Main Cast: George Montgomery, Ann Rutherford, Glenn Miller, Cesar Romero, Lynn Bari, Jackie Gleason
Release Year: 1942
Country: US
Run Time: 98 minutes
Plot
In his last screen appearance, bandleader Glenn Miller plays--are you sitting down?--a bandleader. The film's main plot involves small-town girl Ann Rutherford, who impulsively marries George Montgomery, a trumpeter in the Miller band. Rutherford soon finds that she isn't particularly suited for life on the road, nor is she prepared for the petty jealousies and backstabbings prevalent among the other orchestra wives (Lynn Bari, Carole Landis et. al.) She eventually leaves Montgomery, an event which coincides with the breakup of the band. But both the band and the marriage are salvaged through the benign conspiratorial schemes of Glenn Miller and a repentant Rutherford. Those who aren't interested in the various plots and subplots in Orchestra Wives will be captivated by the endless supply of blue-ribbon tunes, including I Got a Gal in Kalamazoo, At Last, and Serenade in Blue. Guest stars include Tex Beneke, The Modernaires and the Nicholas Brothers. Watch for an uncredited Jackie Gleason as a bass player and Dale Evans as Ann Rutherford's friend in the soda-fountain scene. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The best reason to watch Orchestra Wives today -- in fact, the only reason to do so -- is the music, especially "I've Got a Girl in Kalamazoo," performed to the hilt here by Tex Beneke, Marion Hutton (Betty's sister), and the Modernaires. 20th Century Fox, who had Glenn Miller and band under contract, knew what they were doing -- no reason to spend money on such niceties as script and good actors when the kids came only to listen to Miller and his crew. The bandleader had been supporting the likes of Sonja Henie and Tyrone Power in earlier songfests but Orchestra Wives was popular music stripped down to the essentials, and instead of wasting prestigious stars, featured the likes of Lynn Bari, George Montgomery, and Carole Landis, in other words, the Fox B-unit players. But the music -- which also includes Moonlight Serenade, "People Like You and Me" and At Last -- remains the saving grace and what a saving grace it proves to be. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide
Connie Ward (Rutherford) is a young woman who marries Bill Abbott (Montgomery), a trumpet player in Gene Morrison's (Miller) swing band (Miller's character was given a name with initials that matched Miller's so that the band could use their monogrammed stainless-steel bandstands). She soon finds herself at odds with the cattiness and petty jealousies of the other band members' spouses. Her discomfort is exacerbated by a flirtation between Abbott and Jaynie (Bari), the band's female vocalist. When Ward eventually walks out on Abbott their split releases so many other tensions among the musicians that leader Morrison is forced to break up the orchestra. Ward and the band's pianist Sinjin (Romero) then work behind the scenes to reunite the band, which also produces a reconciliation between Ward and Abbot. The re-formed band has a series of hit recordings and all ends happily.
Songs
Orchestra Wives features a treasure-trove of songs by Mack Gordon and Harry Warren, the same team responsible for the hits featured in Miller's first film Sun Valley Serenade (1941).[1] The main production number is "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo", an analogue of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo", from the first film that features a folksy vocal and some gutsy tenor sax work by Tex Beneke, backup singing by the Modernaires, and a gravity-defying dance sequence by the Nicholas Brothers. Other songs include the period piece "People Like You and Me", a breakneck performance of "Bugle Call Rag" and the still-popular romantic ballads "At Last" and "Serenade in Blue".[2] "At Last" has been recorded by Nat King Cole and Etta James in the 1950s and 1960s and by Beyonce Knowles in 2008. The film score uses "At Last" as a musical motif that is played throughout the movie in dramatic and romantic scenes. "That's Sabotage" was also written for the movie but was cut from the film. The song was, however, released as a 78 single by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.
Glenn Miller's theme song "Moonlight Serenade" from 1939 also appears over the opening credits.
"Boom Shot", an instrumental composed by Glenn Miller and Billy May for the movie, also is played in the movie but is uncredited on the soundtrack. "Boom Shot" is heard on the jukebox in the movie.
