Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

UnowPriceless hyped garbage

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

SHAWFAN Yes, Robert Walker was not a great Jerome Kern and Van Heflin was completely fictional, and yes, the story line was tedious and sappy, but...all those incredible stars in one movie (despite some of the greatest ones like Kally and Astaire and Robeson being left out) in some of the most beautiful songs ever written (some of the greatest ones likewise also left out like "The Way You Look Tonight") just coming at you one after the other in sumptuous settings: what an unrepeatable and irreproducible gem of a movie! And the fact that Kern missed the Lusitania by oversleeping was replaced by a more dramatic plot line that had him trying unsuccessfully to catch that boat (We're all so glad he didn't!) and follow Frohman to England I thought was an actual dramatic improvement on what really happened.But you know, to me the most telling aspect of the whole movie which reflected so perfectly American mores and prejudices of the day was the fact that nowhere in the movie was the fact alluded to that Jerome Kern was---Jewish! And to this day none of your 40 other reviewers betrayed an awareness of this fact. The Jewish movie studio heads like Louis B. Mayer and Arthur Freed were not about to compromise the success of their glorious effort by turning any portion of the movie-going public off. But that thick American anti-Semitism of the day was about to receive its rebuke just a few seasons later in Gregory Peck's Gentlemen's Agreement.An incredible video has just been released by National Public Television on the Jewish heritage in the American popular musical. And astonishing as it is to realize that with the exception of George M. Cohan and Victor Herbert (Irish), Cole Porter (Christian denomination?) and Andrew Lloyd Weber (?) all the great Broadway composers and lyricists from Jerome Kern to Leonard Bernstein to Stephen Sondheim have indeed been Jewish and Jerome Kern was one of the greatest of them all. But this movie did its best to keep all that a secret (and succeeded.)

weezeralfalfa A lavish multi-star MGM tribute to the music of Jerome Kern, produced by the legendary Arthur Freed. Notably absent are MGM luminaries Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, who could have been used to good effect.Musical performances are interspersed by dramatic scenes relating to Kern's life. The musical performances begin with highlights from Kern's masterpiece: "Showboat", with Tony Martin, Kathryn Grayson, Virginia O'Brien, Lena Horne and Caleb Peterson as lead singers, backed up by large gaudy choruses.Horne's rendition of "Can't Help Loving Dat Man of Mine" is especially notable. The middle part of the film features other songs from Kern's pre-Hollywood period. Highlights include 3 energetic song and dance numbers, inluding the title song, led by winsome June Allyson, along with Ray McDonald, as her beau. I especially liked the "Cleopatterer" number. Judy Garland is excellent as Marilyn Miller, singing a somber "Look For the Silver Lining", followed by an exuberant circus-located rendition of "Sunny", then another exuberant production to "Who?". Lucille Bremer, a dance specialist, now also appears, initially as a rival to Garland, later as a nightclub performer, solo and with Van Johnson. Dina Shore's solo renditions of "They'll Never Believe Me" and "The Last Time I Saw Paris" seem datedly tame.The last part of the film features a string of hit songs from Kern's later years, composing for Hollywood productions, mostly sung by various "Showboat" leads. The stage setup is the same for all, involving singing without dancing. All costumes and the background and props are white: very unusual for a Technicolor film! Initially Bremer sings(dubbed)with a chorus, symbolizing that she finally made it to the top of her profession without Kern's explicit backing. Sinatra encores "Ol' Man River" as the finale. Many think it incongruous that he sing this in an all white outfit atop a pedicel. Perhaps, but I don't think you have to be splattered with Mississippi mud to do a credible rendition.Especially the last portion was sung with great gusto, making a great ending to the film.I was surprised by the inclusion of 'Frozen Face' Virginia O'Brien, whose trademark deadpan singing style may have endeared audiences of the time as a novelty, but I found disconcerting. Each singer is on a tall pedicel, at various heights. In the fade out, the camera gradually changes from a closeup of Sinatra to a wide-angle view of the whole stage, which we now see resembles a Neuchwanstein-like castle, with the pedicels representing various towers, and which appears to be floating in the sky, presumably symbolizing Hollywood as a pristine fastasyland: a very clever ending!The cinematography was outstanding throughout.Now, as to the non-musical portions of the film, which many reviewers find less than enthralling and of little biographical accuracy Actually, I found the dramatic portions generally entertaining, although a greater comedic element would have been useful. Robert Walker is fine, by me, as Kern, as is Van Heflin as his fictional song composing buddy, who fills in for Kern's various lyricists. His young daughter, Sally, serves to lighten some of the drama portions. We could have used an additional musical buddy with greater comedic input, such as Gene Kelly or Van Johnson, for example. ..Lucille Bremer's love-hate-love relationship with Walker's Kern, playing Sally as a young woman, largely substitutes for the all too common romantic and professional ups and downs between the main characters in musicals of this period. Although little known today, Bremer served as Astaire's main dancing partner in several films or revues, but was essentially dropped by MGM after her last film with Astaire bombed at the box office. Dorothy Patrick plays Kern's wife: initially reluctant to commit as his instantaneous girlfriend, discovered in the English countryside: quite a different environment than Kern's familiar Manhattan world.As to historical accuracy: Although the details are wrong, Kern did meet his future wife on an excursion into the English countryside, feeling an immediate attraction. Charles Frohman was a kingpin of NY legitimate theater in the early 20th century and did die in the Lusitania sinking. Kern was supposed to sail with Frohman, but overslept, missing the boat, probably saving his life. Paul Maxey makes a convincing look-alike for Victor Herbert, during his brief appearance. It was Kern who tried to interest Hammerstein and Zeigfeld in "Showboat", not the other way around, as depicted in the film. The film tries, but not too successfully, to convey the revolutionary contributions of Kern to the nature of American musical theater. It completely fails to convey the truly revolutionary nature of the subject matter of "Showboat" for American musical theater. This very risky show was produced by Ziegfeld and opened at the Zeigfeld theater.Five years later, Kathryn Grayson would reprise her role as Magnolia, in the Technicolor remake of "Showboat". Howard Keel replaced Tony Martin as Gaylord. I prefer Kathryn's limited performance here, as she looks much more credible in playing a supposed 18 year old. Lena Horne probably should have been cast as the mulatto Julie, in place of the non-mulatto Ava Gardner, giving her a chance to repeat her more spirited "Can't Help Loving Dat Man of Mine".

David Allen Til Clouds Roll By (1946 MGM) starring Robert Walker about the life of Jerome Kern and his stage show music is wonderful.MGM was the biggest movie studio during the still on-going "Golden Age Of Hollywood," still was supported by not-yet illegal movie houses owned by MGM's parent company, Loews, Inc.The studio had stars and talent of all kinds and flavors still under contract, and 1946 was the year when Americans attended movies in movie houses in greater numbers than any time in history, before or since.It was a big musical at a time when musicals were still mainstream movies, demanded and expected by movie audiences. It was from an era when singable, easy to hum, remember, and share songs were central to American culture, and when everyone still knew tunes and lyrics from pop songs from two decades before they were born.Til Clouds Roll By (1946) starring Robert Walker was a nostalgia movie about hit songs Jerome Kern wrote from the years before World War I into hit songs he wrote for Fred Astaire/ Ginger Rogers Hollywood black and white musical movie hits of the 1930's.In those days, 10 years ago was recent, and hit songs 20 years old were still sung widely and performed often. The culture didn't change, and beautiful songs like the ones in Til Clouds Roll By (1946) starring Robert Walker were preserved and revered.No more, sadly.Many good musicals appeared in the movies in the 1940's, and these often showcased great songs from earlier times. The musical movies lost currency and prestige, and are not honored by today's cultural archivists and nostalgia mongers. But they were good and should not be forgotten or overlooked.Til Clouds Roll By (1946 MGM) starring Robert Walker is an example of a big time MGM musical filled with movie stars, wonderful set decoration, costumes, and talent teaming up with other talent.It was and is a crowd pleasing movie, big, bright, wonderful, and common is a good way....not pretentious or arty, not troubled or burdensome in any way.It was designed to keep people attending movies in 1946 happy, and it's easy to see why it was a big success back then.Movies like Til Clouds Roll By (1946 MGM) starring Robert Walker don't make "Best Movies Of All TImes" lists like the ones the Library Of Congress or the American Film Institute publish and publicize.That's a shame because this is an important movie, and certainly was back in 1946, well thought of for good reason.It's corny in some spots, but the good parts are so good, any and all flaws and shortcomings can and should be forgiven.Other pop (show) music "bio pix" profiling other then famous stage music composers were also made during this period, none famous or honored on "Greatest Movies" lists, but all worth seeing, flaws or no flaws. These included movies about Cole Porter (Night and Day [1946]), George Gershwin (Rhapsody In Blue [1945]), Lorenz Hart (Words And Music [1947]). ------------- Written by Tex Allen, SAG Actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Com and choose "Tex Allen" "resume" for contact information, movie credits, and biographical information about Tex Allen. Tex Allen has reviewed more than 35 movies posted on the website WWW.IMDb.Com (the world's largest movie information database, owned by Amazon.Com) as of January 2011. These include: 1. Alfie (1966) 29 July 2009 2. Alien (1979) 24 July 2009 3. All the President's Men (1976) 16 November 2010 4. American Graffiti (1973) 22 November 2010 5. Animal House (1978) 16 August 2009 6. Bullitt (1968) 23 July 2009 7. Captain Kidd (1945) 28 July 2009 8. Child Bride (1938) 24 September 2009 9. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) 22 September 2010 10. Detour (1945) 19 November 2010 11. Die Hard 2 (1990) 23 December 2010 12. The Wonderful, Horrible Life of Leni Riefenstahl (1993) 19 November 2010 13. Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) 26 July 2009 14. King Solomon's Mines (1950) 1 December 2010 15. Knute Rockne All American (1940) 2 November 2010 16. Claire's Knee (1970) 15 August 2009 17. Melody Ranch (1940) 10 November 2010 18. Morning Glory (1933) 19 November 2010 19. New Moon (1940) 3 November 2010 20. Pinocchio (1940) 6 November 2010 21. R2PC: Road to Park City (2000) 19 November 2010 22. Salt (2010) 24 August 2010 23. Sunset Blvd. (1950) 1 December 2010 24. The Great Dictator (1940) 1 November 2010 25. The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962) 9 January 2011 26. The Man in the White Suit (1951) 5 August 2009 27. The Philadelphia Story (1940) 5 November 2010 28. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) 1 August 2009 29. The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) 14 August 2009 30. The Witchmaker (1969) 21 July 2009 31. Thousands Cheer (1943) 3 December 2010 32. Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) 24 November 2010 33. Wake Up and Live (1937) 27 July 2009 34. Witness for the Prosecution (1957) 1 August 2009 A full list of Tex Allen's movie reviews appearing on WWW.IMDb.Com with links to full texts of reviews is accessible via: http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments Written by Tex Allen, SAG-AFTRA movie actor. Visit WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen for more information about Tex Allen. Tex Allen's email address is TexAllen@Rocketmail.Com.See Tex Allen Movie Credits, Biography, and 2012 photos at WWW.IMDb.Me/TexAllen. See other Tex Allen written movie reviews....almost 100 titles.... at: "http://imdb.com/user/ur15279309/comments" (paste this address into your URL Browser)

ilania_a This film has a star studded cast including Robert Walker as Jerome Kern who wrote the music for Show Boat and many other famous popular songs. However, all the numbers from Show Boat including "Old Man River" sang by Frank Sinatra are poor renditions compared to those in the film "Show Boat". As a matter of fact I was tempted to advance the movie quite a few times....it was absolutely tedious, and this is a senior talking - I usually thrive on songs from Broadway musicals. Yet Robert Walker and Van Heflin gave good performances. The first time I saw it I simply forgot about it….thus I ended up watching it again, it deserves to be seen again.