Kalamazoo

Lively mix of mellow sounds and backstage back-biting. I could have used more of the band, but the signature I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo fills a lot of musical space. Wow, the title really means it. The wives and girl friends are a catty lot, scheming and conniving, especially a brunette Carol Landis (Natalie). She and her two cohorts Gilmore and Hughes should wear big black hats and stir a steaming black kettle as they plague poor, sweet Connie (Rutherford). Then there's the jealous Janie (Bari) in her drop-dead revealing gowns. No wonder Bill is having trouble with wife Connie.

It's a fine cast. Note how well Rutherford acts with her big, expressive eyes-- hard not to put a protective arm around her. Surprisingly, it's a sleek and lively George Montgomery a few years before he made a sober-sided career of the six-gun and horse. Landis also scores well showing what a fine, versatile actress she was before her untimely death. And catch future TV stars Jackie Gleason and Harry Morgan in bit parts, along with a bobbie-soxer Dale Evans before her frontier team-up with Roy and Trigger.

Credit director Mayo with blending things together in pleasing fashion, something of a challenge given the sometimes salty wrinkles in the plot. It's a good look at Miller the man and a sampling of his celebrated band, along with the swinging Modernaires. And, despite a conventional happy ending, the narrative appears a more revealing look at traveling bands than I, for one, expected from a big studio production.

Coming back to this after a long gap I was surprised how much I remembered of it and basically how good it was. The glue and the title refer to some of the band's spouses and their overall bitching and attempts to go better over the others. This film sums up womankind as seen by Golden Age Hollywood - after watching it I feel more in touch with my feminine side. Maybe not! But I wouldn't wanna play in the same band with Buddy either!

Ignoring the above, the key to enjoying this movie lies in the marvellous and plentiful music (although mimed to) by Glenn Miller & his Orch. Some glorious 40's standards are captured here, "At last" but especially the sublime "Kalamazoo" sung by Tex Beneke definitively, where the Nicholas Brothers wrap it up in their usual laid back and reflective style.

The atmosphere is great, not quite in the Andy Hardy vein for Ann Rutherford, but I take my impressions of what small town America might have been like in the 40's from this film (along with "Shadow of a doubt").

Glenn Miller certainly helped create a unique and unforgettable sound with his music and his band - but his acting left something to be desired!

It's Glenn Miller and his orchestra all right, even though the producers called him Gene Morris or something like that, and there is lots of music played by them. This movie seems to be almost unknown, yet it should by on the top of the list of every Glenn Miller fan. The sound is not bad for a 1942 recording.

The story line ... is not worse than those of hundred other movies, past and present, without redeeming musical numbers. It's about the few wives or girl friends traveling with the band, who do not necessarily make the musicians' hardships on the road any easier. In the style of these older movies, things are happening at a good clip and are never too melodramatic.

Glenn Miller plays "Glenn Miller" pretty well in a low-key manner and looks quite realistic. How could they make such great music with the smoking and the bad food at odd hours?

SUN VALLEY SERENADE was a surprise and a big success when it came to Europe, and I don't understand why ORCHESTRA WIVES did not travel well over the Atlantic (to my knowledge). The musical numbers are quite a few, and Lucien Ballard did a tremendous work at filming them. The Nicholas Brothers are even better than in the former Miller movie (and they were at their climax the year after, in STORMY WEATHER). The plot is unessential, as in most of the musicals, but the "wives" are all good looking and the players are credible too. Special mention to singer Marion Hutton, sax player Tex Benneke and drummer Moe Purtill, all uncredited.henry caraso

This film, the second to feature the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and probably best of the many films to include bandleaders in the cast, does exactly what it says on the tin – present a film about orchestra wives, those long-suffering mates of band musicians. What plot there is can be summed up in a couple of lines, concerning romances, new marriages, old flames, and rivalries.

The production works better than ‘Sun Valley Serenade', as that film largely had to support a plot for Sonja Henje. This time, there's more scope for other characters to make their impact, however brief. And yes, that is Cesar Romero playing piano for Miller. I'm not sure why, but there you go.

Miller himself was no actor, but it is of great interest to see him lead his band on screen (and also to put faces to singers Tex Beneke and Ray Eberle). The unique arrangements were perfect for screen soundtracks and there are several hit numbers featured throughout ‘Orchestra Wives'.