[.ca] Till the Clouds Roll By

From Amazon.com:
Hollywood's 1940s craze for composer biographies did not yield many masterpieces, and Till the Clouds Roll By is one of the weaker efforts in the bunch. Robert Walker tries gamely to suggest the decency of Jerome Kern but is defeated by a sluggish story line pairing him with a crotchety mentor (Van Heflin). As a collection of freestanding production numbers devoted to Kern's songs, however, the movie has appeal. It begins with almost 20 minutes of Showboat (including Lena Horne's plaintive reading of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man") and the hits just keep on coming. Judy Garland, who appears in a few scenes as stage star Marilyn Miller, contributes "Look for the Silver Lining" and a Gatsby-esque production number on "Who?" Her songs were staged by then-hubby Vincente Minnelli. Other highlights include a young Angela Lansbury, still with baby fat, singing "How'd You Like to Spoon with Me?" Lucille Bremer, a leggy starlet who never quite caught on, plays Kern's protégé. She spins a delightful duet with Van Johnson on "I Won't Dance," two redheads capering with gusto. It all ends with another splashy theatrical montage, climaxing in Frank Sinatra's take on "Ol' Man River." That might sound like a strange idea, but Ol' Blue Eyes clearly loves the song (he would return to it often in his career) and is in beautiful voice. Despite being a lavish MGM production, Till the Clouds fell out of copyright and into the public domain, so print quality (and even running time) can be variable. --Robert Horton

GREAT BAWULS OF THUNDAH!!!!:
This poor stepchild of a movie ......saw it barely as an infant centuries ago and mama was not impressed by the length \ogot a bit of a whipping for staying out too late that time\c ..... then years later in a 3rd world country in a musty little cinema with locals barely understanding what was going on - movie broke down a few times - gunshots from the projectionist's booth ..... \o!\c HOWEVER, this DVD print is DREADFUL \obut it IS CHEAP\c and upon occasion - somewhere towards the end in a non-crucial moment, the same happens ... we don't decode .... cheap stuff! CAN ONLY HOPR THAT SOMEONE RESTORES THIS ONE TO FULL DOLBY 5.1 and CLEANS UP THE NEGATIVE> WHY? Well, there's LENA HORNE as the doomed JULIE singing "Can't Help Loving dat Man of Mine" in "Showboat" \olooking spectacular in Egyptian II a shade developed especially for her by Max Faxtor - alas in the full lenth Miss Ava Gardner inherited the skin tone from Factors\c. However, this is just ONE of the reasons to get this DVD .....there's also Judy Garland, Angela Lansbury, Van Johnson, old blue eyes Frank, Cyd Charisse, Eather William and a truckload of stellar talent. It's a lavish production - very lavish - currently snubbed by this poor version - but destined to be resurrected in spelndor \oplease?\c Footnote ...Whatever Happened to LUCILLE BREMER? She's a pivot character in this saga, looks and dances great - especially with Van Johnson \owow!\c Pity - ah, but that's Hollywood.....

As the Clouds Roll by:
If you enjoy the old musicals with lots of singing and the old time stars you will thoroughly enjoy this movie. The costumes are wonderful and the musicals scores excellant. Old movies buffs will certainly enjoy this. Sharon from N. B.

MANY EARLY TALENTS ALL TOGETHER:
Can't remember seeing the early days of so many major talents in one place before. Storyline, acting etc. are OK - - but the real payoff is the wealth of music, dance and acting scenes with big and to-be-big stars. Nifty!

Good movie - Bad DVD Transfer:
While this film may not have the most exciting plot, one cannot deny the great production values of the musical numbers thanks to the Arthur Freed Unit. Judy Garland's numbers are top notch, along with the rest of them. Unfortunately, this film must have slipped into public domain, and the company who picked up the rights to doing a DVD print are not sticklers for quality! Since Warner Brothers now has the MGM library, if the DVD doesn't say Warner Home Video on it, you may want to get the VHS version instead. :-) Hopefully, sometime in the future, Warner Brothers will get the rights back to do a DVD, and get it done in nice crystal clear mastering. Then I can go out and re-buy it. Arther Freed musicals are a "must have" on DVD!

Colorful and musical.:
I own both a VHS and a DVD copy of this film, and oddly enough, the VHS tape yields a much clearer, more colorful picture! Go figure. The film is a wonderful study, not of a biography proper (it's often reported that the script was highly fictionalized), but of a top-flight execution of a musical. And if you're any kind of musical afficionado (and over 30), you'll enjoy the innovative ways this film stuffs so many stars into one motion picture- from Judy Garland as real-life Kern star Marilyn Miller, to the various stage pieces featuring Angela Lansbury, Ray McDonald, June Allyson, Tony Martin, Kathryn Grayson, Lucille Bremer, Van Johnson, and a BRUNETTE Dinah Shore singing "The Last Time I Saw Paris." And five of the singers- Grayson, Martin, Virginia O'Brien, Lena Horne, and Caleb Peterson- are magnificent in a mini-production of "Show Boat." (Interesting sideline: though it is only a small cameo, the gorgeous Horne is obviously performing the role of the mulatto singer Julie- a role she hoped to play in the actual "Show Boat" film. She was even approached by Broadway producers to do a revival of the show, but MGM would not allow it. Her striking essay of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man-" in her own fair skin and piercingly beautiful eyes- makes one wonder what might've been.) Blink and you'll miss Gower Champion dancing with Cyd Charisse. Sneeze and you'll miss Esther Williams signing autographs.