Til the Clouds Roll By

Starring:June Allyson, Lucille Bremer, Judy Garland, Kathryn Grayson, Van Heflin, Lena Horne, Van Johnson, Tony Martin, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Robert Walker, Gower Champion, Cyd Charisse, Harry Hayden, Paul Langton, Angela Lansbury, Paul Maxey, Ray McDonald, Mary Nash, Virginia O'Brien
Director: George Sidney (II), Vincente Minnelli, Richard Whorf
Studio: Unicorn Video
Product Type: DVD

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Hollywood's 1940s craze for composer biographies did not yield many masterpieces, and Till the Clouds Roll By is one of the weaker efforts in the bunch. Robert Walker tries gamely to suggest the decency of Jerome Kern but is defeated by a sluggish story line pairing him with a crotchety mentor (Van Heflin). As a collection of freestanding production numbers devoted to Kern's songs, however, the movie has appeal. It begins with almost 20 minutes of Showboat (including Lena Horne's plaintive reading of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man") and the hits just keep on coming. Judy Garland, who appears in a few scenes as stage star Marilyn Miller, contributes "Look for the Silver Lining" and a Gatsby-esque production number on "Who?" Her songs were staged by then-hubby Vincente Minnelli. Other highlights include a young Angela Lansbury, still with baby fat, singing "How'd You Like to Spoon with Me?" Lucille Bremer, a leggy starlet who never quite caught on, plays Kern's protégé. She spins a delightful duet with Van Johnson on "I Won't Dance," two redheads capering with gusto. It all ends with another splashy theatrical montage, climaxing in Frank Sinatra's take on "Ol' Man River." That might sound like a strange idea, but Ol' Blue Eyes clearly loves the song (he would return to it often in his career) and is in beautiful voice. Despite being a lavish MGM production, Till the Clouds fell out of copyright and into the public domain, so print quality (and even running time) can be variable. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews:

"A lovely old film".......2007-06-14

This is an oldie, with lot of songs by Jerome Kern; I loved it, and bought a copy for my mother.

Cult classic.......2007-06-13

To be blunt, this is the worst musical MGM ever released. The script is extraordinarily weak; try counting the cliches. The casting was poor. And only a few of the star-studded musical numbers are successful. Tony Martin, Dinah Shore, Lena Horne, and Frank Sinatra were all at their peak of their vocal powers, of course, and they do well. Judy Garland's numbers are acceptable, although you can tell that she was starting to come unglued. But beyond that, all is embarrassment. And nothing is believable. Indeed, this film should be a cult classic, shown at midnight with the audience throwing things at the screen during particularly awful melodramatic moments and dancing in the aisles during the June Allyson numbers. Torture can be fun.

What was the studio thinking........2007-03-15

Some don't care for this movie as it wasn't completely true to Jerome Kerns life, but I love it for the great musical numbers many of which are big production numbers. HOWEVER, I don't know what the studio was thinking when they let this into the public domain. This copy looks as though someone filmed it from the only decent copy which I have on laser disc. I wish the studio could put out a quality copy.

...OH, HE WROTE THAT TOO............2007-02-15

A WELL PACED BIOGRAPHY OF A GREAT COMPOSER, JEROME KERN. LAVISH MUSICAL NUMBERS FEATURING SOME OF THE MOST MEMORABLE MUSIC OF THE 20TH CENTURY WELL INGEGRATED INTO HIS LIFE STORY WHICH MAY OR MAY NOT BE ACCURATE. BUT I DOUBT IF IT REALLY MATTERS....THE FINISHED PRODUCT IS EXCELLENT. STAR STUDDED WITH TOP NOTCH ORCHESTRATIONS, CHOREOGRAPHY AND COSTUMES MAKES THIS A CLASSIC TO OWN. THE QUALITY OF CLARITY, COLOR AND SOUND ON THIS DVD MADE OF A 60 YEAR OLD MOVIE IS OUTSTANDING.

It has its moments, but on balance it seems to me to be over-produced and dull in the narrative .......2006-11-01

What an odd insect-in-amber musical Till the Clouds Roll By, a somewhat biographical film about Jerome Kern, now seems. It freezes in time all the weaknesses and some of the strengths of an MGM musical style that has long passed from the scene. Kern was one of the giants of American song-writing. It's no exaggeration to say that he was the great bridge between the European operetta style of early Broadway musicals and the completely home-grown and energetic style which came from Gershwin, Rodgers, Berlin and Porter. His and Oscar Hammerstein II's Show Boat in 1927 was a turning point in American theater history. Fittingly enough, the movie opens with an 18-minute series of song-and-dance excerpts from Show Boat. It's the best thing about the movie. From there on, we're in for a series of largely over-produced Kern production numbers featuring a list of MGM stars, interrupted by dull narrative, fictional key characters and some terribly corny dialogue.

"Look down at that city, Jerry," says Victor Herbert to Kern one night in New York after Kern has been shaken by the death of an important person in his life. "It's made up of millions of people," Herbert continues, "and music has played a part in all their lives...lullabies...love songs...hymns...anthems." Kern gazes down at the city. "Must be pretty wonderful, Mr. Herbert, to realize that people you don't even know and never will know are singing your songs, and all of them asking for more Victor Herbert music." "It makes me feel grateful, Jerry," Herbert says, "and very humble. One of these days you'll find out for yourself how it feels."

This is the kind of dialogue that tells you the writers don't think much of the audience. Unfortunately, and with the exception of Van Heflin in the fictional role of Kern's friend and mentor, the actors give, in my opinion, almost uniformly flat performances in handling the story line. Robert Walker, who has to carry the movie as Jerome Kern, comes across as so wise, understanding and dignified that it's too easy to lose sight of a talented actor. Walker excelled at playing charming, almost innocent and often amusingly subversive young men. Later, he showed he could play charming and not-so-innocent psychopaths. Here, the role gives him no room or air. It's difficult to believe he didn't break out laughing after shooting some of his scenes.

The movie features at least 20 production numbers, ranging from that 18-minute Show Boat excerpt to snippets of Kern's songs. The numbers, for me, are at their best when they are presented more-or-less directly without all those MGM production values. Lena Horne is terrific singing "Why Was I Born?" Lucille Bremer and Van Johnson have fun with a nightclub number of "I Won't Dance." Ray MacDonald and June Allyson do nice jobs with "Till the Clouds Roll By," "Leave It to Jane" and "Cleopaterer." Angela Lansbury is saucy and smooth doing a Cockney number. Judy Garland playing Marilyn Miller has two major numbers, both directed by her then-husband, Vincente Minnelli, which are so glossy and powerful they almost bring the movie to a halt. But we also have to endure Kathryn Grayson with her shrill vibrato, Tony Martin, a hugely skilled singer but, in my view, mannered and self-aware, and Gower Champion, looking frozen and almost grim as he dances with Cyd Charisse. In between these extremes are a variety of other numbers, most of which are worth watching.

Kern died before the movie was completed so Arthur Freed and company shot a kind of tribute to Kern to close the movie. Many of the stars who had appeared earlier in the film shot parts of Kern's songs that he wrote after Show Boat. Freed put these together in a sort of staged medley. The sequence seems awkward to me. Everyone is dressed in white. The male singers and dancers wear red bow ties with their white tuxes. The set is a kind of white wedding-cake tower that floats. The sequence and the movie ends with a skinny young Frank Sinatra in a white tux standing on a white pillar in front of a white-garbed orchestra singing "Ol' Man River."

Till the Clouds Roll By has some virtues, but on balance it suffers greatly from two things. The narrative story-line is far too reverential and cloying. Second, as with all the other filmed musical biographies of the great American songwriters -- such as Rodgers & Hart, George Gershwin and Cole Porter -- great chunks of the story are false. How good it would have been if the studios had trusted the audience enough to eliminate the false drama in these biographies and used the time to put in more examples of the composers' great songs.

The DVD transfer looks first-rate. Considering that the film fell into the public domain years ago and has suffered from terrible reproductions on tape and disc, Warners deserves full credit for bringing the film back to it's original lush look. The disc has several extras. Till the Clouds Roll By is part of the Classic Musicals from the Dream Factory package which includes It's Always Fair Weather, Ziegfeld Follies, Three Little Words and Summer Stock.

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Frank Sinatra - Til the Clouds Roll By

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Til The Clouds Roll By

Manufacturer: Synergy Ent
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Light bio-pic of American Broadway pioneer Jerome Kern, featuring renditions of the famous songs from his musical plays by contemporary stage artists, including a condensed production of his most famous: 'Showboat' .

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Til the Clouds Roll By

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ASIN: B000HX3HRS

Product Description

The fantastic cast of stage and screen artists will astound the viewer and highlight this memorable production. Also, a condensed version of his most famous play "Showboat" is included.

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Suddenly/Til the Clouds Roll by
Starring: Frank Sinatra
Manufacturer: Ideal Enterprises
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000087EZK
Release Date: 2002-12-02

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