Orchestra Wives (1942)

Wonderful character development!

hyped garbage

Best movie ever!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

The plot is thin, but a certainly a whole lot of fun; especially with Glenn Miller's wonderful band. George Montgomery sounded like Rhett Butler's Clark Gable in "Gone With the Wind." How appropriate since co-star Ann Rutherford was in that memorable film 3 years before.Didn't Grant Mitchell who played Ms. Rutherford's father in this film resemble James Cagney intertwined with Harry Truman?When meeting Montgomery, whose acting in the film is below par, the Rutherford character quickly marries him only to find out that band life on tour is not what is what was made out to be. Lynn Bari, always up to trouble, in films is at it again. As a band member and former flame of Montgomery, she conspires with the help of the gossips to destroy the marriage.The music ensemble before the story begins and after it is resolved is wonderful. It certainly takes us back to that period.

Lively mix of mellow sounds and backstage back-biting. I could have used more of the band, but the signature I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo fills a lot of musical space. Wow, the title really means it. The wives and girl friends are a catty lot, scheming and conniving, especially a brunette Carol Landis (Natalie). She and her two cohorts Gilmore and Hughes should wear big black hats and stir a steaming black kettle as they plague poor, sweet Connie (Rutherford). Then there's the jealous Janie (Bari) in her drop-dead revealing gowns. No wonder Bill is having trouble with wife Connie.It's a fine cast. Note how well Rutherford acts with her big, expressive eyes-- hard not to put a protective arm around her. Surprisingly, it's a sleek and lively George Montgomery a few years before he made a sober-sided career of the six-gun and horse. Landis also scores well showing what a fine, versatile actress she was before her untimely death. And catch future TV stars Jackie Gleason and Harry Morgan in bit parts, along with a bobbie-soxer Dale Evans before her frontier team-up with Roy and Trigger.Credit director Mayo with blending things together in pleasing fashion, something of a challenge given the sometimes salty wrinkles in the plot. It's a good look at Miller the man and a sampling of his celebrated band, along with the swinging Modernaires. And, despite a conventional happy ending, the narrative appears a more revealing look at traveling bands than I, for one, expected from a big studio production.

i enjoyed this film Very Much! Vintage Thumbs UP!! Great music!! Sweet Plot with just enough conflict to keep things interesting. The who's who of players keeps you guessing and surprised to see such young faces of people that later went on to be success stories on their own. It gives a glimpse into the small town life of the ice cream parlor with juke box dreams come true.... leading to a stars in your eyes infatuation for the female leading to sudden matrimony...proposal as she is trying to get on a bus! Interesting Slang scene with Caeser Romero, Jackie Gleason and George Montgomery's Characters....discussing Anne Rutherford...and referring to her/women in terms of different bird species...guess the term "chick" came later from such discussions by men. My main frustration was the lack of Credits on the film... but thankfully this Site cleared many of my questions with that up in a jiffy!!! THANKS!!

"Roses are red, violets are blue, we're not going on a tour with you!" But this is exactly what takes place in the exciting motion picture "Orchestra Wives," directed by Archie Mayo and starring the wonderful Glenn Miller Orchestra during the heyday of the Big Band Era! Glenn Miller's character name is Gene Morrison, presumably to maintain the G.M. initials. As Gene's band reluctantly embarks on its thirty-day tour, trumpet star Bill Abbott (George Montgomery) instantly falls in love with one of the band's most ardent admirers, the beautiful Connie Ward (Ann Rutherford), and after a WHIRLWIND courtship, they get married! Over the course of the tour, the naive & innocent Connie inadvertently ends up dissolving the entire band, forcing her to devise a clever scheme in order to bring the band back together again.The cast of "Orchestra Wives" is a great one indeed. I have a feeling that George Montgomery was not a musician, since his trumpet playing is obviously faked, but never mind; he fits the role of Bill Abbott quite well. The pretty Ann Rutherford was a fine choice for the sad-faced, naive Connie Ward. Glenn Miller might not have been the greatest actor or trombonist, but his was a tightly-swinging big band, with one of its star performers being saxophonist/vocalist Tex Beneke as Phil. Watch also for the handsome Cesar Romero as pianist/skirt chaser St. John "Sinjin" Smith, Jackie Gleason as the happily-married bassist Ben Beck, and Henry Morgan as Connie's jilted soda-jerk boyfriend Cully. Not to mention Lynn Bari as vocalist Jaynie Stevens, the scheming former girlfriend of Bill Abbott. And don't forget the Modernaires and the Nicholas Brothers.Highlights: The film opens with Gene & his orchestra recording a fine arrangement of "People Like You and Me," featuring some great harmonizing by the Modernaires; the band then learns about the tour, and when everyone shares his/her disgust, Gene calms them down by explaining why the tour is happening. The film closes with a nice arrangement of "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo," featuring some fine singing & acrobatic dancing by the Nicholas Brothers. When Connie weeps and tells her father (Grant Mitchell) that she has made a mess out of things, he reassures her in his own way that she is not alone and that everything will work out fine. Connie arrives in Elgin to see Gene's band perform, but because she has no escort, she is forced to watch the band from a window outside while they play a really driving swing arrangement with great choreography. After the gossiping wives fight, Connie calls room service and asks the attendant to pick up some "dirty dishes"; Phil and Buddy (the drummer) soon afterward pull out of the band, and when Gene tells Bill to congratulate his wife for unintentionally breaking up the band, Bill responds, "Well, you got MY two weeks notice." With wonderful songs by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren, "Orchestra Wives" is a real treat for those who love the music of all the famous big bands, like I do. As Glenn Miller/Gene Morrison says at the beginning of the recording session, "Okay, let's hit it, boys!"