Bis die Wolken vorüberzieh'n

I gave Till the Clouds Roll By a 5/10. It's worth seeing for the music, and I'd have rated it higher had it been shortened to just the music. It could have got another bump by allocating the entire time to performances -- there was time for over twice as many songs, and there's no problem finding enough good Kern songs to fill the time. Kern wrote well over 1000 songs, and though of course not all are memorable, finding 50 or 100 good ones is easy.

But the choice and arrangements are nearly random. The order in which the songs are presented makes little musical or dramatic sense. They are done by a variety of performers with no consistency. The time after Show Boat is mostly ignored -- hey folks, Kern was actively writing for another 15 years and did his best work from Show Boat on. So even had the movie contained a full three hours of music, the best I could call it would be a haphazard revue with very good performers and memorable songs.

The worst, as others have pointed out, is the story line. To make it clear: THIS STORY LINE IS ALMOST ENTIRELY FICTITIOUS. Oh, of course the shows mentioned are accurately described. But I own a biography of Kern, and the name "Hessler" does not appear -- the character of Jim Hessler is totally fictitious. Kern's wife Eva was British, but the circumstances of their meeting do not resemble the movie. It's probably true that Kern just missed sailing on the Lusitania, but for totally different reasons (Frohman planned the trip for both of them, and Kern overslept). Etc etc ad nauseum. Why bother? The movie would have been much improved by letting the music speak for itself.

Edward

Jerome Kern is the subject of this biopic that MGM put together as an after thought because even though it's about the great composer's life, little is learned about him. The movie was directed by Richard Whorf as a great spectacle, one in which the magnificent talent employed by the studio is showcased interpreting Mr. Kern's music.

The composer is seen arriving in New York and being referred to a man who is supposed to be the best in arranging songs. The fictitious James Hessler is seen as an influential figure who worked close with Mr. Kern and acted as his mentor and collaborator. By his own admission Mr. Kern was not an exciting figure, but he left behind a body of work that still is vital and has survived the passing of time, as his songs became standards.

The main reason for watching the film is to enjoy the MGM stars doing what they did best, singing and dancing for our benefit. In a spectacular and colorful finale, we are treated to a wonderful production number involving Jerome Kern's best known songs.

Robert Walker's take on the composer makes a bland figure out of Mr. Kern. Van Heflin as Hessler proves to be much better. In the musical numbers we are treated by Lena Horne, June Allison, Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse, Lucille Bremen, Van Johnson, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury and others.

Although the film doesn't break new ground, it's a wonderful way to catch up with the stars in the background in some great renditions of Jerome Kern's beautiful songs.

This movie, about the life and times of stage composer Jerome Kern works best when it showcases pieces of his famous musical productions such as SHOWBOAT, LEAVE IT TO JANE, SALLY, OH BOY amongst others. The story of his life just proves a lot less interesting...no that's not the right word I'm looking for...I mean a lot less captivating than his music. When we see stars such as Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Tony Martin, Angela Lansbury, June Allyson, Lena Horne, Katherine Grayson, Cyd Charisse, Ray McDonald amongst others singing and performing on stage, there's magic in the air. Robert Walker as Kern does prove likable enough in the lead role and there's an innocent charm at work in these proceedings but things do run on perhaps a little too long.

In light of my having recently perused the 1978 Kern biography by the British author Michael Freedland, I have decided to revise my review (Sunday December 30, 1007).

In this case, Jerome Kern's real life story was not very interesting so Guy Bolton and Company simply made another one up. And the real Jerry was nothing to look at so they got Robert Walker to play him. (Next year Walker played the much-better-looking young Brahms to whom he bore a strong resemblance, believe it or not!) The character "James I. Hessler" played by Van Heflin, it must be said at the outset, is completely fictional. But it gives the fictionalized Jerry someone to play off of and gives us the equally fictional daughter "Sally Hessler", played as an adult by Lucille Bremer, an excuse to provide much of the drama missing in the composer's life. I felt, though, that this added drama was a bit of a cheat.

The section where Kern searches for "Sally" has some basis in fact. Kern actually did search for someone connected with a British friend and was successful in locating the person.

The courtship by Kern of his English wife Eva Leale is, however, even closer to the truth and the marriage was at least a durable if not entirely a happy one. All the more reason for the invention of "Sally".

Apparently though, it's true that the second time he met the producer Charles Frohman, the latter mistook Kern for British and Jerry didn't want to disabuse him as Frohman didn't think much of American songwriters. But when they disembarked in New York,an old acquaintance of Kern's gave the game away and Frohman was furious for a time. He said that he hoped Jerry could find his way around the city on his own.

The odd story that Kern was supposed to sail with Frohman on the Lusitania in 1915 but missed the sailing is also true, except that this was due to his having overslept (He had stayed up all hours and had given the long-standing order that no one disturb his sleep.) and not the fictional reason that it was his too-late last minute decision to sail with Frohman. Considering what happened to the Lusitania, it was sunk by a German submarine and Mr. Frohman died along with many others, the missed sailing was a good career move for Kern!

Another thing that needs to be said was that the real Kern, in common with Irving Berlin and other songwriters, was rather of an egomaniac and martinet. And he gave his wife a good deal of grief as an habitual practical joker.

Kern passed away before the film was finished and the production shut down at first. But it started up again and the film ends with a concert of excerpts from his music as a tribute. "Ol' Man River" is presented early on in the selections from "Show Boat". There it was sung by Caleb Peterson, presumably playing the original Joe, Jules Bledsoe. (Yes, the part was written for Paul Robeson but a conflict prevented him from originating it on Broadway.) However, in a breathtakingly ill-advised decision (because of his voice type rather than his ethnic background), the film ends with a young Frank Sinatra reprising it. This may have been done to show how universal Kern's music is and it must be admitted that Frank gives an impressive accounting of it with his fabled breath control and firmly-held long note. (In the long run, the song belonged to Robeson even if he later mangled the words to fit his political beliefs. Yes, I heard Robeson sing it at New York's City College and I can attest to that!)*

Though I didn't think much of the biographical sections of the film, I must admit the music was well-served especially by Angela Lansbury, Lena Horne, Tony Martin, Dinah Shore, Judy Garland (as Marilyn Miller.), and others. It is not likely this cast will ever be equaled.

*I was wrong about this, apparently. Hammerstein (A "lefty" himself!) revised the words thus giving credence to the old expression "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"!

Jerome Kern died while MGM's bio-pic TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY was still in the pre-production stage--and while Kern had been more than willing for MGM to tell all, his estate was considerably more reticent. In order to avoid any legal issues, MGM scrapped their original intentions, wrote up a fluffy script that bore little similarity to Kern's life, and crammed the film with every musical star available in a non-stop series of drop-dead-stunning production numbers.

The result may be extremely bad biography, but leading man Robert Walker and co-star Van Heflin keep the sentimental story moving--and the musical numbers are piled on top of each other so quickly that one doesn't really question it. The film opens with a lengthy montage from SHOWBOAT, Kern's innovative masterpiece, that features knock-out performances from Lena Horne, Katheryn Grayson, and Virgina O'Brien, and then quickly segues into a series of star-solos that feature June Allyson, Gower Champion, Cyd Charisse, Angela Lansbury, Dinah Shore, and Frank Sinatra.

Along the way we are also treated to an extended cameo by Judy Garland, performing "Look For The Silver Lining" precisely as Marilyn Miller played it on stage and singing "Who?" to a staircase of chorus boys--which Garland was said to find most amusing, considering that she was pregnant at the time. Also notable is Lucille Bremer in the role of Robert Walker's stage-struck ward; although her star quickly faded, Bremer is an attractive performer and shows her talent for song and dance here by teaming with Van Johnson for a spirited version of "I Won't Dance." TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY will not appeal to most casual viewers, for the story line and script are much too weak. But musical fans will love this one all the way from Lansbury doing a Cockney "Spoon With Me" to Sinatra belting out "Old Man River." As a Jerome Kern song-and-dance fest, the movie can't be beat, and it should have a place in every musical fan's collection.

Unfortunately, TIL THE CLOUDS ROLL BY has slipped into public domain. DVD releases abound, but none seem to offer respectable picture or sound; if you can find the original MGM video release, grab it.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer