Adoptiertes Glück

Milton Berle (Nifty) manages the Glenn Miller (Phil) band that includes piano player John Payne (Ted). They land a long-term gig with famous singer Lynn Bari (Vivian) in Sun Valley. Guess what – there's romance between Payne and Bari. However, before they depart for Sun Valley, Payne has to collect a war refugee child that he has undertaken to look after. Enter Sonja Henie (Karen). And she's not a child. Everyone goes to Sun Valley but Payne can only choose one woman. Or does the woman choose him?

The story is lightweight nonsense but the music is excellent. Every musical number is a highlight with the showstopper being Glenn Miller's "Chatanooga Choo Choo" which also includes a sequence with Dorothy Dandridge and the Nicholas Brothers. Wow! The film also serves up Sonja Henie and her ice skating spins. For me, the skating sequences aren't as powerful as the musical numbers, but they are still being performed by a 3 time Olympic gold medallist!

The film is funny and entertaining and contains some legendary performers. Definitely one to watch.

You can have all the glamour and pastels of the MGM musical - for sheer fun, give me the Fox musicals, especially this one, Sun Valley Serenade, starring John Payne, Sonja Henie, Glenn Miller, Lynn Bari and Milton Berle.

For publicity, Nifty Allen (Berle), a band publicist, arranges for the band to adopt a refugee. When the refugee shows, she's a grown woman named Karen Benson (Henie) who immediately falls for her guardian, the bandleader, Ted (Payne).

She connives her way into the train that's taking the band to Sun Valley, where she quickly gets in between Ted and the band's singer, Vivian Dawn (Lynn Bari) whose claws come out in full force.

"Sun Valley Serenade" is filled with skiing, Glenn Miller music, and Henje's fabulous skating. By 1941, Henje was starring in her own ice show, and her skating in this film looks less dated technically than it does in earlier films. And there's no one today who can come close to her spin sequences.

I can't remember how it was done, but she skates on mirrored glass, and it looks great. This was an ideal role for Sonja - she gets to smile, skate and does not have to do anything too dramatic. Payne does well and sings pleasantly as her leading man.

One outstanding musical feature, "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," a Miller standard, is performed first by Tex Beneke and the Miller singers and then - brilliantly - by Dorothy Dandrige and the Nicholas Brothers. This alone makes the film worth watching.

Delightful.

Sun Valley Serenade is remembered today for being one of the two films that Glenn Miller and his Orchestra were featured in, the other one being Orchestra Wives for 20th Century Fox. Miller was the number one swing band in the country and his presence in the film was more important than stars Sonia Henie and John Payne.

Payne's a pianist/vocalist with the Miller Band and his romancing of singer Lynn Bari gets the band a gig in Sun Valley during the ski season. Which is doubly fine for Payne because he likes all kinds of winter sports, indoor and outdoor.

But then an old publicity stunt that manager Milton Berle pulled some months earlier comes back to haunt them. He had the band sponsor a refugee from one of the occupied countries of Europe and Chester Clute from Immigration arrives with the receipt while all this full blown courtship of Bari is going on. So the band goes to Ellis Island to meet their sponsored urchin, but instead it turns out to be a rather big girl who also likes winter sports, Sonia Henie.

The band thinks to park her with Berle's aunt in New Jersey, but Sonia hears about Sun Valley and that sounds too much like home to suit her. And she's got a great advantage in that Bari isn't interested in skiing nor does she want to learn. Give you a guess who Payne winds up with.

Of course this whole fluffy plot is just an excuse to hang some skating sequences and some music by the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Harry Warren and Mack Gordon contributed a fine score. In fact Sun Valley Serenade was nominated for an Oscar for black and white cinematography and musical scoring.

It also received a nomination for Best Song, one of the best known that the Glenn Miller Orchestra was known for, Chattanooga Choo Choo. John Payne gets to vocalize another great song I Know Why And So Do You which sold a few platters back in the day.

I don't know if Payne could play a piano in real life, but even if he was faking it for the film, he got a rare chance to jam with Glenn Miller as he was doing In The Mood, probably his best known hit song. I'd have paid Darryl Zanuck to do that myself.

The Miller Band's presence made a lot of folks forget this was a Sonia Henie film. Darryl Zanuck paid dear to sign Henie and she was first billed in all of her films. Her skating sequences or good, but I'm betting she didn't like being upstaged.

Nearly all the big bands in their era which was roughly 1935-1945 got into one film or another. Some got into better films than others and Miller's band did well by their two films before Glenn Miller went into the army and to his untimely disappearance over the English Channel.

Not to forget that the Nicholas Brothers and Dorothy Dandridge got to do specialty numbers. With all the talent in this film, you can't possibly go wrong giving it a look.

What's not to like about the movie? The great soundtrack, featuring then-new now-classic Glen Miller orchestra sounds? The bubbly Sonja Henie in a completely agreeable innocuous script? The same Miss Henie gamely trying to sing a few bars here and there? John Payne (Miracle on 34th Street) crooning in alternation with the song stylings of Lynn Bari? The amazingly young Uncle Miltie Berle playing the second man? Dorothy Dandridge in her prime, singing "Chattanooga Choo Choo" with full orchestral accompaniment, and the Nicholas Brothers doing a dance to boot? The skiing, the skating, the soundstage snow shenanigans?

Answer: nada. One of the lesser known (possibly because of the short running time and limited number of songs, but probably just because it's black and white and incredibly quaint), but absolutely classic movie musicals.

Designed to provide some enjoyable light entertainment, "Sun Valley Serenade" does just that. There's plenty of variety, with good comedy, good (sometimes excellent) musical numbers, and some winter outdoors scenes. The story is lightweight, but it's supposed to be, and it is sufficient to tie the rest together.

Sonja Henie brings energy and talent to her role as a war refugee who is taken in by a band member. John Payne is good enough, though he mostly allows Henie to take the spotlight, and plays off her and the situation around him. Milton Berle adds some amusing moments as the band's agent. Glenn Miller's band and the performers in the musical sequences get lots of screen time, making good use of most of it. In particular, the 'Chattanooga Choo Choo' number is quite a show-stopper.

The atmosphere is quite pleasant, the story is enough to keep things moving, and the variety of material fits together well. It's more than enough to make for an hour-and-a-half of worthwhile watching.