Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)

Best movie of this year hands down!

Such a frustrating disappointment

Admirable film.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

I avoided this film for all these years (I am 64 now), and only watched it now because I had just watched the Marilyn Miller biopic ("Look For The Silver Lining"), and so many mentioned Judy Garland's portrayal of Miller here as so much better than June Haver's in "Look For...". Well, let's get a couple of things straight. Judy Garland didn't look anything at all like Marilyn Miller, nor did she sound anything at all like Marilyn Miller. So this nonsense about how wonderful Garland's portrayal of Marilyn Miller in this film is just hogwash. I don't even think she sang "Look For The Silver Lining" very well here; she did a wonderful rendition of "Who" here, however. But for those of you who think she was so exquisite here, I guess you base your opinion on the one thing they had in common. Know what it was??? But now, back to this film. To be honest, the film was an excuse for MGM to develop another lavish musical...something that no other studio did so well. They came up with a darned good script, albeit another highly fictionalized biography of a famous entertainment figure. To be honest, I enjoyed the fictionalized story more than I did the production numbers...even though I admire Kern's work a great deal.Odd thing about the casting. I don't enjoy film performances by either Robert Walker or Van Heflin. Yet, in this film I thought they were both excellent! As to the negatives of casting -- Lucille Bremer's performance late in the film was very unconvincing.Now, the big controversy in the film was the concluding production number -- Frank Sinatra singing "Old Man River". If you're having a problem with that White guy singing a Black song...get over it. It was written by a White guy (the film is about that White composer). It was written for Broadway of that era...so it was mostly written for White audiences. But MOST importantly, music knows no race. Nat King Cole can interpret "Dance Ballerina, Dance", just as Frank Sinatra can interpret "Old Man River". A jazz musician can interpret a pop classic. Music belongs to everyone. And, incidentally, the best rendition of "Old Man River" I ever heard was Sinatra's interpretation on his Reprise album "The Concert Sinatra" from 1962. But even here, in 1946, Sinatra's performance of the number is strong and flawless (unless you obsess about a pigmentation problem). And just for the record, I generally disdain Sinatra recordings from before the mid-1950s.While not at the top of my list of MGM movie musicals and biopics, this is a good one. Recommended.

This is an extravagant Hollywood production that uses the the story of Jerome Kern as a pretext for showcasing some of Hollywood's most glamorous stars of the early 1940s. Many of the stars in the movie are now virtually forgotten today. The movie contains brilliant song and dance numbers by Lucille Bremer, Virginia O'Brien, Ray MacDonald, June Allyson and Kathryn Grayson, well known and highly popular actors in 1945. Yet the movie has not aged well. It is like an expensive antique that when new was highly valued for its style and class but now is a curio piece that may attract some attention because it seems so odd. And this is sad because Jerome Kern deserves better. His music is not out of style; his music is as popular today as it was when he first performed. Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the movie. The story itself is mostly fluff and takes a lot of liberties with the facts concerning Kern's life. Nevertheless, the movie does contain one strong dramatic scene involving Lucille Bremer and Judy Garland which gave both actresses a chance to demonstrate their acting skills. But in this movie that is the exception, not the rule.

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 [email protected] 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)

This is a flawed but underrated biopic on the life of musical genius Jerome Kern, who penned some of the best songs in the history of musicals.Although it is two and a quarter hours long, its length isn't the problem. For my liking, I found the story rather creaky and sometimes pedestrian, and while a lot of attention has gone into making the dancing, style and singing perfect, less is done perfecting the script, which felt a little underdeveloped. Also, while his final scene with Van Heflin was very touching, Robert Walker was a little bland in the title role.All that said though, there is a lot to enjoy, particularly the truly marvellous songs. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "Ol' Man River", "Can't help lovin' dat man" and "How'd you like to spoon me?" really do stand out. The choreography is efficient and often dazzling, and the colourful sets and costumes are fabulous. With the exception of Walker, all the other performances were top-notch, though I do think everyone has done better. Van Heflin is great as James, Cyd Charise shows off her wonderful dancing(and legs) to perfection, Angela Lansbury is another definite highlight, and Judy Garland is a delight. Plus Dinah Shore is sublime in a rare treat. The real surprise though was Frank Sinatra, I know some have complained of "Ol' Man River" not being sung by a black person, like in Showboat, but Sinatra's crooning and spontaneous charm more than compensates in a knockout performance.All in all, has its flaws, but it is underrated and worth the look. 7.5/10 Bethany Cox