Orchestra Wives
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | Orchestra Wives |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1942 |
| length | 98 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Archie Mayo |
| script |
Karl Tunberg , Darrell Ware , James Prindle |
| production |
William LeBaron for 20th Century Fox |
| music |
Leigh Harline , Alfred Newman |
| camera | Lucien Ballard |
| cut | Robert Bischoff |
| occupation | |
| |
Orchestra Wives is an American musical film directed by Archie Mayo in 1942. It stars George Montgomery , Ann Rutherford and Glenn Miller and his orchestra.
action
Gene Morrison's popular swing band is back on tour, but its members are rather dissatisfied. After all, during the multi-week tour you play in a different city almost every day, which leads to exhausting travel and bitter arguments - especially among the married band members. Trumpet player Bill Abbott and pianist Sinjin Smith, on the other hand, are unconcerned. As bachelors, they don't believe in marriage and prefer to chase after the young girls who go to concerts. One of them is the small town girl Connie Ward, who comes to one of the Gene Morrison concerts at the invitation of the loving bartender Cully. Trumpet player Bill sees the pretty, nice girl and - after she initially struggled - gets a kiss. Connie is also enthusiastic about the attractive musician. He invites her to come to another concert in another city the next day. Connie's understanding father, a country doctor, allows her to go. However, Connie is turned away at the door of the concert hall because she cannot show any male accompaniment. Bill only discovers Connie after the concert, when the bus back to her hometown is already approaching. But in front of the waiting bus, the two lovers cannot part and spontaneously marry that same night.
Connie joins the traveling band, which also includes other wives attached. Some of the bored wives soon attack the innocent, naive Connie. Then there is the seductive band singer Jaynie Stevens, who was previously Bill's girlfriend: Although Jaynie is understanding in conversation with Bill and congratulates him on the marriage, but - as she says to the other orchestra women - she has no intention of Bill against this without a fight Small town girl giving up. After five weeks, Bill and Connie are more in love than ever before, but the constant travel and the scheming orchestra women give her a hard time. One evening the women stay in Des Moines while the band plays in Iowa City . The orchestra woman Natalie can't keep her mouth shut and tells Connie that Jaynie and Bill were previously a couple. Connie is troubled and travels by bus to see her husband in Iowa City. The three orchestra women Natalie, Caroline and Elsie have now called Jaynie in Iowa City, who then lures Bill into her room on an excuse. When Connie appears and sees the two of them together, she believes that Bill has been unfaithful to her and angrily drives back despite his objections.
The next day, Connie is reassured, but Bill is upset about her lack of trust. When Connie discovers that Natalie, Coroline and Elsie spoke to Jayne on the phone the previous evening, she wants revenge: She tells of how the three flirted with the band's various husbands, including Natalie and Caroline with the other husband. The two then want nothing more to do with each other and instruct their husbands to get out of Gene Morrison's band, which they reluctantly do. Bill also leaves the band out of anger against his wife, who caused such turbulence through her revenge. Gene Morrison is now without some of his most important members who previously shaped the sound of his band. He then decides to split up the band for the time being. Connie and Bill also decide to end their marriage after an argument. Connie returns to her father, but feels unhappy without Bill.
Some time later, all former members of the Gene Morrison band (except Jaynie) are lured into a meeting room under various pretexts. Now that they are back together and the various orchestra women have settled their arguments, Gene Morrison decides to revive the band. Connie, her father and pianist Sinjin, was behind the action to bring all the members back together. Connie wants to fix her mistake and be reconciled with Bill. When the newly assembled Gene Morrison band first performed, Connie and her father were in the audience. Bill is initially still angry with Connie, until Sinjin tells him that she has brought the band back together. Connie's father poses as her new, much older lover, which leads Bill to confess his love to his wife. At the end they dance together to the sounds of the orchestra.
background
Last year the Glenn Miller Orchestra shot its first film, Adoptierter Glück , which was a hit at the box office not least thanks to the enormous popularity of the band. In 1942, Glenn Miller was America's most commercially successful musician for the third year in a row. Twentieth Century Fox did an exceptionally large amount of advertising for the film, with Glenn Miller fans being the main target. The plan worked and the film was a success, but at the same time it was the last film with Glenn Miller, as he then served in the army and died in a mysterious plane crash over the Ärmerkanal in December 1944.
The female lead was initially rejected by Maureen O'Hara and Linda Darnell before Ann Rutherford received it. As in Adopted Glück, Lynn Bari plays the role of the beautiful but calculating band singer. In one of his first film roles, Harry Morgan plays the bartender Cully, who invites Connie to the Glenn Miller concert. In Anthony Mann's biopic The Glenn Miller Story , Morgan appeared 12 years later in the role of Chummy MacGregor, Glenn Miller's best friend. Orchestra Wives was released again in American cinemas in 1954 for the premiere of The Glenn Miller Story .
Mack Gordon and Harry Warren were responsible for the songs in the film, as in Adoptierter Glück . You can hear At Last , Bugle Call Rag , (I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo , People Like You and Me , Serenade in Blue and Chattanooga Choo Choo . Glenn Miller's signature melody, the composition Moonlight Serenade , can be heard in the opening credits. George Montgomery's trumpet playing was done by Johnny Best , and Lynn Bari's vocals were later dubbed by Pat Friday .
Reviews
Bosley Crowther described Orchestra Wives in the New York Times of September 24, 1942 as an "indifferent musical film", the highlights of which would be the performances of Glenn Miller's band and the spectacular dances of the Nicolas Brothers. The plot, on the other hand, is "void" and "as ridiculous as a zoot suit " and does not have "more sharpness or sophistication than one of these forbidden garments". The script and most of the performances are routine, only the performances by George Montgomery and Cesar Romero are worth mentioning. According to Crowther, the music scenes would stimulate even indifferent viewers, but “that is the highlight of the film. The depths are pretty bleak. ”Other reviewers were more benevolent. The Motion Picture Herald wrote that Glenn Miller and his band would give the film all they got. The Variety was full of praise that it was the best film ever made about the life of a band. He offers "hot music and sexy intrigues", the "constantly humorous" plot offers many dangerous gossip similar to that in Die Frauen .
Leonard Maltin found the plot to be “kitschy”, but it still offers a “nice setting” for Glenn Miller and his hits (rating: two and a half out of four stars).
Awards
Mack Gordon and Harry Warren were nominated for an Oscar in the category Best Song for (I've Got a Gal in) Kalamazoo , but lost to Irving Berlin's classic White Christmas .
Web links
- Orchestra Wives in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Orchestra Wives at Turner Classic Movies
- ^ Orchestra Wives at the New York Times
- ↑ Article on Orchestra Wives at Turner Classic Movies
- ↑ Article on Orchestra Wives at Turner Classic Movies
- ^ Orchestra Wives at Turner Classic Movies