Le grand tourbillon

Judy Garland's brief appearance in Till The Clouds Roll By as Marilyn Miller far outshines Ms. Haver's portrayal of Marilyn Miller. What a pity Ms. Garland couldn't be loaned out to Warner's to add some class to this otherwise paper-thin biopic. And what a treat it would've been to seen Judy and Ray Bolger together again on the silver screen, although I'm not sure if there would've been any chemistry between her and Gordon MacRae, whose stiff and lifeless performance is reminiscent of those given by Nelson Eddy in the 30's and 40's. And finally, I can't understand why Warner Brothers left off Ms. Miller's attempt to make it sound pictures. One of their biggest musical hits of 1929 was the film version of Sally, but their quick follow-up Sunny bombed.

I was not at all surprised to read that "Look for the Silver Lining" is a highly sanitized bio-pic. After all, Hollywood has a long, long history of making biographies that omit all the wicked stuff in favor of glitz and entertainment. A couple such films that come to mind are "Night and Day" (which bears little similarity to the life of Cole Porter...especially since he was gay) and "Love Me or Leave Me" (which makes Ruth Etting seem almost as sweet as Mary Poppins). To Hollywood, history was just a starting point in 1930s-50s films and a little embellishment (or A LOT) was just part of making the story marketable. Because of this, it's usually bad if the viewer thinks this is a history lesson! In fact, a film of the era that accurately tells the story is the exception rather than the rule. So, if you want to learn about the life of Marilyn Miller, I suggest you read a biography or skim the internet!

This film begins with Marilyn (June Haver) an established star about to do a new stage production. She seems a bit under the weather...and the film soon flashes back to her youth before she became famous. You then see her life unfold...or at least the studio's version of her life. It's all very slick, very entertaining and filled with nice scenes and very nice song and dance numbers...though as I said above, it's terribly sanitized and inoffensive. I also thought a couple scenes were overdone (such as when Mr. Miller had the mumps...talk about overacting!) and the sledgehammer symbolism with the broken elephant was just too much. Still, inoffensive and enjoyable provided you don't care about the many liberties the story took on the true life of Ms. Miller. This is especially true of the final portion--which bore no similarities to Miller's life at all.

Cherry10 could not have known Marylin Miller in the 60's. Marylin Miller died in April, 1936. She died after complications from sinus surgery. The movie only touches on this at the beginning when she became dizzy while dancing at the rehearsal. The movie takes some artistic license in presenting only "the sunny side of life" for Marylin, with the exception of the death of her first husband, Frank Carter. She actually went on to marry three more times. The movie succeeded in bringing an entertaining musical to the screen and did serve as a showcase for Ray Bolger. June Haver was able to keep up with him and did shine in her dance numbers.

I have read a lot about Marilyn Miller from Indiana to Broadway and it seems that she was indeed a great Broadway star, especially in the 20s. I think this is the best movie June Haver ever done, of her 15 she made,and the whole concept of the time, era, clothes and background seems to come to life, with an extra lift. MM was supposed to have been a perfectionist on stage and did not like anyone in the cast who was not the same. JH does not quite get this part correct but at least she has a damn good try. The supporting cast from Ray Bolger to Gordon Macrae are also good and overall a thoroughly entertaining musical. I eagerly watch for it to come on TV and I would not miss it for the world.

Typical, Hollywood, 1940s, musical biopic. You take what, by all accounts, was a sassy, lusty, four times married (five if you count the engagement that was going to result in marriage were it not for an untimely death brought on by botched nasal passage surgery) alcoholic gal and run her through Will Hays' and Joe Breen's handy dandy whitewash, censorship, bowdlerization, airbrush machine and, voila ! She comes out a G rated bore. As is this film. Aside from two great Ray Bolger hoofin numbers and one good Jerome Kern song (the title song) it's pretty much fast forward city. As for June Haver, there seem to be glimmers of talent in there somewhere, but David Butler sure aint the director to bring them out. C minus.