from town to town on trains with Abbott and Gene Morrison's orchestra. But she soon discovers that the wives of the band members, who are traveling with the band, are a catty bunch who are constantly chasing each others' husbands and gossiping behind each others' backs. The band's female singer, Jaynie Stevens (Lynn Bari), still has a jones for Bill Abbott, and tries to seduce him away from Connie.The whole plot is ridiculous. And it becomes even more ridiculous when the intrigues of the orchestra wives threaten to break up the band. Connie has to pull a few tricks to get the band back together again.The movie is worth having on DVD for several reasons. First, there are the extraordinary Big Band numbers by Glenn Miller's Orchestra, which was *the* greatest Big Band of all time! Backed up by some great camera work by Lucien Ballard, the band blows its way through those big brash brassy numbers that rock the house! The band members don't just "play" the music. They "perform" like seasoned veterans, with precision and panache. The Big Band numbers are almost like highly-choreographed Busby Berkeley dance numbers. Miller and his trombone players use their bowler hats as trombone mutes, and flip them on and off their heads with Chaplin-like finesse. The trumpet players stand at attention and, like buglers in the King's Court, raise their horns and play their hearts out. The sax players swing their saxes together as they play, like dancers in a chorus line. And master drummer Moe Purtill gives a brilliant staccato drum solo that is as good as anything Buddy Rich or Keith Moon ever did.There are some great songs, including short versions of Miller classics like "In the Mood" and "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," and new songs like "I Got A Gal In Kalamazoo," "Serenade In Blue," and the perennial favorite, "At Last," which was introduced in this movie. (Miller, by the way, is no Jimmy Stewart, but does a fairly good acting turn as band leader Gene Morrison.) There are some good early-career performances. Cesar Romero appears as the band's piano player, who can't walk past a girl without propositioning her. Jackie Gleason appears as the band's bass player, whose wife insists on bringing her new vacuum cleaner with them on the tour. (Amazingly, Gleason and his wife seem to have the sanest marriage in the movie.) And Harry Morgan, later of "M*A*S*H" appears as a jerk of a soda jerk.The movie closes with an amazing dance number by the slip-sliding, high-flying Nicholas Brothers. And there's a funny scene between the orchestra wives, where Connie turns the tables and exposes their secrets to each other (i.e. who is running around with whose husband behind whose back). This leads to a hilarious "Crystal vs. Alexis"-style free-for-all between two of the wives.But mostly, this movie belongs to the band. The great musical numbers by Glenn Miller's band still have their power and sweet sound after sixty years. And it is a joy to see the band in action, recorded for all time, in "Orchestra Wives." P.S. The DVD includes a commentary track by Ann Rutherford and Fayard Nicholas of the Nicholas Brothers, in which they reminisce together about making the movie, and about their days in vaudeville, radio, and the Golden Age of Hollywood. It's such a wonderful and intimate commentary track. You can almost picture the two of them sitting together in the screening room, holding hands as they recorded it.