Director:
H. Bruce Humberstone Year: 1941 Rating:
6.0
Sonja Henie may be growing on me a little bit after seeing this second film
in which she starred. Sort of like moss on the shady side of an old decaying
building. I don't know why though. She isn't really very pretty. A small
elfin face with tiny carnivorous teeth. She looks as if she came across your
dead body and was hungry she would smile and start eating you. First the
soft spots and later gnawing on the bone. But I like the personality that
the studio gave her in these two films - this and Iceland. An unnerving inability
to be nuanced as if she was slightly autistic. In both films she meets a
man - in both films John Payne - and after gazing at him for a few minutes
declares she loves him, that he is the man for her, that she will be a wonderful
wife and home maker and when are they are getting married. Most men of course
would be running away right after the "she loves him part". But she just
ploughs right ahead to get her prey.
A band headed by piano player Ted Scott (Payne) are trying to get an audition
for a club date. Another band and a singer Vivian Dawn (Lynn Bari) are having
their audition at the moment when she turns on the band and yells at them
for making a mistake and then walks off. Till she spots Ted's blue eyes and
says can you guys play. Sure. And I am thinking the guy who is leading the
band sure looks a lot like Glenn Miller. Damn it is Glenn Miller going by
the name Phil. Yup they can play. They get the gig sure enough. Glenn Miller.
In the Mood, Moonlight Serenade, Tuxedo Junction. I grew up with my father
playing Glenn Miller.
Before heading to their new job in Sun Valley they get a message that their
PR play to adopt a refugee has come through. They go to Ellis Island expecting
to pick up a small urchin and are a bit surprised to see a grown woman who
has escaped the Nazis in Norway. Sonja. She is in love with Ted by the time
they get to his apartment - but he is in love with the singer in the band.
Sonja finagles her way to Sun Valley with the band's agent played by Milton
Berle! The plot is low wat but the music is not. A couple complete
songs from the Glenn Miller Band with the highlight being Chattanooga Choo
Choo, which is fabulous and just when you think it is over Dorothy Dandridge
and the Nicholas Brothers come on and do their routine. It doesn't get much
better. And Sonja. Only two skating numbers - in one she just gets on the
ice and starts showing off and everyone else gets off. She has that spin
at light speed thing down. And then the film finishes with a big number from
her. This is as soft and brainless as a marshmallow, but Glenn Miller.
Any time.
