Till the Clouds Roll By

Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) tells the story of composer Jerome Kern.In this movie he's played by Robert Walker.Van Heflin is James Hessler.Lucille Bremer is his daughter Sally.It has many fine musical numbers.My favorite has to be the one with Angela Lansbury where she's singing How'd You Like to Spoon With Me? and swinging at the same time.There are lot of names appearing in the movie.Judy Garland is in a rather big role as Marilyn Miller.Lena Horne is Julie in Show Boat.Tony Martin is Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat.Cyd Charisse does a dance specialty in Roberta.Van Johnson is Bandleader in elite club.Esther Williams makes a cameo appearance.Silent era's 'Snub' Pollard appears as Orchestra Drummer.James Finlayson is Candy Vendor.Frank Sinatra sings the very last piece Ol' Man River.Watch this movie and enjoy all that lovely music.

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

This biographical movie about the life and music of Jerome Kern has a number of good sequences that make it worth watching. A great deal of the movie consists simply of recreations of stage numbers from Kern's many musicals, and indeed these account for many of the best parts of the movie. It also adds a light and highly stylized account of his career, which is often bland, but occasionally has some nice moments.

It starts with Kern, at the height of his popularity, attending the opening of "Show Boat", and it features a lengthy staging of portions of that show. From there, it has Kern telling the story of his career up to that point, his work with a fictional mentor and later with collaborator Oscar Hammerstein, and his marriage. These episodes are frequently interlaced with more musical numbers of varying lengths.

The pattern works well enough in general, as something of a slight variant of the usual musical format. The main flaw is that it is really a bit too long for the material it contains. Much of it has little real substance as a story, and it works better as light entertainment. It does at times touch on some real issues, most particularly in following the mentor's daughter as she grows up.

Robert Walker is solid as Kern, and Van Heflin gets some good moments portraying the wise, slightly grouchy mentor. But some of the best moments are provided not by any of the main characters but by stars like Judy Garland, Lena Horne, and June Allyson, who appear in the musical numbers. Most of these are enjoyable, and a couple of them are show-stoppers. They probably provide the main reason for watching the movie as a whole.

I have always liked this movie and as time goes on it seems to be a bit dated but if you like Technicolor and musicals you will like this movie. Most of the stars are unfamiliar to audiences today and you must suspend your belief in this being a true story of Jerome Kern and just enjoy the music and dance. Great Judy Garland sequences and great color. Unfortunately, the movie's copyright has lapsed and you can only get inferior versions on DVD. Occasionally, TCM will show this film with a good print. Jerome Kern, by his own admission, was not very exciting, so having Robert Walker play him didn't harm the man's reputation. Good job by Van Heflin. The worst performance has to be the woman who plays Kern's wife. All musical numbers are well done and great entertainment. I recommend this for anyone who wants to see an old 40's musical, keeping in mind what audiences in those days liked and expected.

Back in the day when Hollywood was doing biographical pictures of some of our most famous popular composers, it was generally acknowledged that they were nothing more than an excuse to string musical numbers together. Till the Clouds Roll By is the best example of that tradition.

Jerome Kern wrote some of the best music ever heard in the world. But he was a pretty dull fellow in real life. He married the love of his life, had one daughter and was never linked with any of the famous stars he wrote for.

He actually did have two incidents in real life that would have made great screen drama. He had a heart attack that almost took him in 1938 where he was actually dead for several minutes. Kern always claimed after that any music he did write was due to heavenly intervention.

When he did die in 1945, he collapsed on the street near Carnegie Hall in late 1945. He was back in New York after several years in Hollywood to negotiate with Rodgers&Hammerstein who were going to produce a musical about Annie Oakley. Of course we know who got that assignment eventually.

His wallet must have fallen from his pocket and gotten lifted because Kern remained unidentified for a few days and was in a charity ward at a NYC hospital when he died. Kern in fact died while production plans were being made for Till the Clouds Roll By. Still those two true incidents would have made great cinema.

The film opens with a montage of melodies from Show Boat, his greatest musical success. In fact that whole sequence could have been released as a short subject. The rest of the film is Kern in taxi giving a fictional flashback of his life up to Show Boat which premiered in 1927. We fast forward through the next several years when in fact he wrote his best music for stage and then the screen. And there is a musical finale.

Curiously enough MGM had two guys on their lot at the time who actually had sung Kern songs on the screen, Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, and neither of them got in this film. Kathryn Grayson later did full adaptations of Show Boat and Roberta, but hadn't sung anything of Kern's up to that point. The only one in the cast actually performing a song he actually was identified with was Tony Martin. He sang Make Believe with Grayson during the Show Boat sequence, but also had made a hit record of one of Kern's best songs All the Things You Are which came out in 1939. Martin sang it beautifully during the finale.

You certainly can't complain about the vocalizing here though. With such additional folks as Lena Horne, Van Johnson, June Allyson, and Judy Garland contributing their talents who could complain.

Caleb Peterson who is a black baritone sang Ol Man River in the Show Boat sequence. During the finale, it's sung by Frank Sinatra. Sinatra sings it great, but given the song's identification with Paul Robeson it should have been done by him. Of course Mr. Robeson was having blacklist problems then. Still and all the white suited Sinatra was out of place to say the least.

If you're a fan of Jerome Kern as I am, just put the plot out of your head. Sit back and listen to the music.