Till The Clouds Roll By is a 1946 American Technicolor musical film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is a fictionalized biopic of composer Jerome Kern, portrayed by Robert Walker. Kern was originally involved with the production, but died before it was completed. It has a large cast of well-known musical stars of the day who appear performing Kern's songs. It was the first in a series of MGM biopics about Broadway's composers; it was followed by Words and Music (Rodgers and Hart, 1948), Three Little Words (Kalmar and Ruby, 1950), and Deep in My Heart (Sigmund Romberg, 1954).[1]

Till The Clouds Roll By
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Richard Whorf Uncredited Busby Berkeley[1] Henry Koster[1] Vincente Minnelli (Judy Garland seqs.)[2] George Sidney ("Ol' Man River"/Finale)[2]
Screenplay by	Myles Connolly Jean Holloway George Wells (adaptation) Uncredited:[2] Fred Finklehoffe John Lee Mahin Lemuel Ayers Hans Willheim
Story by	Guy Bolton
Produced by	Arthur Freed
Starring	June Allyson Lucille Bremer Judy Garland Kathryn Grayson Van Heflin Lena Horne Van Johnson Angela Lansbury Tony Martin Virginia O'Brien Dinah Shore Frank Sinatra Robert Walker
Cinematography	George J. Folsey Harry Stradling
Edited by	Albert Akst
Music by	Music: Jerome Kern Lyrics:[3] Leonard Joy Otto Harbach Ira Gershwin P. G. Wodehouse Guy Bolton Jimmy McHugh Edward Laska Oscar Hammerstein II Jerome Kern Herbert Reynolds Dorothy Fields B. G. DeSylva
Production company	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Distributed by	Loew's, Inc.
Release date	December 5, 1946 (1946-12-05)
Running time	132 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3,316,000[4]
Box office	$6,724,000[4]

The film is one of the MGM musicals that entered the public domain on their 28th anniversaries because MGM did not renew their copyrights.[5]

Plot summary

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Cast

Judy Garland

Lena Horne

Frank Sinatra

Angela Lansbury

• Robert Walker as Jerome Kern
• June Allyson as Herself/Jane in Leave It to Jane
• Lucille Bremer as Sally Hessler
• Judy Garland as Marilyn Miller
• Kathryn Grayson as Magnolia Hawks in Show Boat/Herself
• Van Heflin as James I. Hessler
• Lena Horne as Julie LaVerne in Show Boat/Herself
• Dorothy Patrick as Eva Kern
• Van Johnson as bandleader in Elite Club
• Tony Martin as Gaylord Ravenal in Show Boat/Himself
• Dinah Shore as Herself
• Frank Sinatra as Himself
• Gower Champion as Specialty dancer in Roberta
• Cyd Charisse as Specialty dancer in Roberta
• Angela Lansbury as London specialty
• Ray McDonald as Dance Specialty in Oh, Boy! and Leave It to Jane
• Virginia O'Brien as Ellie Mae in Show Boat/Herself
• Mary Nash as Mrs. Muller
• Joan Wells as Young Sally Hessler
• Harry Hayden as Charles Frohman
• Paul Langton as Oscar Hammerstein II
• Paul Maxey as Victor Herbert

Cast notes

• Esther Williams makes a cameo appearance
• Sally Forrest and Mary Hatcher make appearances as "chorus girls".[2]
• Kathryn Grayson reprised the role of Magnolia Hawks in MGM's film adaptation of Show Boat, released in 1951.[2]

• 
  Bruce Cowling
• 
  Dorothy Patrick
• 
  Dinah Shore

Production

The working title for the film was "As the Clouds Roll By".[2] Gene Kelly was originally intended to play Kern, with Gloria DeHaven, Jacqueline White, Imogen Carpenter, a stage actress, and Jeanette MacDonald in major parts. None appeared in the film.[2]

The first 15 minutes of the film consist of a condensed adaptation of Act I of Show Boat, with the order of some of the songs shifted - "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" is sung after "Life upon the Wicked Stage", and "Ol' Man River" was used as an Act I Finale, dissimilar to the show.^{[citation needed]} "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" as sung by Lena Horne was filmed, like many of her other musical numbers in MGM films, so that it could be easily removed from the print by sensitive Southern distributors.^{[citation needed]}

When the film started production in the fall of 1945, Judy Garland was signed as Broadway singer-dancer Marilyn Miller, having just returned to California after a long New York honeymoon with her new husband, director Vincente Minnelli.[1] Soon after, Kern returned to New York towards the end of October and died in November 1945.

During the six months that it took to shoot the film, producer Arthur Freed had to come up with one director after another. Lemuel Ayers, a set designer, was originally scheduled to make his directorial debut on the film, but was replaced by Busby Berkeley late in August 1945. Meanwhile, Minnelli – who, it was rumored at the time, would be taking over the direction of the film – was shooting Garland's sequences even before the beginning of principal photography, as she was pregnant and expected to give birth in March 1946; her shooting was completed on November 8, 1945. By the time full shooting began in the middle of December, Berkeley had been replaced by Henry Koster, who was also replaced after a short period by Richard Whorf. Whorf ended up receiving the onscreen directorial credit.[1][2] There was a break in production from some time in January 1946 to the middle of March of that year.[2]

The film includes two versions of "Ol' Man River" - the first sung by Caleb Peterson and an African-American chorus as part of the Show Boat medley, and the second, a "crooner version" by Frank Sinatra, featured as the grand finale.

Barbette consulted on the creation of the film's circus sequence.[6]

Songs

Surviving Judy Garland song outtake

A video of an excised musical number survives from this film, although part of the soundtrack has been lost. Judy Garland, as Marilyn Miller, sings "D'Ya Love Me?" to two clowns in a circus setting, representing a scene from the Broadway musical Sunny.[7]

Soundtrack album

The film was one of the first motion pictures to have a soundtrack album released concurrent with it arriving in theaters. The soundtrack was produced by MGM Records. It originally contained four 78-rpm records featuring various artists and songs from the film and front-cover artwork by Lennie Hayton. Later the album was released on LP.[8]

No official authorized version has yet been released on CD, but several unauthorized versions have (Rhino Entertainment currently owns the rights to issue an authorized CD of the soundtrack, under license from Turner Entertainment; in the past, MCA Records and Sony Music Entertainment held such rights). This is due to MGM allowing the film to fall into public domain.

Reception

Critical response

Bosley Crowther, reviewing the film for The New York Times, wrote:[9]

"Why did Metro...have to cook up a thoroughly phoney yarn about the struggles of a chirpy young composer to carry the lovely songs of Jerry Kern? And why did it have to do it in such a hackneyed and sentimental way as to grate on the sensibilities of even the most affectionately disposed?"

Variety began its review with a similar sentiment: "Why quibble about the story?"[10] In a retrospective review, American film critic Pauline Kael commented, "This monster thing, spawned at M-G-M, was meant to be the life of Jerome Kern."[11]

Box office

The film earned $4,748,000 in the US and Canada box office and $1,976,000 elsewhere, but because of its high cost the profit was only $732,000.[4][12]

Accolades

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

• 2006: AFI's Greatest Movie Musicals – Nominated[13]

Home media

The film is one of several MGM musicals – another being Royal Wedding – that entered the public domain 28 years after production because the studio did not renew the copyright registration.[5] As such, it is one of the most widely circulated MGM musicals on home video. Warner Home Video gave it its first fully restored DVD release on April 25, 2006.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Till The Clouds Roll By.

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• "Till The Clouds Roll By" Full movie at BuggZugg YouTube
• Till the Clouds Roll By at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Till the Clouds Roll By at IMDb
• Till the Clouds Roll By at Rotten Tomatoes (100%)
• Till the Clouds Roll By at the TCM Movie Database
• Till the Clouds Roll By at AllMovie
• Till the Clouds Roll By is available for free download at the Internet Archive
• "Till The Clouds Roll By" at TheJudyRoom.com