Orchestra Wives

You gotta hand it to GLENN MILLER AND HIS ORCHESTRA. Their leader may lack acting charisma but he's got a band that plays great tunes with that unmistakable Miller sound and some good band singers to do the tunes justice. And the producers of this movie were wise to use The Nicholas Bros., an acrobatic dance trio that do outstanding routines to "I've Got A Gal in Kalamazoo".

But the plot, well that's another story. It's one of those catty backstage plots about a group of orchestra wives and the jealousy that erupts when an innocent young girl (ANN RUTHERFORD) joins the group only to discover that her husband's ex-flame is still carrying the torch for him, and will stop at nothing to win him back. What happens among the group is pretty hard to swallow, but it's just a device to make way for hearing Miller and his band in their glory days.

As in SUN VALLEY SERENADE, it's the musical numbers that knock the film out of pedestrian and into the winner's circle with numbers like "Serenade in Blue", "At Last", "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo", and "People Like You and Me". It's also a pleasure to rediscover singers like Marion Hutton, Tex Benecke, Ray Eberle and The Modernaires.

Pretty ANN RUTHERFORD and handsome GEORGE MONTGOMERY do nicely in the romantic leads and it's s fun way to spend time listening to Miller and his boys. CAROLE LANDIS, MARY BETH HUGHES and LYNN BARI sharpen their claws on some sassy dialog. It's fun!